LECTURES,
LECTURES
ON
THE MANUSCRIPT MATERIALS
OK
ANCIENT IRISH HISTORY
DELIVERED AT THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND,
DURING THE SESSIONS OP 1855 AND 1856.
EUGENE O'CURRY, M.R.I.A., »
PROFESSOR OF IRISH HISTORY AND AHCH^OLOGy IN THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND ;
'CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OP SCOTLAND, ETC.
^e-issur.
DUBLIN:
WILLIAM A. HINCH, PATRICK TRAYNOE,
29 Essex Quay.
/I fc£E£jiErQH:2QE23:.
1878.
(All rights reserved.)
[
BOSTON C0LLE6K tfBRART
i34yoy
PREFACE.
If I have any regret for tlie shortcomings of the following
analysis of the existing remains of our ancient literature, and
the eA'idences of the literary attainments and cultivated tastes
of our far removed ancestors, of the Milesian and other races,
I must sincerely declare that my regret arises much more from
the consciousness of my incapacity to do merited justice to my
subject, than from any concern for what my own reputation
must suffer, in coming before the world in so prominent a
character, and with such very incommensurate c|ualifications.
When the Catholic University of Ireland was established,
and its staff of Professors from day to day announced in the
public papers, I felt the deepest anxiety as to who the Pro-
fessor of Irish History should be (if there should be one), well
knowing that the only man living who could fill that im-
portant office with becoming efficiency as a scholar was already
engaged in one of the Queen's Colleges. At this time, hoAV-
ever, I can honestly declare that it never entered into my
mind that / should or ought to be called to fill this important
situation, simply because the course of my studies in Irish
History and Antiquities had always been of a silent kind ; — I
was engaged, if I may so speak, only in underground work,
and the labours in which I had spent my life were such that
their results were never intended to be brought separately
before the public on my own individiTal responsibility. No
person knows my bitterly felt deficiences better than myself.
Having been self-taught in all the little J know of general
letters, and reared to mature years among an uneducated
people (though a people both intelligent, and fond of learning
Tl PREFACE.
when opportunity permits them to apply themselves to it), I
always felt the want of early mental training and of early
admission to those great fountains of knowledge which can be
approached only through the medium of languages which,
though once generally cultivated in my native province, had,
under sinister influences, ceased to exist in the remote part of
the country from which I come, not very long before I was
born. And it never occurred to me that I should have been
deemed worthy of an honour which, for these reasons, I should
not have presumed to seek. To say so much I feel due, not
only to myself, but to the exalted and learned personages who,
without any solicitation whatever on my part, overlooked my
many deficiencies so far as to appoint me to the newly created
Chair of Irish History and Archaeology in this National Uni-
versity.
The definite idea of such a Professorship is due to the dis-
tinguished scholar to whom the first organization of the Uni-
versity was committed. It was that idea which suggested the
necessity for this first course of Lectures, "On the,MS,Materials
of Ancient Irish History", as well as for that which immediately
followed it, and in which I am still engaged, " On the Social
Customs, Manners, and Life of the People of Ancient Erinn";
— two preliminary or introductory courses, namely, on the two
subjects to which this professorship is dedicated : on the exist-
ing remains of our History, and the existing monuments of our
Archaeology. For, without meaning the smallest disparage-
ment to previous labourers in these fields, I found, on exa-
mining their works, that, although much had been done in
particular directions, and by successive writers, who more or
less followed and improved upon, or corrected, each other,
still the great sources of genuine historical and antiquarian
knowledge lay buried in those vast but yet almost entirely
unexplored compilations, which to my predecessors were inac-
cessibly sealed up in the keeping of the ancient Gaedhelic, the
venerable language of our country. To point out the only way
to remedy this state of things, then, and if possible, by a critical
analysis of the great mass of documents which still remains to
, us in the ancient tongue, to open the way, — as far as lay in my
PREFACE. Vll
power, — to the necessary examination of these precious records
and materials, was the scope and aim of my first course of
Lectures ; those now collected in the present volume. That
I have not succeeded in placing this interesting subject before
the reader in as clear and attractive a form as it deserves, is
but too painfully apparent to myself; but if I shall have suc-
ceeded in drawing the attention of the student to the necessity
of making an independent examination of it for himself, I
shall have attained one of the dearest objects of my life, and I
shall feel that I have not struggled wholly without success in
endeavouring to do my duty to my country so far as it lies in
my power to do at all. As to the work itself, its literary
defects apart, I may claim for it at least the poor merit of being
the first effort ever made to brino- within the view of the
student of Irish History and Archaiology an honest, if not a
complete, analysis of all the materials of that yet unwritten
story which lies accessible, indeed, in our native language, but
the great body of which, the flesh and blood of all the true
History of Ireland, remains to this day unexamined and un-
known to the world.
Under the existing circumstances of this jjoor dependent
country, no work of this kind could well be undertaken at the
expense of the time and at the risk of a private individual.
This difiiculty, however, so far as concerns remuneration for
labour, and expense of publication of its result, has been
happily obviated in a way that even a few years ago could
hardly have occurred to the mind of the most hopeful among
us. It reflects, surely, no small credit on the infant Catholic
University of Ireland, and conveys no light assurance of the
national feeling Avhich animated its founders from the begin-
ning, not only that it was the first public establishment in the
country spontaneously to erect a Chair of Irish History and
Archaeology, but that it has provided with unhesitating libe-
rality for the heavy expense of placing this volume — the first
fruits of that Chair, and the first publication undertaken under
such auspices — before the public.
Little indeed did it occur to me on the occasion of my first
timid appearance in that chair, that the efforts of my feeble
Vm PREFACE.
pen Tvould pass beyond tlie walls within which these Lectures
were delivered. There was, however, among my varying
audience one constant attendant, whose presence was both em-
barrassing and encouraging to me, — whose polite expressions
at the conclusion of each Lecture I scarcely dared to receive as
those of approbation, — but whose kindly sympathy practically
exhibited itself, not in mere words alone, but in the active
encouragement he never ceased to afford me as I went along ;
often, for example, reminding me that I was not to be uneasy
at the apparent shortness of a course of Lectures, the prepara-
tion of which required so much of labour in a new field ; and
assuring me that in his eyes, and in the eyes of those who had
committed the University to his charge, quantity was of far
less importance than accuracy in careful examination of the
wide range of subjects which it was my object to digest and
arrange. At the conclusion of the course, however, this great
scholar and pious priest (for to whom can I allude but to our
late illustrious Eector, the Eev. Dr. Newman), — whose warmly
felt and oft expressed sympathy with Erinn, her wrongs and
her hopes, as well as her history, I am rejoiced to have an op-
portunity thus publicly to acknowledge, — astonished me by
announcing to me on the part of the University, that my poor
Lectures were deemed worthy to be published at its expense.
Nor can I ever forget the warmth with which Dr. Newman
congratulated me on this termination of my first course, any
more than the thoughtfulness of a dear friend with which he
encouraged and advised me, diiring the progress of what was to
•me so difiicult a task, that, left to myself, I believe I should
soon have surrendered it in desj)air.
With respect to the subjects treated in the following pages, a
glance at the Table of Contents of the Chapters formed by
these Lectures (see page xiii), will best explain the plan
followed in this attempt to analyse the contents of the whole
body of MSS. in the Gaedhelic language, the investigation of
which must form an indispensable preliminary to the accurate
study of the History of the country. I need not recapitulate
here ; nor need I again refer to the importance of every separate
PREFACE. IX
section into wliicli such an analysis divides itself. It will be
found, however, that of all the writers who have published
books on the subject, up to the time of delivering these Lectures,
— books, some of them large and elaborate, — not one ever wrote
who had previously acquired the necessary qualifications, or
even applied himself at all to the necessary study, without
which, as I think I have established beyond a doubt, the
History of Ireland could not possibly have been written. All
were ignorant, almost totally ignorant, of the greater part of the
records and remains of which I have here, for the first time,
endeavoured to present a comprehensive and in some sort a
connected account. And even though this volume will not, I
know, be found as satisfactory to the student as it might be
made in other hands ; yet such, nevertheless, appears to me to
be the want of some guide to so vast a mass of materials as that
which still lies buried in our Irish jMS. Libraries, that I trust it
will be foiind in this respect at least to fulfil the intention of
the University Ai;thorities when they determined to undertake
the publication.
This first volume, this first course of Lectures, has been ex-
clusively devoted to an account of the available materials actu-
ally existing in MS. for the preparation of a General History
of Erinn. The succeeding course, already alluded to, will
necessarily be considerably greater in extent ; and if I am
enabled to realize the hope of placing that course also before
the public in a future volume (or rather volumes, for it will
demand, I fear, at least two such as this), it will be found to be ' ^
the complement of the present. It embraces the detailed ex- \^'
amination of: — 1° the system of Legislation, and Government, ^J
in ancient Erinn; 2° the system of ranks and classes in\ a-
Society; 3° the Religious system (if that of Druidism can be >^
so called) ; 4° the Education of the people, with some account
of their Learning in ancient times ; 5° the Military system,
including the system of Military Education, and some account
of the Gaedhelic Chivalry, or Orders of Champioais ; 6° the
nature, use, and manufacture of Arms used in ancient times ;
7° the Buildings of ancient times, both public, military, and
domestic, and the Furniture of the latter ; 8° the materials
X rREFACE.
^nd forms of Dress, as well as its manufacture and ornamenta-
tion ; 9° tlie Ornaments (including those of gold and other
metals) used by all classes, and their manufacture ; 10° the
Musical Instruments of the Gaedhelic people, with some account
of their cultivation of Music itself; 11° the Agriculture of
ancient times, and the implements of all sorts employed in it ;
12° the Commerce of the ancient Gaedhil, including some
account of the Arts and Manufactures of very early times, as
well as of the nature and extent of the intercourse of the people
with traders of other nations ; and 13° their Funeral Rites, and
places of Sepulture. Of these great divisions of my present
general course, I am happy to say that all but the last three
have been completed, and that the Lectures forming these are
now nearly ready for the press, — should the public reception of
this first volume be so indulgent as to permit me to hope that
the remainder may be allowed to appear in turn.
I cannot conclude these prefatory remarks without bespeak-
ing the attention of my readers to two important features in the
present volume which I trust will be found to possess no little
value. I allude to the very extensive Appendix ; and to the
interesting series of Fac-Si3IILES, which will be found at the
end.
In the Appendix I have not only given in full the original
text of every one of the very numerous quotations from the
ancient Gaedhelic ]\ISS. referred to and translated in the text, —
(extracts which will, I hope, be found useful and convenient to
the student at a distance from our libraries, both as authorities
and as examples also of the language, the records quoted being
compositions of almost every age duringmany centuriesback), —
but also many original pieces of great importance, not hitherto
published, which I have endeavoured to edit fully with trans-
lation and notes/*^^ Besides these, I have there collected also se-
veral separate notes andmemoranda upon various subjects, which
. Ca) The end of the Appendix (p. 644,— App. No. CLVII.), I have thought
it right to insert a statement respecting the Irish MSS. at St. Isidore's, in
Rome, drawn up, since tliese Lectures were delivered, for the Senate of the
University. It will be found to contain some interesting matter in connection
with tlic subject of this volume.
PREFACE. XI
could not properly have been introduced in the course of the
Lectures themselves. The preparation of this Appendix has
cost me, I may almost say, as much labour as that of the entire
text ; and it has been a chief cause of the great delay which
has taken place in the publication of the book.
In the series of Fac-Similes (the addition of which was
adopted on the suggestion of my learned colleague and friend,
Dr. W. K^ O'Sullivan), I have taken advantage of the oppor-
tunity presented by the publication of a general work on our
early MSS. to lay before the learned in other countries a com-
plete set of examples of the handwriting of the best Gaedhelic
scribes, from the very earliest period down to the century
before the last. For this purpose I have for the most part
selected my examples from those passages which have been
quoted in the text, and of which the original Gaedhelic will be
found in the Appendix, in order that scholars may be able to
compare the contracted writing with the full sentences as I have
expanded them. But I have also inserted several examples
(as in the instances of the earliest Latin ecclesiastical MSS.,
one of which is, I believe, contemporary with St. Patrick, and
three of which are attributed to the very hand of St. Colum
Cille), from writings which are mentioned indeed, but which
there was no occasion to quote in the course of the Lectures.
These fac-simi!es have been executed with admirable correct-
ness in the establishment of Messrs. Forster, lithographers, of
this city. I can confidently recommend them to Continental
scholars as perfect representations of the handwriting of various
ages ; and I hope they may be found of some practical use, not
only in the identification of Gaedhelic MSS. yet hidden in
foreign libraries, but also in the determination of the ages of the
MSS. with which they may be compared. They will be found
to be arranged in chronological order.
I have to apologize for the length of time which has elapsed
from the first annoixncement of this book to its publication, as
well as for the many errors, of print and others, which will be
detected in it, but most of which will be found corrected at the
end of the volume. Those, however, who are aware of the
Xn PREFACE.
crushing succession of domestic afflictions and of bodily infir-
mities with which it has pleased Providence to visit me during
the last three years, will, I am sure, look with indulgent eyes
on these defects, as well as on those concerning which I have
already confessed and asked pardon beforehand.
In conclusion, I have only to acknowledge the deep obliga-
tions under which I am placed by the kindness of many emi-
ment literary friends in the preparation of this volume. Among
these I cannot but warmly thank, in particular, the learned
Secretary of the Brehon Law Commission, the Very Rev.
Charles Graves, F.T.C.D., Dean of the Chapel Royal, for
much of kind consideration and many valuable suggestions ;
the Rev. James H. Todd, S.F.T.C.D., President of the Royal
Irish Academy, to whom, with my last named friend, the
revival of Irish literature owes so much, and whose countenance
and cordial assistance to me have been for so many years of
inestimable value ; my dear friends, John Edward Pigot,
M.R.I.A., and Dr. Robert D. Lyons, M.R.I A., from whom I
received most valuable assistance in the plan and original pre-
paration of these Lectures ; and to the former of whom I owe,
in addition, the untiring devotion of the vast amount of time
and trouble involved in the task his friendship undertook for
me of correcting the text, and preparing for, and passing
through the press, the whole of this volume ; and my able and
truly learned friend, Mr. Whitley Stokes, who prepared for
me the references to the MSS. quoted by Zeuss (pp. 27, 28 of
this volume), the only new passage, I believe, which has been
introduced into the text of the following Lectures since their .
delivery.
Eugene O'Cuert.
Dublin, December 15, ISfO.
CONTENT S.
LECTUKE I. Introduction. Of the Lost Books, etc., . . 1 — 28
Natural reverence for ancient monuments and records, 1 .— Neo:lect of Antiquarian
inquiry in Ireland, 2. — Elevated rank of men of learning under the ancient Irish
law, 2. — Great antiquity of literature in Erinn, 3. — Of literature in ancient Erinn
before the time of St. Patrick, 4. — Loss of the earlier -writings, and its causes, 5. —
Neglect of the language in more modern times, 6. — Literature, nevertheless,
encouraged by the native chieftains, even after the loss of national independence,
6, 7. — Of the Lost Books of Ancient Erinn, 7. — The Cuilmenv, 8. — The
Saltair of Tara, 9. — Poem by Cuan O'Lochain, 10. — The Book of the Ua Chong-
bhaiJ, 13. — The Cin Droma Snechta, 13. — Its author, 13, 14 The Senchus Mdr,
or Great Book of Laws, 16. — Account of a private library (that of St. Longarad,
of Ossory) in tlie 6th century, 17. — The Book of St. Mochta, 19. — The Book of
Cuana, 19. — The Book of DiM dd Leithe, 19. — The Saltair of Cashel, 19. — List
of the Lost Books recorded, 20 — Lost Books extant in Keating's time, 21. — Lost
Books knoAvn totheO'Clerys, 21, 22.— The Irish MSS. in the library of Trin.
Coll., Dublin, 23.— MSS. in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, 24.— Irish
MSS. in the Library of the British Museum, and in the Bodleian Library at
Oxford, 25.— Other Collections of Irish MSS. in England, 25.— Irish MSS on the
Continent — Brussels, Paris, Rome, etc., 20. — Irish MSS. referred to in the Gram-
matica Cellica of Zeuss, 27.
LECTUKE II. Op the Earliest Existing MSS., . . . 29—51
Account of the Cuilmenn, 29 and 41. — Of tlie recovery of the Tale of the 2'din Bo
Chuailgn^, 29. — Account of the Tain Bo Chiailgne, 30. — Personal descriptions in
this ancient tale, 37, 38. — Mythical and legendary inventions introduced into it,
39. — Historical value of this tale, 40. — Authorship of the Saltair of Tara, 42. —
Account of King Cormac Mac Airt, 42. — Personal description of King Cormac,
44, 45. — Laws and legal writings of the reign of Cormac, 46.— Of the Book of
Acaill, 47. — Cennfalad " the Learned", 48.
LECTURE III. Of the Early Historic Writers. The Ancient Annals, 52—73
List of the principal Annals, 52.— Of the earlier Chronologists and Historians,
53.— The Synchronisms of Flann of Monasterboice (11th century), 53. — The
Chronological Poem of Gilla Caemhain, 55.— Of Tighernach, the Annalist, 57
and Gl. — Account of the Monastery of Clonmacnoise, and of its foundation by
St. Ciaran (6th century), 58. — Of the Annals of Tighernach, 62. — The Chro-
nological Poem of Eochaidh O'Flinn, 69. — Account of the foundation of Emania,
B.C. 405 (taken by Tighernach as the starting point of credible Irish History),
70. — The Destruction of Emania by " the Three CoHas" (a.d. 331), 72.
XIV CONTENTS.
LECTUEE IV. The Ancient Annals (continued), . . , 74—92
Continuation of the Annals of Tighemach, 74. — Of the Annals of Innisfallen,
75 and 79. — Of the monastery of Inis Faithlenn, in Loch Lein (Killarney), 75. —
Of MaelsuthaiH 0' Cearbhd'dle (secretary and counsellor of Brian Borumha), 76. —
Legend concerning him, 76. — Of the so-called Annals of Boyle, 81 (and see
105). — Historical writers of the 12th, 13tli, and 14th centuries, 82. — Of the
Annals of Ulster, 83.
LECTURE V. The Ancient Annals (continued), . . . 93—119
Of the Annals of Loch Ce (improperly called the " Annals of Kilronan"), 93. —
Account of them, 100. — Extracts and examples, 101. — Account of the Battle of
Magh Shcht (a.d. 1256), 101.— Of the Annals of Connacht, 104 and 113.—
Of the Annals of Botle, 105. — Of the use of the Annals as materials for his-
tory, 119.
LECTURE VI. The Ancient Annals (continued), . . . 120—139
Of the Chronicum Scotorum, 120 and 126. — Of the life and death of Dubhaltach
Mac Firbisigh of Lecain (Duald Mac Firbis), and of his Book of Pedigrees,
120-122. — His various works, 123. — Of the Books of Lecain, and the Mac Firbis
family, 125. — Title and Preface of the Chronicum Scotorum, 127. — Of the
Annals of Clonmacnois, 130. — The Story of Queen Gormlaith, 132. — Address
and Dedication of the Annals of Clonmacnois, 135-6. — Authorities quoted by the
translator, 137.
LECTURE VII. The Ancient Annals (continued), . . 140—161
Of the Annals of the Four Masters, 140, and 145, and 155. — Of the " Con-
tention of the Bards", 141. — Account of the O'Clerys, 142. — Colgan's account of
the " Four Masters", and particularly of Michael O'Clery, 143. — Dedication of
the Annals of the Four Masters, 146. — The " Testimonium", 147. — Of the Chro-
nology adopted by the Four Masters, 151. — Mistake of Moore in his " History of
Ireland", 153. — Anecdote of Moore, 154. — Of the race of Fergal O'Gara (to whom
the Annals are dedicated), 157 Of the published editions of these Annals,^159. —
Of the splendid edition by Dr. John O'Donovan, published by Mr. George Smith,
160-1.
LECTURE VIII. The Works of the " Four Masters", . - 162—180
Of O'Clery's Succession of the Kings, (^Rp.im Rioghraidh^), 162. — Preface to
this work, 163. — Dedication and Address to the Reader, 164, 165. — Of O'Clery's
Book of Invasions (Zeo6Aar Gahhdla), 168. — Dedication to it, 168. — Preface, or
Address to the Reader, 169 Of the other works of Michael O'Clery, 173.— The
O'Clery MSS. in Belgium, 174.— Of Michael O'Clery's Glossary, 175.— Dedication
to it, 175.— Preface or Address to the Reader, 176. — Of the writings of Cucoig-
chriche (called " Peregrine") O'Clery, 178.
LECTURE IX. Of THE CHIEF existing Ancient Books, . . 181—202
Of the old MSS. still existing, 181-2. — Of the Leabhar na h-Uidhre (Book
of the Dun Cow, of St. Ciaran), 182. — Of the Book of Leinster, 186. — Of the
Book of Balltmote, 188. — The Leabhar Mor Duna Doighre, called Leabhar
Breac), 190, (and see also p. 352). — Of the Yellow Book of Lecain, 190. — The
Book of Lecain, 192.— Of the principal vellum MSS. in T.C.D., 192.— Of the
MSS. in the Library of the R.I.A., 195.— Of the Book of Lismore, 196.— Of the
MS. books of Laws (called in English the "Brehon Laws'', 200-201.
CONTENTS. XV
LECTURE X. Or the Books of Genealogies and Pedigrees, 203—228
Of the system of official record of the Genealogies, etc., in ancient Erinn, 203-4. —
Credibility of the antiquity of our Genealogies, 205. — Actual historical account of
them, 205-6.— Of the IMilesian Genealogies, 206-7.— The Lines of Eber and Ere-
mon, 207 The Iriah and Ithian races, 207. — Of the Eremonian Pedigrees, and of
Ugaine Mnr, 207-8. — Of the Dalcassians, and the Eoghanachts of Munster, 208.
— Genealogy of the O'Briens, and other Munster clanns, from Oilioll Oilum, 208-0,
— Genealogy of the Dalcassians, from Cormac Cas, 213. — Of the importance of the
recorded Genealogies under the ancient law, 213-14. — Family names first intro-
duced (circa a.d. 1000), 214.— Distinction between a " Genealogy" and a " Pedi-
' gree", 214. — Form of the old Genealogical Books, 215. — Mac Firbis' Book of
Genealogies, 215. — Title and Preface of it, 216. — Ancient Poem on the charac-
teristics of different races, 224.
LECTURE XI. On the Existing Ancient Histories. The Historic Tales, 229-250
Of the existing pieces of detailed History in the GaedheUc language, 229. — The
History of the Origin of the Boromean Tribute, 230.— The History of the
Wars of the Danes with the Gaedhil, 232. — The History of the Wars of
Thomond, 233.— The Book of Munster, 237.— Of THE HISTORIC TALES,
238. — Nature of the compositions, 239. — Of the education and duties of an
Ollamh, 239. — Of the authority of the " Historic Tales" as pieces of authentic
history, 241. — Of the classes into which they are divided, 243. — 1° of the Catha
(or Battles), 243.— Tale of the " Battle of Ma<jh Tuireadk", 244.— Tale of the
Battle of Magk Tuireadh of the Fomorians, 247.
LECTURE XII. The Historic Tales (continued), . . . 251-272
2° Of the LoNGASA (or Voyages) ; Tale of the Voyage of Lahhraidh Loingseach,
251-2. — Of the Music and Musicians of ancient Erinn, 255. — 3° of the TpoHLA
(or Destructions), 258. — Tale of the " Destruction of the Bruighean Da DtrgcC\
258.— Tale of the " Destruction of the Bruighean Da Choga", 260.-4° Of the
AiRGNE (or Slaughters), 2 60. — Tale of the " Slaughters of Congal Cldringnach",
260-1.— Tale of the Revolt of the Aitheach Tuatha (called the "Attacotti' or
" Attacots"), 262-3.-5° Of the Forbasa (or Sieges), 2G4-5.— Tale of the " Siege
of Edair" (Howth), 265. — J.2V/*«V?ie'" the importunate", 266.— Tale of the " Siege
of Droin Damlighaire", 271. — Druidism, 271.
LECTURE XIII. The Historic Tales (continued), . . 273—295
6° Of the Oitte, or Aideadha (Tragedies, or Deaths), 273. — Tale of the
" Death of Conchohhar Mac Nessa", 273-4.— Tale of the " Death of MaelJartJia-
tach Mac Ronain", 277.-7° Of the Tana (or Cow-Spoils), 277.— Tale of " the
Tain BdChuailgne", 277-8. — 8° Of the Tochsiarca (or Courtships and Espousals),
278. — Tale of the " Courtship of Eimer'' by Cuchulainn, 278. — Of the several
other celebrated Tales of " Courtships", 282-3. 9° Of the Uatha (or Caves),
283. — References to several celebrated Tales concerning Caves, 283.-10° Of the
Echtrai (or Adventures), 283.— References, 283.-11° Of the Sluaigheadha (or
Military Expeditions), 284. — Tale of the " Expedition of DatJii to the Alps",
284.-12° Of the Imramha (or Expeditions by Sea), 288.- Tale of the " Expedi-
tion of the Sons of Ua Corra'\ 289. — Of the remaining classes of Historic Tales :
" Fessa" (Feasts or Banquets) ; " Aithidhe" (or Elopements) ; " Serca" (Loves, or
XVI CONTKNTS,
Love-stories); " Tontha Ikina" (Lake-Irruptions); '• Tochomlada' (Immigrations
of Colonies) ; " Fis" (or Visions), 294-5.
LECTURE XIV. Or the Imaginative Tales and Poems, . . 296-310
Of the Ancient Imaginative Tales and Poems, and of the use to be made of them
in serious Historical investigation, 296. — Of the Fenian Poems, 299 Of the
Poems, etc., ascribed to Oisin (or Ossian), 300 and 30t. Classification of the
Eenian Poeims and Tales, 301. — Poems ascribed to Fin7i Mac Cumhaill, 302. —
Of Oisin (or Ossian), and the Poems ascribed to him, 304. — Poems ascribed to
Fergus '■' Finnbha6iV\ son of Finn, 306 — Poems ascribed to Caeilte Mac Ronain,
306. — Of the " Agallamh na Seandrach" (or " Dialogue of the Ancient Men"),
307. — The Story of Cael O'Neamkain and the Lady Credhi, 308.— Description of
an ancient mansion and its furniture, 309. — Of other Fenian Poems, 3 12. — Of the
Fenian Tales in Prose, 313. — Tale of the "Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainn^",
313.— Tale of the " Battle of Finntragkd" (or Ventry Harbour), 315 Tale of
the "Flight of the Slothful Fellow", 316. — Reference to several other ancient
Imaginative Tales, 318.— Reference to the " Three Sorro'w'ful Tales of Erinn", 319.
LECTURE XV. Of the Remains of the Early Christian Period, 320 — 338
Ancient Erinn called the " Island of the Saints", 320.— Nature of the existing
remains of the early Christian period in Erinn, 321.— Ancient copies of the sacred
writings, 321.— Of the " Domhnach Airgid", and its shrine, 322. — Of the
Cathach, and its shrine, 327.— Of the relic called the Cuilefadh of Saint Colum
CUM, 332.— Of other relics called by this name, 334-5. — Of various other shrines,
(MS.)relics, 335.— Of the ancient Reliquaries, Bells, Croziers, Crosses, etc., still
preserved to us, 336.
LECTURE XVI. Of the early ecclesiastical MSS., . . 339—354
Of the early Lives of the Saints of Erinn, 339 (and see 358).— Of the writings of
Colgan and Keating, 351. — Saint Adamiuuis Life of Saint Colum CllU, 342. —
Saint Place's Life of SaintPatrick, 343.— The Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick,344.
— Of the Contents of the Leahhar Mdr Duna Doighre (called the Leahhar Breac),
in the R I A., 352. — Of the study of the ancient " Martyrologies", and other
ancient Ecclesiastical MSS , in the GaedheUc, 353.
LECTURE XVII. Of the Early Ecclesiastical MSS. (continued), 355—371
Of the causes of the loss and dispersion of Irish Ecclesiastical and Historical MSS.
during the last three centuries, 355. — Analysis of what remains of the most impor-
tant of the Ecclesiastical MSS., 357.— Lives of the Saints of Erinn, 358.— Of the
Pedigrees and Genealogies of the Saints of Erinn, 358. — Of those ascribed to
Aengus Ceile D^, 359.— Of the " Martyrologies", or " Festologies", 360.— Of the
Saltaij na Eann, SGO. — Of the Martyrology of MaehnuireUa Gonnain (Marianus
Gorman), 361.— Of the Martyrology of Tamhlacht, 362.— Of the Felire (or Festo-
logy)of Aengus CeiU De, 363.— The " Canon" oiFothat " na Canoine", 364 — The
Invocation from the Felire of Aengus, 365.
LECTURE XVIII. Of the Early Ecclesiastical MSS. (continued), of the
so-called " Prophecies", ..... 372 391
1° of the Canons, 372.— Of the connection of the Church of St. Patrick with the
Holy See, 373.— li" Of the Ecclesiastical and Monastic Rules, 373.-3° Of
an Ancient Treatise on the Mass, 376.-4° Of an Ancient Form of the Consecra-
tion of a Church, 378.-5° Of ancient Prayers, Invocations, and Litanies, 378.—
CONTENTS. XVU
3° Of ancient Prayers, Invocations, and Litanies, 378. — The Fraj'er of Saint
Aireran " the Wise", 378-9. — The Prayer of Coign Ua DuinecIida,B7d — Ancient
Litany of the Blessed Virgin, 380.— The Litany of Aeng us CelM De, 380.— Of the
so-called " Prophecies" ascribed to the Saints of Erinn, 382 — Of the so-called
" Prophecies" anterior to the time cf Saint Patrick, 383. — Of the " Prophecy"
in the Dialogue of the Two Sages" {AgaUamh an dd Shi(adh),S83. — Of the "Pro-
phecies" ascribed to Conn of the Hundred Battles (the Bade Chainn, etc.), 385. —
Of the " Prophecy" ascribed to King Art " the Lonely", 391.
LECTUEE XIX.— Of the so-called " Prophecies" (continued), . 392—41 1
Of the "Prophecies" ascribed to Finn Mac CumhaiH, 392. — Of the Legend of Finn's
" Thumb of Knowledge", 396. — Of the " Prophecy" of the coming of Saint Patrick
attributed to the Druids of King Laeghaire, 397. — Of the " Prophecies" ascribed
to the Saints of Erinn, 398 — Of the "Prophecies" of Saint Cadlin, 398— Of the
" Prophecies" of Beg Mac Be, 399.— Of the " Prophecies" of Saint Colum CilU,
399. — Of the apocryjihal character of the so-called " Prophecies", 410.
LECTURE XX. Of the so-called " Prophecies" (continued), 412 — 434
Of the " Prophecies" of St. Berchdn, 412. — " Prophecy" ascribed to St. Bricin,
418. — "Prophecy" ascribed to St. Moling, 419. — Of the "Prophecy" ascribed to
Sedna (Gth century), 422. — Of the "Prophecy" ascribed to Mae/tamhlac/ita, 423.
— Of the " Prophecies" concerning the Fatal Festival of Saint John the Baptist,
423.— Dishonest use made of forged and pretended "Prophecies", 430-1. — Giral-
dus Cambrensis and John De Courcy, 432 — Sir George Carew, 434.
LECTURE XXI. Recapitulation. How the History of Erinn is to re
■WRiTrEN ....... 435 — 45S
Recapitulation, 435. — Of the various writers on the History of Erinn, 441. —
Moore's "History of Ireland", 441. — Keating's History, 442. — Mac Geogliegau's
History, 442. — " Cambrensis Eversus" (Lynch), 443. — The History of Erinn
must be written on the basis of the Annals, 443. — Of how to set about a History
of Erinn, 444. — Of the ancient traditions concerning the Milesian Colony, 446. —
Of the Cruithneans, or Picts, 450. — Of the reign of Ugaine Mdr, i5\. — Of the
reign of Lahraidh Loingseach, 452. — Of the reign of Conaire Mdr, 453. — Of Con-
chobhar Mac Nessa, 453. — Of the Revolution of the Aitheach Tuatha (or " At-
tacots"), 453. — Of the reign of Conn'''- Ccad-CathaclC (Conn "of the Hundred
Battles"), 453.— Of the reign of Niall "■ Naoi-Ghiallacli" {Niall "of the Nine
Hostages"), 454. — Of lung Batld, 454. — Of the use to be made of the " Historic
Tales", the Monumental Remains, and the Ecclesiastical MSS., 454-456. — Of
other miscellaneous materials for a History of Erinn, 456. — Of the necessity for
the study of the Gaedhelic language; and of the want of a Dictionary, 457. —
Conclusion, 458.
APPENDIX ....... 461—643
APP. No. I. (P. 2). Of the Fili and Filidecht . . .461
APP. No. II. (P. 4). Of writing in Erinn before St. Patrick's time . 463
Of the Oghum character, and its uses, 464. — Of the Tale oi Bai!^ Mac Buain,
464.— Inscribed Tablets before the time iii Art (a.d. 166), 466 and 470 — Cormac
Cuilennain versed in Oghum, 468. — Of the Tale of the Exile of the Sons of Duil
Dermait (circa a.d. 1), 468. — Of the Tale of Core, son of Lughaidh (a.t>. 400),
469. — O'FIaherty on the Use of Letters in ancient Erinn, 409. — Of Cuchorb, 480,
2*
XVlll CONTENTS.
Tale of BaiU Mac Buain (original, with translation and notes) . 472
Poem by Ailbhe, daughter of Cormac Mac Airt (circa a.d. 260), original, with
translation and notes), ..... 476
Poem on the Death of Cuchorb, by Mead/M, daughter of Conn " of the Hundred
Battles" (B.C. 1) (original, with translation, and notes), . . 480
APP. No. III. (P. 5). T/a-ee Poems by Dubhthach Ua Lugaiu {Chief Poet of the
Monarch Laeghaire, a.d. 432), on the Triumplis of Enna Censelach, and his
son Crimthann, Kings of Leinster (original, with translation and notes), 482
APP. No. IV. (P. 8). Original of Passage concerning the Cuilmenn, from the
Book of Leinster, ...... 494
APP. No. V. (P. 9, and 31). Original (unth translation') of Passage in an ancient
Law Glossary explaining the " Seven Orders of Wisdom^' {under the title Caog-
DAcn), ....... 494
APP. No. VI. (P. 10). Original of Passage in Poem of Cuan Ua Lochain, on
Tara, referring to the Saltair, ..... 496
APP. No. VII. (P. 11). Original of passage from the "Booh of the Ua Cong-
bhail", referring to the Saltair, ..... 496
APP. No. VIII. (P. 12). Original of Passage from Keating, referring to the
Saltair, ....... 497
APP. No. IX. (P. 13). Original of reference to the Cinn Droma Snechta in the
Books of Ballymote and Lecain, ... - 497
APP. No. X. (P. 13). Original of second reference to the same in the Book of
Lecain, ....... 497
APP. No. XI. (P. 14). Original of third reference to the same in the Book of
Lecain, ....... 497
APP. No. XII. (P. 14). Original of reference to the same, in Keating, . 498
APP. No. XIII. (P. 14). Original of j^assage in the Book of Leinster concerning
the CiN Droma Snechta, ..... 498
APP. No. XIV. (P. 15,16). Pedigree of DvAcn Ga-lxcu, King of Contiacht {in the
early part of the 5th century'), ..... 498
APP. No. XV. (P. 15). Original of second re/e?-eHce ^o ?Ae Cin Droma Snechta,
in Keating ; and original (ivith translation) of corresponding passage in the Uraich-
echt, in the Books of Ballymote and 'Lecain, . . . 501
APP. No XVI. (P. 15). Original of second i^dssage in the Book of Leinster, con-
cerning the same, ...... 501
APP. No. XVII. (P. 17). Original of T'^erse (and Gloss) from the Felire Aengusa,
referring to the Library o/Longarad (temp. St. Colum Cille), . . 501
APP. No. XVIII. (P. 29.) OJ Letha, the ancient name for Italy in the
Gaedhelic, ....... 502
APP. No. XIX. (P. 32). Original of jxissage concerning the Cuilmenn, in the
Leabhar Mor Duna Doighre, ..... 504
APP. No. XX. (P. 32). Original of passages concerning the same in two ancient
Glossaries (74, R.I.A. ; and H. 3, 18, T.C.D.), . . .504
APP. No XXL (P. 36). Of the Ben Sidhe ("Banshee"), \_Sidh.—Fersidhe.—
Bensidhe'], ....... 504
APP. No. XXII. (P. 38). Original of Description of the Champion, Eeochaid Mac
Fathemain, /ro??i the ancient Tale of the Tain Bo Chuailgne, . . 506
CONTENTS. XIX
APP. No. XXIII. (P. 38). Oriyinal of Description of the Champion Fergna,, from
the same, . . . . . . . 50G
APP. No. XXIV. (P. 38). Origi7ialqf Description of Prince 'Etc, from the same, 506
APP. No. XXV. (P. 41), Of the date of the Tain Bo Chuailgne (iviih extracts, in
orifinal, ivith translation of passages from the MS. H. 3. 17., T.C.D., and the Book
of BaUijmote), ...... 507
APP. No. XXVI. (P. 44). Original of Description of Cormac Mac Airt at the
Assembly of Tara ; from the Booh of Ballymote, . . . 510
APP. No. XXVII. (P. 47). Original of commencement of Preface to (lie Book of
AcAiLL (in the MS. E. 5, T. C.D.J, attributed to King Cormac Mac iVirt, . 511
APP. No. XXVIII. (P. 49, and 51). Original of remainder of same, . 512
Original of another version of the latter portion of this passage (from the MS. H.
3. 18., T.C.D.), 513.— Poem, by Cinaeth O'Hartigaiu (a.d. 973), from the Book of
Ballymote (original, and translation), 513-14.
APP. No. XXIX. (P. 56, 57). Original of two passages concerning Flann ofMonas-
terboice (fro7n TigheiURch, and from 0' CTer^'s Leabhar Gabhala), . 516
APP. No. XXX. (P. 58). Original of entries in the Chronicum Scotorum, and in the
Annals of Ulster, of the death o/TiGnERNACH (a.d. 1088), . r 517
APP. No. XXXI. (P. 58 to 60). Of the Foundation oj Clonmacnoise, . 517
APP. No. XXXII. (£. 63, and 67). Of the Fragment of an ancient vellum copy of the
Annals of Tighernach, bound up with the Annals of Ulster, in the Library of
Trin. Coll. Dublin, ...... 517
Letter from Eev. J. H. Todd, P.R.I.A., to Mr. Curry, upon this Fragment, 517.
Original of the entire passage containing the sentence " Omnia Monumenta Sco-
torum", etc., from the copy of tlie Annals of Tighernach in T.C.D. (H. 1. 18.),
519. — Original of version of same in the R. I. Academy MS. (33. 6.) 519 note. —
Original of version of same passage as given by Dr. O'Conor, 519 note. — Original
of Ballymote, 520. — Of the second tract of Synchronisms in same Book, attributed
to Flann, by the Venerable Charles O'Conor of Ballynagar (with translation of
parallel passage in an ancient tract of Synchronism in the Book), 520-21. — Of Ti-
ghernach's authority for the sentence in question, 521. — Euchaidh O'Flinn, 521-
22. — Of the Synchi'onisms in the Book of Lecain, 522. — Flann's Poems, 522-23. —
Quatrain identifying the author of the Poems (original and translation), 523.
APP. No. XXXm. (P. 64). Original of stanza of Maelmura, quoted by Tigher-
nach, ....... 524
APP. No. XXXIV. (P. 64). Original of another ancient stanza quoted by Tigher-
nach, and Extract from Dr. 0' Conor's account of the T.C.D. copy o/ Tigher-
nach, •••.... 524
APP. No. XXXV. (P. 68). Of King Eochaidh Bdadhach, . . 526
APP. No. XXXVI. (P. 68). Original of an Entry in Tighernach, as to the Kings of
Leinster, ••..... 526
APP. No. XXXVII. (P. 70). Original of commencement of Poem (ascribed to Gilla
an Chomdedh Ua Cormaic) in the Book of Leinster, . . 526
APP. No. XXXVIII. (P. 70). Original {ivith Translation) of the account of the
Foundation of the Palace o/Emain Macha, or Emania (from the Book of Leinster), 520
APP. No. XXXIX. (P. 75). Original of Entry in the Annals of Tighernach (at
A.D. 1405), concerning the Continuator of these Annals, . . 529
XX CONTENTS.
APP. No. XL. (P. 70). OriyinaloJ legendary account o/Maelsuthain O'Cearbhaill,
o/Inis Faithleun, in Loch Lein {Innisfalkn, Loioer Lake of Killarney), from the
LiBEu Flavds Fergusiordm, ..... 529
APP. No. XLI. (P. 7(i). Contents of the Liber Flavus Fergusiorom (a.d. 1437), 531
APP. No. XLII. (P. 84). Original of entry in the Atasxus of Ulster, concerning the
Death of the original compiler, 'Mac Mixghnusa (a.d 1498), . . 533
APP. No. XLIII. (P. 85). Orig'nal oj two Memoranda in T.C.D. copy of the Annals
OF Ulster (H. 1. 8), . . . . • • 533
APP. No. XLIV. (P. 90, 92). Of the commencement of the MS. called the Annals of
Ulster, in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin (H. 1. 8), . . 534
APP. No. XLV. (P. 94). Original of Memorandum inserted in the T.C.D. copy of
the Annals of Loch Ce (a.d. 1061), .... 534
APP. No. XLVI. (P. 94j. Original of second Memorandum in same (a d. 1515), 534
APP. No. XLVII. (P. 94). Original of third Memorandum in same (ad. 1581), 534
APP. No. XLVIII. (P. 94). Original of fourth Memorandum in same (a d. 1462), 534
APP. No. XLIX. (P. 95). Original of entry (at a.d. 1581) in Fragment of Continua-
tion of the Annals of Loch Ce, in the Brit. Museum i and of Note ctppended thereto,
by Brian j\[uc Dermot, Chief of Magh Luirg, . . . 534
APP. No. L. (P. 96). Original of entry of Death of Brian Mac Dermot (a.d. 1592),
in the Annals of the Four Masters, .... 535
APP. No. LI. (P. 102). Original of entry in Annals of Loch Ce, at a.d. 1087, 535
APP. No. LIL (P. 101). Original of eiitryuisanie, at A.T). [087, . ■ 535
APP. No. LIIL (P. 101). Original of account of the Battle of Magh Slecht (a.d.
\25^), from the Annals of Loch Ce, .... 536
APP. No. LIV. (P. 102). Original (and translation') of passage in the Tripartite
Life of Saint Patrick concerning the Idol called Cenn Cruaich, or Crom Cruach,
and the Plain of Magh Slecht, ..... 538
APP. No. LV. (P. 102). Original of Memorandum at the end of the T CD. copy of
the Annals of Connacht (H. 1. 2.), . . . . . 539
APP. No. LVI. (P. 109). Original of Memorandum in the Brit. Museum copy of the
so- ca//ef/ Annals OF Boyle, (under year 1594), . . . 639
APP. No. LVII. (P. 111). Oiiginal of Second Memorandum in same, . 536
APP. No. LVIII. (P. 111). Original of third Memoratidum in same, . 540
APP. No. LIX. (P. 112). Original of passage in O'Donnel's Life of Saint Colum
C///e(2. 52. R.L A.), ...... 540
APP. No. LX. (P. 115). Original of entry in the Annals of Connacht, at a.d. 1464;
and Original of abstract of same in the handwriting of the Venerable Charles
0'' Conor of Ballynagar, ...... 540-1
APP. No. LXI. (P. 1 1 5). Original of Corresponding entry in the Annals of Loch Ce
(H. 1. 19., T.C.D.), ...... 541
APP. No. LXII. (P. 121). Original of Title of Mac Firbis Book of Pedigrees and
Genealogies, . . . . . . .541
APP. No LXIII. (P. 126). Original of description oftheLiauguration of the O'Dowda,
in the Book (f Lecain. ...... 542
APP. No. LXIV. (P. 127). Original of Title, and conunencement of Preface, of the
CuRONicoM Scotoruji, ..... 542
APP. No. LXV. (P. 127). Original of a Note, by Mac Firbis, in the Chronicum
Scotorum, . . . . . . .113
CONTENTS. XXI
APP. No. LXVI. (P. 12;'). Original of Memotandum in the Chronicum Scotordm
(a.d. 722), explaining a deficiencg thare, . . ; .643
APP. Ko LXVII. (P. 146). Original of Dedication of the Annals of the Four
Masters, ....... 543
APP. No LXVIII. (P. 147). Original of Testimonium of the Annals of the Four
Masters, .....•• 543
APP. No. LXIX. (P. 15S). Of the succession of the Chiefs of the O'Gara Family,
from A D. 932 to 1537 ; from the Annals of the Four Masters, . , 5i6
APP. No. LXX. (P. 163). Original of O'Clerfs Preface to the Eeim Riograidhe,
(^succession of the Kings), from the R I.A. MS. (40, 4), . . 548
APP. No. LXXI. (P. 164). Original of O'Clery's Dedication to the same, . 550
APP. No. LXXII. (P. 165). Original of 0''Clerys Address to the Reader, prefixed
tothesameU'-omtheT.C.'D.'M^.; Yl. i.Q), . . .551
APP, No. LXXIII. (P. J 63). Original of O'Clery^s Dedication to the Leabhar
Gabhala (Boot of Invasions), from the T.CD. MS. (H. 1. 12), . . 552
APP. No. LXXIV. (P. 169). Original of O'Clerfs Address to the Header, prefixed
to the same (from a copy in the Library of the R.I. A., made in 1685), . 554
APP. No. LXXV. (P. 175). Original of Title and Dedication of O'Clerx's Glos-
sary, ....... 557
APP. No. LXXVI. (P. 1 76). Original of Address to the Header, prefixed to the same, 558
APP. No. LXXVII. (P. 178). [Erroneous reference as to List of Contractions, etc.] 560
APP. No. LXXVIII. (P. 178). Original (and Translation) of the Last Will of
Cuchoighcriche O'Clery (^called Cucogry, or Peregrine O'Clej-y), . 560
APP. No. LXXIX. (P. 179). Original (and Translation) of Two Poems by Cu-
coighcriche O'Clery, ..... 562
APP. No. LXXX. (P. 182). Origiwd of Two Memoranda in the Leabhar na
H-UiDHRE (concerning the history of that celebrated MS.), . . 570
Note concerning Conchobhar, the son of Aedh O'Donnell (ob. a.d. 1367), 570, note.
APP. No. LXXXI. (P. 183). Original of entry in the Annals of the Foitr
Masters (a< A.D. 1470), ... . . 570
APP. No. LXXXII. (P. 184.) Original of entry in same Annals (at a.d. 1106), 571
APP. No. LXXXIII. (P. 1S4). Original of a Memorandum in the Leabhar na
H-UlDHRE, ....... 571
APP. No. LXXXIV. (P. 186) Original of a Memorandum in the Book of Leinster, 571
APP. No. LXXXV. (P. 187). Original of a second Memorandum in the same, 571
Al'P. No. LXXXVI. (P. 1 95). [Apology for not giving a complete List of the MSS.
in the Libraries of the R I A. and of Trin. Coll. Dublin], . . 571
APP. No. LXXXVII. (P. 216). Original of Title and Introduction to Mac Firbis'
Book of Genealogies, ..... 572
Original (and Translation) of ancient Poem on the celebrated Builders of ancient
times, 577. Original (and Translation) of ancient Poem on the Characteristics
of the various Races in Erinn, 580. Original (with Translation) of ancient Toem
on the Characteristics of various Nations, 580.
APP. No. LXXXVIII. (P. 243). Original (and Translation) of passage, concerning
the Historic Tales, m the Book of Leinster, . . . 583
APP. No. LXXXIX. (P. 243). Original (and Translation, with Notes), of the List
of the Historic Tales, in the Book of Leinster, . . 584
XXn CONTENTS.
APP. No. XC. (P. 276). Of the Place of the Death- Wound of Conchobbar Mac
Nessa, ....... 593
Original Cancl Translation) of Note, by Michael O'Clery on this subject, 593.
APP. No. XCI. (P. 293). Original oj Stanza of a Poem by Saint Mocliolinog, about
the Ua Corra ; from the Book of Fermoy, . . . 593
APP. No. XCII. (P. 302, 303). Original of the first lines of Six Poems attributed to
Finn Mac Cumhaill, ..... 594
APP. No. XCIII. (P. 306, 307). Original of the first line of Poem attributed to Fergus
FiNNBHEOiL; and of first line of Poem attributed to Caeilte Mac Konain (^from
the UlNNSEANCHUS), ...... 591
APP. No. XCIV. (P. 308, 311). Original of passage (poem) from the Agallamh na
Sean&rach, concerning Gael Ua Neamnainn and the Lady Credhi (from the Book
OF Lismore), ...... 594
Original (and Translation) of Prose passage from the same, 597.
APP. No. XCV. (P. 315). Of the ancient Monuments called Cromlech, . 598
APP. No. XCVI. (P. 325). Original of passage in the " Tripartite Life" oJ Saii.t
Patrick, concerning the Domhnach Airgid, . - . 598
APP. No. XCVII. (P. 329, 330). Original of first stanza of the Prayer of Saint
Cohan Cille (from the Yelloiu Book of Lecain) ; and Original (and Translation)
of passage concerning the Cathachfrom 0''DonnelVs Life of Saint Colum Cille. 599
APP. No. XCVIII. (P. 331.) Original of Inscription on the Shrine of the Cuthach, 599
APP. No. XCIX. (P. 334). Original oj entry in the Annals of Tighernach (a.d.
1090), as to the Cdilefadh, ..... 599
APP. No. C. (P. 335). Original (and Translation) of reference to a Cuilefadh
of Saint Emhin, in a MS. of a.d, 1463, in the R.I.A. (43. 6.), . . 599
APP. No. CI. (P. 33G). Oiiginal (and Translation) of passage concerning the Mios-
ach, from the Yellow Book o/Lecain, .... 600
APP. No. CII. (P. 338). Of the Belie called the Bachall Isu, or •' Staff of Jesus," 601
Original (and Translation) of the account of the ancient tradition respecting this
relic in the " Tripartite Life" of St. Patrick, Gal. — Remarks of the Rev. Dr. Todd,
P.R.I.A , upon the accounts of this Relic, 602. — Original (and Translation) of
passage concerning it in the Annals of Loch Ce', 604. — Original (and Translation)
of passage concerning it in the Annals of the Four Masters, 605.
APP. No. cm. (P. 343). Original (and Translation) of Stanza in Poem by Saint
Fiacc (alluding to the desertio?i of Tara), .... 606
APP. No. civ. (P. 344.). Original (and Translation) of passage in the " Tripar-
tite Life" of Saint Patrick (concerning the chariot of Saint Patrick), . 606
Original (and Translation) of passage concernuig the same in the Book of
Armagh, 607.
APP. No. CV. (P. 346). Oviginal of entry at the end of the "Tripartite Life", 608
APP. No. CVI. (P. 347). Original (and Translation) of passage alluding to Saint
Ultan in the " Tripartite Life", .... 608
Original of passage from Tierchan's Annotations, in the Book of Armagh, 608.
APP. No. CVII. (P. 350). Origimd of concluding words of First Part of the Tri- .
partite Life, ...... 609
APP. No. CVIII. (P. 350). Original (and Translation) of observations, by the
original writer, on the opening passage of the Third Part of the " Tripartite
Life" of St. Patrick, ...... 609
CONTENTS. XXlll
APP. No. CIX. (P. 360). 0)-i(jinal of Two Lines of the spurious Sai,taiu tixUANti;
and of the First Line of same Poem ("Brit. Mus. ; MS. Eg. 185.), . 009
APP. No. ex. (P. 362). Original of the Tivo First Lines of the Martyrolocjij of
Maelmuire Ua Gormain (MS. vol. xvii., Bury. Lib., Brussels), . 609
APP. No. CXI. (P. 363). The Pedigree o/ Aengus Ceile De (from the Leabhar
Mor Duna Doighre, c«//ec? //ie LeabharBreac), . . . 610
APP. No. CXII. (P. 364). On^riHw/ o/ /Ac " Canon" o/ Fothadh, . 010
APP. No. CXIII. (P. 365). Original of the Livocation from the Fe-liris A-EifiGUSX, 610
APP. No. CXIV. (P. 367). Original of First Stanza (Jan. 1) of the Felire
Aengusa, . . . . . . .611
APP. No. CXV. (P. 368), Original of Stanza of the Felire Aengusa at
March 17, . . . . • • .611
APP. No. CXVL (P. 308). Original of Stanza of same at April 13 (Festival of
Bishop Tassach), . . . . . .611
APP. No. CXVII. (P. 373). Original (and Translation) of the " Canon of Saint
P«</iH", from the Book OF Armagh, . . . . 613
Translation of this Canon by Archbishop Ussher, 012.
APP. No. CXVIII. (P. 374). Original of last sentence of the"'RvLB of Saint
Colum Cille", ...... 613
APP. No. CXIX. (P. 376). Original of Extract from an Ancient Treatise hy way
of Exposition of the Mass ..... 013
APP. No. CXX. (P. 378, 379). Original of commencements of Invocations in the
Prayer of Saint Aireran " the Wise", .... 614
APP. No. CXXI. (P. 379). Original of explanation of the word Oirchis, or Air-
chis, in an ancient Glossary (H. 3, 18, T.C.D.), referring to the Prayer of Saint
Aireran "i/ic Wise", ...... 015
APP. No. CXXII. (P. 379,' 380). Original of commencements of the First and
Second Parts of the Prayer of Co-LGV \jADviSEcm3A, . . 615
APP. No. CXXIII (P. 380). Original of commencement of an Ancient Litany
OF THE Blessed Virgin, ..... 015
APP. No. CXXIV. (P. 381). Original (and Translation) of commencement of the
Litany of Aengus Ceile De, ..... 015
Original (and Translation) of Poem ascribed to St. Brigid, 616.
APP. No. CXXV. (P. 383). Origincd of passage in the Agallamh An da
Shdagh, ....... 616
APP. No. CXXVI. (P. 386). Original of two passages in the Baile Chuinn, 617
APP. No. CXXVII. (P. 386, 387). Original of passage in the " Tripartite
Life" of Saint Patrick, quoted from the Baile Chuin (as to the wore? Tailcenn), 617
Of the word Tailcenn, Tailginn,ov Tailgenn, 617. — Original (and Gloss) of Expla-
nation of it from the Senchus Mdr (MS. H. 3, 17, T.C.D.), 617.— Original (and
Translation) of passage in the ancient Tale of the Bruighean Da Derga, 618.
APP. No. CXXVIII (P. 387). Original (and translation) of ancient account of the
Baile an Scail ('' Ecstary of the Champion") ; from MS. Harl. 5280, Brit. Mus., 018
APP. No. CXXIX. (P. 389, 390). Original of stanza referring to the same, in Poem
by Flann ; and original of first line of same Poem, . . . G22
APP. No. CXXX. (P. 391). Original of first line of " Prophetic'" Poem ascribed to
Art ^^ the Lonely", son of Coiii^, ..... 622
XXIV CONTENTS.
APP. No. CXXXI. (P. 392). Original (and Translation) of heading and commence-
ment of a "Fropuecy" ascribed to Finn Mac CnmhuiU, . . 622
Note on the " Flag-stone, or "Rock of Patrick'', 623-4,
APP. No. CXXXIi. (P. 395). Original of stanzas in one of the " Ossianic Poems'",
co?!^rt('rt«V/ a "Prophecy" asc?-i6ec? <o Pinn Mac Cumhaill, . , 624
APP. No. CXXXIII. (P. 397) Original of stanza, containing the "Prophecy" attri-
buted to the Druid of King Laeghaire' (from the " Tripai-tite Life"), . 622
APP. No. CXXXIV. (P. 399). Original of first line of ^' Prophetic Poem" attributed
to Beg Mac De, ..... . 622
APP. No. CXXXV. (P. 399). Original of first sentence of the "Prophecy" attri-
buted to Beg Mac De, ...... 622
APP. No. CXXXVI (P. 400). Original of stanza of a " Prophecy", attributed to
Saint Colum Cille, quoted in the Wars of the Danes (Book of Leinster); and of
first verse oj same Poem (from MS. H. 1, 10., T.C.D.), . . 625
APP. No. CXXXVII. (P. 401). Original of Stanza o/Maolin 6g Mac Bruaideadha
(Mac Brodg), referring to the same "Prophecy"; (quoted in the Annals of the
Four Masters, at A.D. 1599), ..... 62G
APP. No. CXXXVIII. (P. 40G). Original of first stanza of a second "Prophetic''
Poem, attributed to Sai?it Colum Cille, .... 626
APP. No. CXXXIX. (P. 407). Original of first line of a third (like), . 626
APP. No. CXL. (P. 409, 410). Original of first stanzas of three other "Prophetic'
Poems, and of the first line of another, attributed to the same Saint, . 626-7
APP. No. CXLI. (P. 412, 413, 414, 416). Original of three stanzas of a Poetical
"Prophecy", ascribed to Saint Berchan ,• of the first stanza of same Poem; of the
IQth stanza ; of the \2th stanza ; and of the ^Ith stanza of th& same, . 627 8
APP. No. CXLII. (P. 417). Original of first line of a second "Prophetic" Poem
attributed to Saint Berclian, ..... 62S
APP. No. CXLIII. (P. 417). Original of rose quoted by Ferfessa 0' Clerigh from
from a so-called " Prophecy" of Saint Berclian (from the Annals of the Four
Masters, about A.D, 1598), ..... 628
APP. No. CXLIV. (P. 417). Original of first stanza of a "Prophetic" Poem, attri-
buted to Saint Berchan (but believed to have been written by Tadhg O'Neachtain,
about AD. 1716), ...... 62S
APP. No CXLV. (P. 420). Original of commencement of the'Bxii.% Mholing (/?-07«
the Yellow Book of Lecain), ..... 629
APP. No. CXL VI. (P. 422), Original of first stanza of the so-ccdled ' ' Prophecy" of
Sedna, ....... 629
APP. No. CXLVII. (P. 423). Original of first line o/Poem (by DonnellMac Brody,
circa 1570), referring to the same " Prophecy", . . . 629
APP. No. CXL VIII. (P. 423). Original of first words of the so-called " Prophecy",
attributed to Maeltamhlachta. ..... 629
APP. No. CXLIX. (P. 423). Original of passage f-om the Life of Saint Adamnan
(from the MS. vol. XL, 4190-4200, Burg. Lib. Brussels), . . 629
APP. No. CL. (P. 424). Original of the " Vision" of Saint Adabinan from the
Leabhar Mor Duna Doighre, called the Leabhar Breac), . . 630
APP. No. CLI. (P. 425). Of the Pestilences called the Buidhe Chonnaill, and the
Crom Chonnaill, ...... 630
Original (and Translation) of passage in ancient Life of Saint Mac Creich^, 631-2.
CONTENTS. XXV
—Original (and Translation) of two stanzas from a curious Poem in the same Life,
632.— Note on the word Crom, 632.
VPP. No. CLII. (P. 426). Original of passage in the Leabhar M&r Duna Doighre
{called the Leabliar Breac), concerning the Scuap a Fanait, . . 632
yPP. No. CLIII. (P. 429). Original oj Note on the Scuap a Fanait, in the
Felire Aengusa ( from the same book), .... 634
\.PP. No. CLIV. (P, 431, 432). Original of two passages from Giraldus Cam-
brensis Q^ Hibernia Expugnata") concer7iing "Fropuecies" forged for the use of
John De Courci/ and others of the invaders, . . • 635
\PP. No. CLV. (P. 434). Original of stanza of a pretended " Prophecy" g-MOfec?
bi/ Sir George Carew in 1602 from the Careiu MSS., Lambeth Lib., London'), 637
\PP. No. CLVI. (P. 453). Of the accounts of the celebrated King of Ulster, CoN-
CHOBHAR Mac Nessa ...... 637
Original of entry of tiie Death of Conchobhar Mac Nessa in the Annals of
TiGHERNACH (a.d. 33), 638. — Original (and Translation) of the Account of the
Death of Conchobhar Mac Nessa from the Historic Tale of the "Aided Conco-
bair" (" Tragic Fate of Conchobhar''), preserved in the Book of Leinster, 638,
— Original (and Translation) of Keating's account of it, 642. — Original (and
Translation of distich, with Gloss, from Poebi by Cinaeth O'Hartagdin (ob.
973), 643,
A.PP. No. CLVII. (Note to Preface, P. x.) Statement relative to the Irish MSS. of
the College of St. Isidore, at Rome, drawn up for the information of their Lordships
the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland, and laid before them by the Senate of the
Catholic University of Ireland, in \^5d. .... 64:4
EXPLANATIONS OF FAC-SIMILES. .... 649—663
FAC-SIMILES OF THE AnciExNT MSS. . . . [opp.p. 664
(A.) MS. in the " Domhnach Airgid", [R.I.A.]. (temp. St. Patrick ; circa a.d. 430.)
(B.) MS. in the " Calhach". (Gth Century. MS. attributed to St. Coluin CilU.)
(C.) " Book of Kells", [T.C.D.]. (Gth Century. MS. attributed to St. Colum CilU.)
(D.) "Book of Durrow", [T.C.D.]. (6tJ Century. MS. attributed to St. Colum Cilll)
(E.) Memorandum in " Book of Burrow", [T.C.D.]. (6th Century.— att. to St. C. C.)
(F.) Memorandum in " Book of Durrow", [T.C.D.]. (6th Century.— att. to St. C. C.)
(G.) " Book of Dimma'\ [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 620.)
(H.) "Book of Dimitia", [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. C20.)
(I.) " Book of Dimma", [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 620.)
(J.) Memorandum in "Book of Dimma'\ [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 620.)
(K.) "Book of Dinnna", [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 620.)
(L.) " Book of Dimmer, [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 620.)
(M.) Evangelistarium of St. Moling, [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 690.)
(N.) Evangelistarium of St. Moling, [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 690.)
(0.) " Book of Armagh", [T.C.D.]. (a.d. 724.)
(P.) " Rook of Armagh", [T.C.D.]. (a.d. 724.)
(Q.) " Lil)er Hymnorum", [E. 4. 2. ; T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 900.)
(R.) Entry in "Book of Armagh", [T.C.D.]. (made temp. Brian BoroimM, a.d. 1004.)
(S.) ''Leabhar na h-Uidhre", [R.I.A.]. (circa a.d. 1100.)
(T.) " Book of Leinster", [H. 2. 18. ; T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 1130.)
(U.) " Book of Leinster", [H. 2. 18.; T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 11-30.)
(V.) MS. in Trim Coll. Dubl., [H. 2. 15.]. (a.d. 1300.)
(AV.) Entry in ''Leabhar na h-Uidhrff', [R.I.A.], (by Sigraidh O'Cuirnin, a.d. 1345.)
(X.) " Book of Ballymote", [R.LA.]. (a.d. 1391.)
(Y.) " Book of Ballymote". [R.I.A.]. (a.d. 1391.)
(Z ) " Book of Ballymote", [R LA.], (a.d. 1391.)
XXVI CONTENTS.
(AA.) " Yellow Book of Lecain", [H. 2. 16. ; T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 1300.)
(BB.) " Yellow Book of Lecain", [II. 2. 16 ; T.C.D], (circa a.d. 1390.)
(CC.) " Leabhar M6r Duna Doighrff\ (called " Leahhar Breac"), [R.I.A.]. (circa a.d 1-tOO.)
(DD.) '■'■ Leahhar Mdr Duna Doighrff\ [R.I.A.]. (circa a.d. 1400.)
(EE.) '■'■Leabhar Mdr Duna Doighr&\ [R.I. A. J. (circa a.d. 1400.)
(FF.) MS. in Roy. Ir. Acad. [H. & S. 3. 67.] (circa a.d. 1400.)
(GG.) MS. in Roy. Ir. Acad. (Astronom : Tract ; circa a.d. 1400.)
(HH.) MS. in Trin, Coll. Dubl. [H. 2. 7.] (circa a.d. 1400.)
(II.) " Book of iecam", [R.I.A.]. (A.D. 1416.)
(JJ.) "Book of Lecain", [R.I.A.]. (a.d. 1416.)
(KK.) " Book of Lecain", [R.I.A.]. (a.d. 1416.)
(LL.) " Liber Flavus Fergusiorum". (a.d. 1434.)
(MM.) " Book of Acaiir, [E. 3. 5. ; T.C.D.]. (circa ad. 1450.)
(NN.) "Bookof Fermoy". (a.d. 1463.)
(00.) MS. in Roy. Ir. Acad. [43. 6.] (a.d. 1467.)
(PP.) Entv^f m Leahharnah-Uidhri,\'R.l.k.\. (a.d. 1470)
(QQ.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 1. 8.]. (loth Century.)
(RR.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 1. 8.]. (15th Century.)
(SS.) " Book of Lismore". (15th Century.)
(TT.) Memorandum in Leabhar Mdr Duna Doighri, [R.I.A.]. (circa a d 1.500.)
(UU.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 3. 18.]. (a.d. 1509.)
(VV.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 1. 8.]. (16th Century.)
(WW.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 3. 17.]. (15th & ICth Cent.)
(XX.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 1. 19. J. (a.d. 1580.)
(YY.) Handwriting of Michael O'Clery, [Vellum MS. ; R.I.A. J.
(ZZ.) Signature of Michael O'Clery, [VelUim MS. ; R.I.A. J.
(AAA.) Handwriting of Cucogry O'Clery, [Vellum MS. ; R.I.A.].
(BBB.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 1. 18. ; T.C.D.]. (a.d. 1650.)
(CCC.) Handwriting of Duald Mac Firbis, [H. 1. 18. ; T.C.D.]. (a d. 1650.)
(DDD.) Handwriting of Michael and Cucogry O'Clery, [Paper MS. ; R.I.A.].
(EEE.) Handwriting of Conairi O'Clery, [Paper MS. ; R.I.A.].
(FFF.) Handwriting of John O'Donovan, LL.D., M.R.I.A. (1861.)
(GGG.) Handwriting (small) of Eugene O'Curry, M.R.I.A. (1848.)
(HHH ) Handwriting (large) of Eugene O'Curry, M.R.I.A. (1848.)
GENERAL INDEX ...... 6G5— 72
LIST OF
ERRATA AND CORRECTIONS.
Page 3, line 32; for " Gaedhlic", read " Gaedhilic" (as well wherever it may
occur as here).
,, 3, note 5, line 3 ; for " Gaelic", read " Gael".
,, 4, Hne 6 ; for " recent", read " more recent".
„ 36, note, line 2 ; for " land immortality", read " land of immortality".
„ 38, line 19 ; for " His is Eeochaid'\ read " He is Reochaidk'\
,, 70, line 1; for " GiUa-an-Chomdech", read " GiUa-an-Chomdedh'\
„ 70, line oi ; for " Einlialn Macha'", read " Emhain Mhacha".
„ 7G, line 23 ; for " about 1002", read " in 1004".
„ 94, last line but two; for " Daniel", read "David".
„ 101, line 18 ; for " Connchair% read " Conachail".
,, 111, line 34 ; for " Roscommon", read " Galway".
„ 118, line 15 ; for " submersis", read " submersus".
„ 120, last line; for " Tir-FldachradK\ read " Tir-Fhiachrach" .
„ 146, hne 27; for " Gaed/dr, read " GacdheV.
„ 147, line 4 ; for " Tead(jK\ read " Tadlup.
„ 148, line 9 ; for " was a guardian", read " was guardian".
„ 158, line 18 ; for " they year 1200", read " the year 1200".
„ 169, line 4 ; for " Brien Roe", read " Brian Ruadh".
„ 171, line 1 ; for " Fiontain", read " Fiontcm".
„ „ line 30; for Ua'Cfwiir/hail", rea,d Ua Chonghbhad".
„ 176, line 30; for '^ Nekle the profound in just laws", read '■' Ntidhe W\q
profound, and Ferchertne".
„ 189, line 27 ; for " Luaidet", read " Luain€".
„ 214, line 24 ; for " Tad(jK\ read " Tadhf.
„ 217, hne 3 ; for " Benn-chair\ read " Bennchair".
„ 219, line 24 ; for " 0' Ca}ian)is'\ read " 0' Canannans" .
„ 243, line 13 ; for "Amrath", read " Anroth".
„ 250, line 26 ; for " Meagh", read " Mag]i'._
„ 251, last line ; for '■^ Moriadh", read " Moriath'\
,, 264, line 8 ; for " Fiacha Finnolaidh", read " Feradhach, the son of
Fiacha Finnolaidh".
,, „ line 9 ; for " i^tac/iw"," read " -Feraf/AacA".
,', 277, line 39 ; for " Grayhounds", read " Greyhound".
„ 301, line 36; for FiimhheoUr, read " Finnbheod'\
„ 302, line 36 ; for " ancient lost tract", read " ancient tract''.
„ 303, line 12 ; for " chean", read " cheann".
„ „ line 24 ; for " Drean", read " Deaif.
„ 304, line 5 ; for " Snaelt", read " Suaelt".
„ 319, line 1; for " Dull Dearmalrt", read " Duil Dearmaif.
„ „ line 8 ; for " Lear", read " Lir".
„ 336, line 24; for '-Torloch", read " Conor" [see " Cambrensis Eversus",
published by the Celtic Society; vol. ii., p. 397].
„ 340, line 28 ; for " Cinn", read " Cenn".
'., 363, last hne but four ; for " three quatrains", read " four quatrains".
„ 369, last line but four; '' Monaf and '' Faronis", though so written in
the original text, must be read "Moses" and "Pharaoh". " John",
too, in this passage, should, of course, be " Paul".
XXVlll ERRATA
Page 404, line 33 ; for " Maranacli'\ read " Mearanach".
„ 429, line 33 ; for " in 664", read " in the year 664".
„ 431, line 16 ; for " wordly", read " worldly".
„ 442, line 12 ; for " Protestant"', read " local".
„ 480, note 21 ; for " Mdet\ read " Mdir\
„ 488, line J9 ; for " -petx, iia -ivM-pec", read " ye]\ ha nAi|\ec".
„ 496, line 21 ; for " funn", read" -puim".
„ „ line 32 ; for "i:[oci\u<.\ic1iJ", read " [•f]oc|\uaicTi".
„ 498, line 4; for " mliAjoj", read "111 h Agog".
„ 503, line 35 ; for " hand", read " band".
„ 508, last line but one ; for " NeicUie", read " Neidhi".
„ 509, note 85 ; for " when", read " where".
„ 518, line 20; for " ocuf ", read " ocuf".
„ „ line 24; for " ixegnAfe", read " -pegriAjxe".
„ 5-21, line 29 ; for " two hundred", read " one hundred".
„ 522, hne 4 ; for " 200", read " 100".
„ 523, line 1 ; for " coiAgiMbAin", read " co]\|'5]MbAni".
„ 520, line 24 ; for " hAnnj-Atii", read " hAnnfA".
,, 535, line 29 ; for " f iii", read " pp".
„ 542, line 1 7 ; for " -ooic a'oo", read " •ooicA "oo".
„ 551, line 17 ; for " teAjceoiyvA", read " LeAjco^iA".
„ 652, line 10 ; for " lAA-pi", read " f aia".
„ „ line 28 ; for "-ooiiiAn", read "■ooiiiAiri".
„ 553, line 2; for " tiom", read " tiom".
„ 556, line 2 ; for "^veAncufd", read "-peAnciifA".
„ 558, line 14 ; for " ciu\iiiiAij\", read "ciiAtAniAi|\".
,, „ line 17 ; for " iAecb", read " lAecib".
„ „ luie 34; for " niei'o", read " tiiei-o",
„ 500, last line ; for " cipgceix", read " cipjce^A".
„ 562, line 34 ; for " from M.S.S." read " from a MS."
„ 563, last line but 7 ; for '• Connacht", read " Crmichau".
„ 570, line 9; for " Achnni-onigAt)", read "Aclitmi'onijd'o".
,, 574, line 18 ; for " Vipcit\ci\e", read " |:'l^cn\ctie".
„ 576, last line but 6 ; for " ha", read " iia".
„ 581, line 6 ; for " Britons", read " true Britons".
„ 581, line 21 ; for " mbiiAA-oAn", read " rtibbiA-oAn".
„ „ line 37; for "leAriAitiinA", read " beAnAihiiA".
„ 582, line 25 ; for " cmeA-o", read " cinneA-o".
„ 590, last line of last note; for " H. 8. 17. TC.D.", read " H. 3. 18.
T.C.D ".
„ 597, line 21 ; for " kings", read " king".
„ 598, last line but 2 ; for " JAn", read " gAti".
,, 599, line 21 ; (no comma after the word cAbAijAc).
„ 600, line 29; for " UlakW\ read " Uladh".
„ 601, line 15 ; for " ocu]'", read " ocuf".
„ 602, line 9 ; (quotation should end with inverted commas).
„ 605, line 29 ; for " cccmn", read " ccinn".
„ 616, line 17 ; for " caves", read " cans".
„ 629, line 14 ; for " attributed Se-onA", read " attributed to Se-oiiA".
„ 630, line 8 ; after " Ultonians", read " were".
[In consequence of a mistake in the List furnished by the Secretary of the University to
the Printer, the Dates given at the head of Lectures V. to XII. (pp. 93, 120, 140, 1C2, 181, 203,
229, 251), are incorrect; (see Note at p. 320.) Lectures V., VI., VIL, VIII., IX., and X., were
in fact delivered in the Spring (March) of 18.56. Lectures XL, XIL, XIII., and XIV., and
XVII. to XXI., were all delivered in the months of June and July, 1856. Lectures XV. and
XVI. (in the order now printed), were in fact delivered in March, 1855, after Lect. IV., and
are now restored to their proper order. Lect. V. (p. 93), as delivered (in March, 1856) opened
with an explanation, now, of course, omitted, so as to take up the subject from the close of
the previous Lect. the year before.]
LECTURE 1.
[Delivered 13th Mai-ol!. 18di.]
Introduction. Of Learning before S. Patrick's time. Of the lost Books,
and what is known of them. 1. The Cuibnenn. II. The Saltair of Tara. III.
The Book of the Uachongbhail. IV. Tlie Ciii Droma Snechta. V. The Sean-
chas M6r. VI. Tiie Book of Saint Mochta. VII. Tlie Book of Guana.
VIII. The Book of Dubh-da-leiihe. IX. The Saltan- of Cashel. Of the
existing collections of ancient Manusci'ipts.
I BELIEVE tliat tlie tendency may 'be called a law of our nature,
which induces us to look back with interest and reverence to
the moniuiients and records of our progenitors ; and that the more
remote and ancient such monuments and records are, the greater
is the interest which we feel in them. At no period, perhaps,
was this feeling of interest and reverence for the remains of
antiquity more generally cherished than it is amongst the civi-
lized nations of Europe in ova: own days. A desire to learn
and to understand the manners, the habits and customs, the
arts, the science, the religion, nay, even the ordinary pursuits,
of the nations of ancient times has largely seized on the minds
of living men ; and the possession of even the few relics of
ancient art which have come down to our own century is
deemed of great value. Of how much higher and more special
interest and importance, therefore, must it be to us to under-
stand the language, and through it to become acquainted with
the actions, the range of thought, tlie character of mind, the
habits, the tastes, and the every-day life of those to whom in our
o"WTi coimtry those relics belonged, and who have perhaps taken
a prominent part in the ancient history of the nations among
whom such vestiges of former days have been discovered!
The various subjects connected with historical and antiquarian
researches in general occupy at the present moment so promi-
nent a place in the literature of modern Europe, and theu' value
and importance are so generally recognized, that it is unneces-
sary to make any apology for undertaking here a coru'se of lec-
tures such as that upon which we are now about to enter : nor
is it necessary, I am sure, to point out the special usefulness in
our own country, in particular, of any new attempt to develop
Avhat may be learned of her early history.
1
OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN.
Neglect of
antiquarian
inquiry.
In all otlier countries these departments of knowledge are
both earnestly and industriously cultivated ; and not only in all
that relates to the early state of those classic nations which
have filled the most distinguished place in the history of the
world, but also as regards nations of lesser prominence, where,
as a matter both of natural affection and duty, the labours of
the antiquarian are directed with zeal and diligence to eluci-
date the early condition of his own native land.
In Ireland, however, it is deeply to be regretted that as yet
we have not at all adequately explored the numerous valuable
monuments, and the great abimdance of national records, wliicli
have been bequeathed to us by our Celtic ancestors. But if in
our days the language, history, and traditions of our country
and our race, are not prized by Irishmen as they ought to be,
we know that this has not been always the case. Even a
limited acqviaintance with oiu' manuscript records will suffice to
show us how the national poet, the historian, and the musician,
as well as the man of excellence in any other of the arts or
sciences, were cherished and honoured. We find them indeed '-:
from a very early period placed in a position not merely of
independence, but even of elevated rank; and their persons
and property declared inviolate, and protected specially by
the law. Thus, an Ollamh,'-^^ or Doctor in Filedecht,^^' when
ordained by the king or chief, — for such is the expression used
on the occasion, — was entitled to rank next in precedence to
the monarch himself at table. He was not permitted to lodge,
or accept refection when on his travels, at the house of any one
I
(1) OttAiTi, pronounced " Ollav".
(2) It is very difficult to find an adequate translation in the English language
for the words •pl.e'oecc Qwonounced nearly "fillidecht", — the cA guttural), and
Vile (which is pronounced nearly "fiUey"). The word P</e (the reader will
observe the pronunciation), is commonly rendered by the English word "Toet":
but it was in fact the general name applied to a Scholar in or Professor of Lite-
rature and Philosophy; the art of composition in verse, or "Poetry", being in-
cluded under the former. Perhaps the best general name to represent the File
would be that of " Philosopher", in the Greek sense of the word ; but the term
would be too vague as it is understood in modern English. Instead therefore of
translating Filidecht " Philosophy", and File " Philosopher", the Irish Avords
are retained in the following pages ; the filidecht,— in the knowledge of which
the degree of OUamh was the highest, in that system of education which in
ancient Erinn preceded the University system of after times,— included the
study of law, of history, and of philosophy properly so called, as well as of
languages, of music, of druidism, and of poetry in all its departments, and the
practice of recitation in prose and verse; the word file, taken by itself,
abstractedly, means generally a Poet, — but in connection with the system of
learning the term is applied to a Sai (pron. " See"), in some one or more of
the branches of learning included in the filedecht; so that an OUamh would
be called File, and so also a Drumcli, etc. ; so also would a Ferleiyhinn, or
Professor of classical learning, etc, [See also Appendix, No. L]
OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 6
below tlie rank of a FlaithP' Pie, that was tlie Ollamh, was al- lect. i.
lowed a standing income of " twenty-one cows and their grass"
in the chieftain's territory, besides ample refections for himself learned men
and for his attendants, to the nnmber of twenty -fonr ; including Erinn!'^"'
his subordinate tutors, his advanced pupils, and his retinue of
servants. He was entitled to have two hounds and six horses.
He was, besides, entitled to a singular privilege within his terri-
tory: that of conferring a temporary sanctuary from injury or
arrest, by carrying his wand, or having it carried around or
over the person or place to be protected. His wife also en-
joyed certain other valuable privileges; and similar privileges
were accorded to all the degrees of the legal, historical, musical
and poetic art below him, according to their rank.
Similar rank and emohiments, again, were awarded to the
Seatichaidhe,^*^ or Historian ; so that in this very brief reference
you will already obtain some idea of the honour and respect
which were paid to the national literature and traditions, in the
persons of those who were in ancient times looked on as their
guardians from age to age. And, surely, by the Irishman of
the present day, it ought to be felt an imperative duty, which
he owes to his country not less than to himself, to learn something
at least of her history, her literature, and her antiquities, and, as
far as existing means will allow, to ascertain for himself what
her position was in past times, when she had a name and a
civihzation, a law and life of her own.
In the present course of lectures, then, it will be my duty to
endeavour to lay before you an outline of the Materials which
still exist for the elucidation of our National History. For, it
may be truly said that the history of ancient Erinn, as of
modern Ireland, is yet unwritten ; though, as we shall see in
the progress of this course, most ample materials still remain
in the Gaedhlid^^ or Irish language from which that history may
be constructed.
Amongst the large quantities of MS. records which have
1^3) The ptAiu (now pronounced nearly "Flah") was a Noble, or Landlord-
Chief; a class in the ancient Irish community in many respects analogous to the
Noble class in Germany, or in France before the Eevolulion of 1789, though the
rights and privileges of the ancient Irish were by no means those of the Feudal
law of the continent, which never prevailed in any form in ancient Ermn.
(■*J SeAncAix)e (now pronounced nearly " Shanchie") was the Historian or
Antiquarian ; and, in his character of Eeciter, also the Story Teller.
t*'The ancient Irish called themselves 5Aei-6il, (now pronounced nearly
" Gaeil"), and their language ■^dei-oetg, or Gaedhlic (pron : "Gaelic"). In modern
English the word " Gaelic" is applied only to that branch of the race which forms
the Celtic population of modern Scotland. But the word refers to the true
name of the entire race ; and in these Lectures, accordingly, it is always used
to designate the Milesian population of ancient Erinn.
1 B
4 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF AXCIENT ESINN.
LECT. I. come down to our times, will be found examples of the lite-
~ rature of very diiferent periods in our history. Some, as there
in ancient is abundant evidence to prove, possess a degree of antiquity
lain" Pa-""^^ ^^^T remarkable, indeed, when compared with the similar
tricic. records of other countries of modern Europe. Others again
have been comj)iled within still recent times. Those MSS.
which we now possess belonging to the earliest periods are
themselves, we have just reason to believe, either in great part
or in the whole, but transcripts of still more ancient works.
At what period in Irish history written records began to be
kept it is, perhaps, impossible to determine at present with pre-
cision. However, the national traditions assign a very remote
antiquity and a high degree of cultivation to the civilization of
our pagan ancestors. [See Appendix No. II.]
Without granting to such traditions a greater degree of
credibility than they are strictly entitled to, it must, I think,
be admitted that the immense quantity of historical, legendary,
and genealogical matter relating to the pagan age of ancient
Erinn, and which we can trace to the very oldest written docu-
ments of which we yet retain any account, could only have been
transmitted to our times by some form of written record.
Passing over those earher periods, however, for the present,
and first directing our inquiries to an era in our history of
which we possess copious records (though one already far re-
moved from modern times), it may be found most convenient
that I should ask your attention at the opening of tliis course
of Lectures to the probable state of learning in Erinn about the
period of the introduction of Christianity by Saint Patrick.
There is abundant evidence in the MSS. relating to this
period (the authority and credibility of which will be fidly
proved to you), to show that Saint Patrick found on his coming
to Erinn a regularly defined system of law and ]3olicy, and a
fixed classification of the people according to various grades
and ranks, rmder the sway of a single monarch, presiding over
certain subordinate provincial kings.
We find mention likewise of books in the possession of the
Druids before the arrival of Saint Patrick; and it is repeatedly
stated (in the Tripartite Life of the saint) that he placed
primers or lessons in the Latin language in the hands of those
whom he wished to take into his ministry.
We have also several remarkable examples of the literary
eminence which was rapidly attained by many of his disciples,
amongst whom may be particularly mentioned, JBenSn, or
Benignus ; Mochoe ; and Fiacc, of SlehhU, or Sletty. This last
OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT EEINN 0
is the author of a biographical poem on the Life of the Apostle lect. i.
in the Gaedhlic language, a most ancient copy of which still ^^^^^^^^^^j^^
exists, and which bears internal evidence of a high degree of loss of the
perfection in the language at the time at which it was com- ?^'g,s" ^"'"
posed. And it is unquestionably in all respects a genuine and
native production, quite untincturcd with the Latin or any other
foreign contemporary style or idiom.
There are besides many other valuable poems and other com-
positions referable to this period which possess much of the
same excellence, though not all of equal ability : and among
these are even a few still extant, attributed, and with much
probability, to Dubthach (now pronounced " Duvach", and in
the old Norse sagas spelt Diifthakr), Ua Lngair, chief poet of the
monarch X«e^/iai>g (pron : nearly as "Layry"), who was uncle,
on the mother's side, and preceptor of the Fiacc just mentioned."^^
It is to be remarked here that, in dealing with these early
periods of Irish history, the inquirer of the present day has to
contend with difficulties of a more than ordinary kind. Our
isolated position prevented the contemjDorary chroniclers of other
countries from oivinof to the affairs of ancient Erinn anything
more than a passmg notice; while many causes have combined
to deprive us of much of the light which the works of our own
annalists would have thrown on the passing events of their day
in the rest of Europe.
The first and chief of these causes was the destruction and
mutilation of so many ancient writings during the Danish occu-
pation of Erinn; for we have it on trustworthy record, that
those hardy and imscrupulous adventurers made it a special
part of their savage warfare to tear, burn, and drown (as it is
expressed) all books and records that came to their hands, in
the sacking of churches and monasteries, and the plundering of
the habitations of the chiefs and nobles. And that they des-
troyed them, and did not take them away, as some have thought
(contrary to the evidence of our records), is confirmed by the
fact that not a fragment of any such manuscripts has as yet
been found among the collections of ancient records in Copen-
hagen, Stockholm, or any of the other great northern reposi-
tories of antiquities that we are acquainted with.
Another, and, we may beheve, the chief cause, was the oc-
f65 It has been thought proper to _insert in the Appendix (No. III.) the text
(with translation) of tliree of these curious poems, as specimens of the style
and composition of so very early a writer. They are all on the subject of the
battles and triumphs of King Crimtkan, son of Enna Ceinnselacli (King of
l.einster in the time of the poet, i.e., the fifth century), and on those of Enna
himseU".
6 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINX.
LECT. I. currence of tlie Anglo-Nonuan invasion so soon after the expul-
Nciect f ^^^^^ °^ ^^^® Danes, and tlie sinister results which it produced
thc'iangurtge upou thc literary as well as upon all the other interests of the
dern'times."" country. The protracted conflicts between the natives and
their invaders were fatal not only to the vigorous resumption of
the study of our language, but also to the very existence of a
great part of our ancient literature. The old practice of repro-
ducing our ancient books, and adding to them a record of such
events as had occurred from the period of their first compila-
tion, as well as the composition of new and independent works,
was almost altogether suspended. And thus our national litera-
ture received a fatal check at the most important period of its
development, and at a time when the mind of Europe was be-
ginning to expand under the influence of new impulses.
Again, the discovery of printiug at a subsequent period made
works in other languages so miich more easy of access than
those transcribed by hand in the Irish tongue, that this also
may have contributed to the farther neglect of native composi-
tions.
Aided by the new political mle under which the coimtry,
after a long and gallant resistance, was at length brought, these
and similar influences banished, at last, almost the possibility of
cultivating the Gaedhlic literature and learning. The long-
continuing insecurity of life and property drove out the native
chiefs and gentry. Or gradually changed their minds and feel-
ings— the class which had ever before supplied liberal patrons
of the national hterature.
Not only were the old Irish nobility, gentry, and people in
general, lovers of their native language and literature, and
patrons of literary men, but even the great Anglo-Norman
nobles themselves who eflected a permanent settlement among
us, appear from the first to have adopted what doubtless must
have seemed to them the better manners, customs, language,
and literature of the natives ; and not only did they miuiificently
patronize their professors, but became themselves proficients in
these studies ; so that the Geraldines, the Butlers, the Burkes,
the Keatings, and others, thought, spoke, and wrote in the
Gaedhlic, and stored their libraries with choice and expensive
volumes in that language ; and they were reproached by their
own compatriots with having become " ipsis Hibernis Hiber-
niores", — " more Irish than the Irish themselves". So great
indeed was the value in those days set on literary and historical
documents by chiefs and princes, that it has more than once
happened that a much-prized MS. was the stipulated ransom of
a captive noble, and became the object of a tedious warfare ;
OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. /
and tliis state of tilings continued to exist for several centuries, lect. i.
even after the whole framework of Irish society was shaken to ^., ^
11 • • • r 1 -r\ 1 TVT Literature
pieces by the successive invasions or the Danes, the JNorsemen, encouraged
and the Anglo-Normans, followed by the Elizabethan, Crom- cMct^lins,''"
wellian, and WilHamite wars and confiscations, and accompanied "f^'^ti^e^r na'
by the e"\'er-increasing dissensions of the native princes among f'onai miie-
themselves, disunited as they were ever after the fall of the
supreme monarchy at the close of the twelfth century.
With the dispersion of the native chiefs, not a few of the great
books that had escaped the wreck of time were altogether lost
to us ; many followed the exiled fortunes of their owners ; and
not a few were placed in inaccessible security at home. Indeed,
it may be said that after the termination of the great wars of
the seventeenth centmy, so few and inaccessible were the exam-
ples of the old Gaedhlic literature, that it was almost impos-
sible to acquire a perfect knowledge of the language in its
purity.
With such various causes, active and long-continued, in ope-
ration to effect its destruction, there is reason for wonder that
we should still be in possession of any fragments of the ancient
literature of oiu- country, however extensive it may once have
been. And that it was extensive, and comprehended a wide
range of subjects — justifying the expressions of the old writers
who spoke of " the hosts of the books of Erinn" — may be judged
from those wliich have survived the destructive ravages of in-
vasion, the accidents of time, and the other causes just enume-
rated. When we come to inqmre concerning the fragments
which exist in England and elsewhere, they will be found to be
still of very large extent; and if we judge the value and pro-
portions of the original literatiu'e of our Gaedhlic ancestors, as
we may fairly do, l^y what remains of it, we may be justly ex-
cused the indulgence of no small feeling of national j)ride.
Amongst the collections of Irish MSS. now accessible, many
of the most remarkable can be sho^vn to possess a high degree
of antiquity ; and not only do they in many instances exhibit
internal evidence of having been compiled from still more ancient
dociunents, but this is distinctly so stated in reference to several
of the most valuable tracts contained in them.
We also find numerous references to books, of which we now
unfortimately possess no copies ; and these invaluable records, it
is to be feared, are now irrecoverably lost. Of the works the
originals of which have not come down to us, but with whose
contents we are made more or less familiar by references, cita-
tions, or transcripts in still existing MSS., I shall now proceed
to give you a brief general outline ; reserving for another lecture
LECT. I.
8 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN.
tlie more detailed discussion of tlie subjects wliicli they treat of,
tlieir historic value, and the place whicli tliey are entitled to
occupy in tlie reconstruction of our ancient literature.
Of the I. The first ancient book that I shall mention is one to which
I have found but one or two references, and which I must in-
troduce by a rather circuitous train of evidence.
In the time of Senchan (pron. " Shencan"), then Chief Poet
of Erinn, and of Saint Ciaran (pronounced in English as if
written "Kieran"), of Cluain mic JVois, or Clonmacnoise, — ^that
is about A.D. 580, — Senchan is stated to have called a meeting
of the poets and learned men of Erinn, to discover if any of
them remembered the entire of the ancient Tale of the Tain bo
Chuailgne, or the Cattle Spoil or Cattle plunder of Cuailgne,^^^
a romantic tale founded upon an occurrence which is referred
to the beginning of the Christian Era.
The assembled poets all answered that they remembered but
fragments of the Tale ; whereupon Senchan commissioned two
of his own pupils to travel into the country of Letha to learn
the Tale of the Tain, loliich tlie Saoi, or Professor, liad taken to
the East after the Cuilmenn [or the great book written on
Skins] .
The passage is as follows (see original in Appendix, No. IV.) :
" The Files of Erinn were now called together by Senchan
Torpeist, to know if they remembered the Tain ho Chuailgne
in full ; and they said that they knew of it but fragments only.
Senchan then spoke to his pupils to know wliich of them
would go into the countries of Letha to learn the Tdiii, which
the Sai had taken 'eastwards' after the Cuilmenn. Emine,
the grandson of Ninine, and Muirgen, Senchan's own son, set
out to go to the East". [Book of "Leinster (H. 2. 18. T.C.D.),
fol. 183, a.]
This, to be sure, is but a vague reference, but it is sufficient
to show that in Senchan's time there was at least a tradition
that some such book had existed, and had been carried into
Letha, the name by which Italy in general, and particularly
that part of it in which Rome is situated, was designated by
ancient Irish writers. Now the carrying away of this book is
a circumstance which may possibly have occurred during or
shortly subsequent to St. Patrick's time. And so, finding this
reference in a MS. of such authority as the Book of Leinster
(a well-known and most valuable compilation of the middle
of the twelfth century), I could not pass it over here.
<7^ CuAiijne (Cuailgne), a district now called Cooley, in the modern county of
Louth.
OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 9
I remember but one other reference to a Book known by the lect i.
name of Cuihnenn: it occm's in the " Brehon Laws", and in an qj. j,^g
ancient Irish Law Glossary, compiled by the learned Duhhal- saltaik of
tach Mac Firhlsigh (Duald Mac Firbis), and preserved in the
Library of T.C.D. (classed H. 5. 30.), in wdiich the Seven Orders
(or degrees) of " Wisdom" are distinguished and explained,
(Wisdom, I should tell you, here technically signifies history
and antiquity, sacred and profane, as well as the whole range of
what we should now call a collegiate education.) It is in these
words : —
" Druiracli^*^ is a man who has a perfect knowledge of wis-
dom, from the greatest Book, which is called Cuihnenn, to the
smallest Book, which is called ' Ten Words' \_I)eich m-Breithir,
that is ' the Ten Commandments' ; a name given to the Penta-
teuch], in which is well arranged the good testament which
God made unto Moses". — [See Appendix, No. V.]
The Cuihnenn here spoken of is placed in opposition to the
Books of Moses, as if it were a repertory of history or other
matter concerning events entirely apart from those contained
in the sacred volume,
II, The next ancient record which we shall consider is one
about the authenticity of which much doubt and imcertainty
have existed in modern times ; I allude to the Saltair of Tara,
the composition of which is referred to the third century.
The oldest reference to this book that I have met with is to
be formd in a poem on the map or site of ancient Tara, written
by a very distinguished scholar, Cuan O'Lochain, a native of
Westmeath, who died in the year 1024, The oldest copy of
O'Lochain's verses that I have seen is preserved in the ancient
and very curious topographical tract so well known as the
Dlnnsenchas (pron: nearly "Dinnshanacus"), of which several
ancient IMS. editions have been made from time to time. The
one from which I am about to quote is to be found in the Book
of Ballymote, a magnificent vohune compiled in the year 1391,
and now deposited among the rich treasures of the Royal
(8' ■0|\tiinicVi, i.e., he who has (or knows) the top ridge (or highest range)
of learning; a word compounded of "oivuini, the ridge of a iiill, or the back
of a person, or the ridge of tlie roof of a liouse ; and cti, a form of cieic,
the column, or tree, which in ancient times supported the house ; and the man
who was a -oiAiiinicti was supposed to have cUmbed up tlie pillar or tree of
learning to its very ridge or top, and was thus qualified to be a Vepl-eijinn —
a Professor, or man qualified to teach or superintend the teaching of the whole
course of a college education, [The entire passage, in which the "Seven
Orders of Wisdom" are separately explained, will be found, with translation,
in the Appenuix, No. V.]
10 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN.
LECT. I. Irish Academy. Tlie following extract (the original of wliich
~ T~ will be found in the Appendix, No. VI.) from the opening of
Poem on O'Lochain's most valuable jjoem contains somewhat more than
^^™' an allusion to the Saltair of Tara: —
Temair,'^®-' choicest of hills,
For [possession of] which Erinn is now devastated,
The noble city of Cormac Son of Art,
Who was the son of great Conn of the hundred battles :
Cormac, the prudent and good,
Was a sage, Sijlle (or poet), a prince:
Was a righteous judge of the Fene-men,^'°^
Was a good friend and companion.
Cormac gained fifty battles :
He compiled the Saltair of Temur.
In that Saltair is contained
The best smnmary of history ;
It is that Saltair which assigns
Seven chief kings to Erinn of harbours ;
They consisted of the five kings of the provinces, —
The monarch of Erinn and his Deputy.
In it are (written) on either side,
What each provincial king is entitled to.
What the king of Temur in the east is entitled to.
From the king of each great musical province.
The synchronisms and chronology of all.
The kings, with each other [one with another] all ;
The boundaries of each brave province,^"-'
From a cantred up to a great chieftaincy.
This important poem, which consists altogether of thirty -two
quatrains, has been given (from the MS. H. 3. 3 in the Library
(•') Ceiiu\i]\ i.e. CeAiimi^, is the nominative : CeAiiiyvAc, the genitive, which is
in'onounced very nearly Tara, as the place is now called in English. This
celebrated hill is situated in the present county of INIeath, but a few miles to
the west of Dublin. The remains of the ancient i>alace of the Kings of Erinn
are still visible upon it. (See the admirable Memoir upon these remains pub-
lished by Dr. Petrie in the eighteenth vol. of the Transactions of the Royal
Irish Academy, in which a detailed map of the ruins is given.) It is more than
probable that this poem was written in the year 1001, when Brian Boroimhe
showed the first symptoms of a design to dethrone King Maelseachlaimi or
Malachy.
(10) "Eene-men". — These were the fiirmers; and what is meant therefore is
that Cormac was a rigliteous Judge of the " Agraria Lex" of the Gaels.
<iOThis line has been translated " The boundaries of each pro^dnce /row
the hiW" ; but after much consideration I have clearly come to the conclusion
that the word in the original is intended for iro-ci\tu\i j, or po-ciuu\ix), brave,
valiant, hardy, and not po cjmkmc, _/ro»i tlie hill.
OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 11
of Trinity College), with an English translation, by oiu" dis- lect. i.
tinofiTished conntr^anan. Doctor Petrie, in his vakiable Memoir _„ ^, ,.,,
of reniair, or lara, piibhshed m the eighteenth volume oi the of "Saitair"
Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, p. 143.
The Book of Ballymote, in the Library of the Royal Irish
Academy [at fol. 145, a. a.], and the Yellow Book of Lecan, in
that of Trinity College, DnbHn [classed H. 2. 16.] at col. 889,
both contain a curious article on the excellence of Cormac
Mac Art as a king, a judge, and a warrior, from which I may
extract here the following passage as also referring to the Saitair
of Tara [see Appendix, No. VII.] : —
" A noble work was performed by Cormac at that time,
namely, the compilation of Cormac's Saitair, which was com-
posed by him and the Seanchaidhe, [or Historians] of Erinn,
including Fintan, Son of Bochra, and Fithil, the poet and
judge [both distinguished for ancient lore]. And their syn-
chronisms andi genealogies, the succession of their kings and.
monarchs, their battles, their contests, and their antiquities,
from the world's beginning down to that time, were written ;
and this is the Saitair of Temair, which is the origin and
fountain of the Historians of Erinn from that period down to
this time. This is taken from the Book of the Uachong-
bhail".
Dr. Petrie, in his remarks on the Saitair or Psalter of Tara
(Transact. R. I. A., vol. xviii., p. 45), observes that " the very
title given to this work is sufficient to excite well-founded sus-
picion of its antiquity". His meaning evidently is, that the
title of Saitair appears clearly to imply a knowledge of the
Holy Scriptures, and can' scarcely have been selected as the
title of his work by a heathen author.
We do not, however, anywhere read that the name of
Psalter or Saitair, was given to this work by its compiler. We
know that in later times the celebrated King-Bishop Cormac
Mac Cullinan gave the same name of Saitair to the great simi-
lar collection made by him about the close of the ninth or be-
ginning of the tenth century. Did he call his compilation, or
was it called by others, after the Saitair of Tara, compiled by
the older Cormac in the third century ? Or even if we suppose
the name of Saitair or Psalter to have originated with the
Christian Cormac, the same name may have been afterwards
given to the older work, from the similar nature of its con-
tents, and from its ha^dng been compiled by another Cormac.
If the one was worthy of being named Psalter of Cashel, as
having been compiled at the command of a King of Cashel,
the other was equally entitled to the name of Psalter of Taraj
I)r. Pctrie
12 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN.
having been compiled by a King of Tara. There was time
enough from the beginning of the tenth century to the time
oil the we first find it mentioned under the name of Saltair and PsaUer
of Tara, to give full currency to the title ; and this supposition
may, in part, perhaps, furnish an answer to another of Dr.
Petrie's difficulties, viz., that this book has not been quoted,
nor any extract from it given, in any of our antient Irish au-
thorities, although the Saltair of Casliel is frequently cited by
them. Perhaps they have quoted it, although under other
names, not yet ascertained by us to be identical with it, the
name of Saltair of Tara not having been in their time univer-
sally adopted as apphcable to it. But a better answer to the
difficulty is probably to be found in the fact, that the Saltair of
Tara had perished before the twelfth or thirteenth century, and
consequently was inaccessible to the compilers of the Books of
Ballymote, Lecan, Hy Many, etc. For in the passage just
quoted from the Book of Ballymote, its contents are described
on the authority of the Book of the Uachonghhail; whilst Cuan
O'Lochain, writmg three centuries before, speaks of it (and
under the name of Saltair of Tara) as being in his time extant.
It follows, then, beyond all reasonable doubt, that whether
or not the name of Saltair or Psalter was originally given to
this compilation, such a compilation existed, and that m the
beginning of the eleventh centiuy it was in existence, under
the name of Saltair of Tara, and believed to have been collected
luider the patronage of Cormac Mac Art, who died in the
year 2QQ.
Before I leave the subject of the " Saltair", I cannot but
observe, that the Rev. Dr. Keating also, a most learned Gaedhhc
scholar, gives an explanation of tire word quite in consonance
with the preceding remarks. In the Preface to his History of
Ireland he tells us that History in ancient times was all written
in verse, for its better security, and for the greater facility of
committing it to memory ; and he goes on to refer to the Saltair
of Tara in the following words [see original in Appendix, No.
VIII.]:—
" And it is because of its having been written in poetic
metre, that the chief book which was in the custody of the
Ollamli of the King of Erinn, was called the ' Saltair of Teniair' ;
and the Chronicle of holy Cormac Mac Cullinan, ' Saltair of
Cashel'; and the Chronicle of Aengus Ceile De [or the
" Culdee"], ' Saltair-na- Rami [that is, " Saltair of the Poems,
or Verses"] ; because a Salm [Psalm] and a Poem are the
same, and therefore a Salterium and a Duanaire [book of
poems] are the same".
OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 13
III. Of tlie next in order of the lost books, tlie Book of lect. i.
THE Vachoxgbhail (pron: " ooa cong-wall"), almost nothing is qj jj^g
known beyond the bare name. Tlie passage jnst quoted from ^°°^h"L.;
the Book of Ballvmote and from the Yellow Book of Lecan, bhail.
was copied into those JNISS. from the lost book itself, accord-
ing to the entry ; but what was the age of the book at that
time it is now impossible to determine. The O'Clerys, how-
ever, mention that they had access to it when compiling their
Book of the Invasions of Erinn, that is in the year 1630 or
1631. And Keating, in the Second Book of his History,
mentions the Book of the Uachonghhail among the very ancient
books or transcripts of very ancient books which were still
extant in his own time, and of which he had made use. It was
probably of the age of the Book of Leinster, and kept at Kil-
dare in 1626.
IV. The next book of considerable antiquity that we find c,^ ^^qma
reference to is that called the Cin Droma S^'echta, or Cin s.nechta.
of Drom Snechta. The word Cm (pron: in Engl. "Kin")
is explained in our ancient Glossaries as signifying a stave
of five sheets of vellum: and the name of this book would
signify, thei'efore, the Vellum-stave Book of Drom Snechta.
The words Drom Snechta signify the snow-capped hill, or
mountain ridge, and it is beheved to have been the name
of a mountain situated in the present county of Monaghan.
The Cin of Drom Snechta is quoted in the Book of Bally-
mote [fol. 12 a.] in support of the ancient legend of the ante-
diluvian occupation of Erinn by the Lady JBanhha, who is
however in other Books called Cesair (pron: "Kesar"). There
are also two references to it in the Book of Lecan. The first
of these [fol. 271 b.] is in the same words preserved in the
Book of Ballymote : " From the Cin of Drom Snechta is [taken]
this little [bit] as far as Cesair". — [See Appendix, No. IX.]
The second is [fol. 77 b., col. 2] where the writer says in sum-
ming up the genealogies of some of the families of Connacht,
that he compiled them from the Chronicles of the Gaedhil : —
" We have collected now this genealogy of the Ui-Diarmada
out of the Chronicles of the Gaedhil, and out of Cormac's Saltair
at Cashel, and out of the Book of Diuidahatligldas [Down-
patrick] , and out of the Books of Flann Mainistrech [Flann of
Monasterboice] , and out of the Cin of Drom Snechta, and out
of the annals and historical books [of Erinn], until we have
brought it all together here". — [See Appendix, No. X.]
The same valuable book quotes the Cin Droma Snechta
again by direct transcript [at folio 123 a.], where it gives, first,
14 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN.
LECT. I. the genealogies of the chieftains of the ancient Rudiician race
of Ulster, in the ordinary way in which they are found in
writer' of the othcr books of the same and of a previous period ; and it then
<S'wec^ta.'"" gives a different version, saying: — "The Cin of Drom Snechta
says that it is (as follows) it ought to he". — [See Appendix,
No. XL] This has reference to the pedigrees of the Irian race
of Ulster, and immediately to that of the celebrated Knight of
the Craehh Ruadli, or Royal Branch, Conall Cearnach.^''^-"
A short account of the Destruction of Bruigliean Da Derga
(The Court of Da Derga), and the death of tlie monarch Co-
naire Mor, is quoted from the Cin of Drom Snechta in LeahJiar
na h- Uidhre, fol. 67 a. ; and again, the Account of the birth of
Cuchulainn, at fol. 80 b. from the same book.
Doctor Keating, in his History, when introducing the Mile-
sian colonists, gives their descent from Magog, the son of
Japhet, on the authority of the Cin of Drom Snechta, which,
he states, was compiled before Saint Patrick's mission to Erinn.
His words are : " We will set doAvn here the branching off of
the race of Magog, according to the Book of Invasions (of Ire-
land), which was called the Cin of Drom Snechta, and it was
before the coming of (St.) Patrick to Ireland the author of
that book existed". — [See Appendix, No. XII.] What autho-
rity Dr. Keating had for this statement we know not, as imfor-
tunately he has not given it; and the only reference to the
author's name that I have myself ever found is in a partially
effaced memorandum in the Book of Leinster. This memo-
randum is written in the lower margin of a page [fol. 230 b.],
which contains ffenealomes of several of the chienain lines of
Ireland and Scotland.
There is apparently but one word — the name of the writer —
illesfible at the be^innino^ of this memorandum : and with this
word provisionally restored, the note would read thus : —
" [Ernin, son of] Duach [that is], son of the King of Con-
nacht, an Ollamh, and a prophet, and a professor in history, and
a professor in wisdom, it was he that collected the Genea-
logies and Histories of the men of Erinn in one book, that is,
the Cin Droma Snechta^ — [See Appendix, No. XHI.]
The Duach here referred to (who was probably still alive at
the time of Saint Patrick's coming) was the son of Brian, son
of the Monarch Eochaidh Muighnhedlioin, who died a.d. 365.
(This Eochaidh was also the father of Niall of the Nine Ho*^-
(12) The chiefs whose pedigrees are here collected are those whose names ap-
pear in the ancient story of Deirilre and the tragical death of the sons of Uis-
neach, of which the Gaelic Society of Dublin published an inaccurate version
in the year 1808
OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 15
tages, who was tlie father of Laeghaire, the Monarch of Erinn lect. r.
at the time when Saint Patrick came on his mission in the year ^j^ ^
432). Duach had two sons — Eoghan Srem, who succeeded ted in the
1 - T.r- x" /^ -I , 1 TTv / BookofLein-
him as King oi Connacnt and Ernin. ster.
A descendant in the fourth generation of this Duach was
King of Connacht, and a Christian, namely, Duach Tengumha,
or Duach the sweet-tongued, who died, according to the An-
nals of the Four Masters, a.d. 499, leaving an only son, Senach,
who was the ancestor of the O'Flahertys of West Connacht.
Now, as there are but two of the name of Duach to be found
in the whole Ime of the Kings of Connacht (of whom the first
was a pagan and the second a Christian), the compiler of the
Cin of Drom Snechta must have been the son of one or other ;
and as the tradition concerning the book is, that it was written
before Patrick's time, it is pretty clear, if we assume this tradi-
tion to be correct, that the son of Duach Galacli was the com-
piler. Finally, as his elder son, Eoghan Srem, succeeded him as
king, it appears to me very probable that his younger son, Ernin,
was the author of the Cin of Drom Snechta. This woidd fairly
enough bear out the statement which Keating has put forward.^'*^
Dr. Keating makes another reference to the Cin, where, in
speaking of the schools said to have been instituted by Fenius
Farsaidh, he says: —
" Fenius sets up schools to teach the several languages, on the
Plain of Seanar, in the city which the Cin Droma Sneachta calls
Eothona, as the poet says", etc. — [See Appendix, No. XV.]
It has been already observed that the ancient book called the
Leabhar na li-Uidhre (which is in some part preserved in a
M.S. of circa a.d. 1100, bearing the same name, in the Library
of the Royal Irish Academy) contains a reference to the Cin
of Drom Snechta. And to this very old authority may be added
that of the Book of Leinster, in which (at fol. 149 b.) occurs
the following curious passage : —
" From the Cin of Drom Snechta, this below. Historians
say that there were exiles of Hebrew women in Erinn at the
(13) While these sheets were passing through the press (August, 1858), I took
advantage of an unusually bright day to make another careful examination of
the time-blackened leaf of the Book of Leinster, in which this curious entry
appears. I have tliis time had the satisfaction of being able to make out perfectly
all the words, except the very first — the name of the son of Duach ; and this
name itself, though not so clear as the remainder of the sentence, is, in my
opinion, equally unmistakeable. To my eyes it is certainly epnin. It will be
observed, on reference to the original (m the Appendix), that tliere is no word
between Ernin and Duach. The word iuac, " son", which should have been
written here, seems to liave been accidentally omitted by the scribe. Tlie
word however occurs only once, that is, after '-Duach". The sentence reads
literally: "Ernin [of] Duach, [that is] son of the King of Connacht",— Duach
JIOR,
16 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT EBIXN.
_ coming of tlie sons of Milesliis, wlio had been driven by a sea
^^ ^j^g tempest into the ocean by tlie Tirren Sea. Tliey were in Eiinn
senchas before the sons of Milesius. They said, however, to the sons
of iVlilesius [who it would appear j)ressed marriage on them]
that they preferred their own country, and that they Avould not
abandon it without receiving dowry for alliance with tliem. It
is from this circumstance that it is the men that purchase wives
in Erinn for ever ; whilst it is the husbands that are purchased
by the wives throughout the world besides". — [See Appendix,
No. XVI.]
This short extract is found also in a much longer and very
curious article in the Book of Lecain [fol. 181 b.], and there
can be little doubt that both jNISS. followed the original in the
Cin of Drom Snechta.
V. The next ancient written work that we find ascribed to
this early period is the Senchas Mor (pron : " Shanchus mor"),
or Great Law-Compilation ; which was made, according to the
Annals of Ulster, in the year 439, imder the direction of nine
eminent persons, consisting of three kings, three bishops, and
tlu'ee Files, [see ante, note (2)]. The three chief personages
engaged in this great work were Laeghaire, the Monarch of
Erinn ; Patrick, the Apostle of Erinn ; and Ros, the Chief File
of Erinn.
A large portion, if not the whole, of this work has come down
to us by successive transcriptions, dating from the close of the
thirteenth, or beginning of the fourteenth, to the latter part of
the sixteenth centmy.
In the account of this work, generally prefixed to it, and
Avhich is in itself of great antiquity, we are told that it was
Ros, the poet, that placed before Saint Patrick tlie arranged
body of the previously existing Laws of Erinn ; that the Saint
expimged from them all that was specially antichristian or
otherwise objectionable, and proposed such alterations as would
make them harmonize with the new system of religion and morals
which he had brought into the country ; that these alterations
were approved of, adopted, and embodied in the ancient
code ; and that code thus amended was established as the Na-
tional Law throughout the land.
The great antiquity of this compilation is admitted by Dr.
Petrie, in his Memoir on Tara, already alluded to ; but that the
professed authors of it could possibly have been brought toge-
having been the King of Connaclit. In tlie Appendix (No. XIV.) will be
found the pedigree of Duach Galnch, who is by mistake confounded with his
descendant Duach Tengumha, a succeeihng King of Connaeht, in the note (p)
at J). 161 of Dr. O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, under the year 499.
OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT EKINN. 17
tlier at the time of its reputed compilation, he denies, as did lect. i.
Dr. Lanigan before him. Every year's investigation of onr ^^ ^
ancient records, however, shows more and more their veritable Library of
cliaraeter; and I trust that the forthcoming Report of the (vi.Ten'-''*
Brehon Law Commission, of which Dr. Petrie is a member, ^^^'^'^'
will remove the excusable scepticism into which the caution
of the more conscientious school of critics who succeeded the
reckless theorists of Vallancey's time, has driven them. I believe
it will show that the recorded account of this great revision of
the Body of the Laws of Erinn is as fully entitled to confidence
as any other well-authenticated fact of ancient history.
But this subject (one obviously of great importance) will be
thoroughly discussed in the forthcoming pubhcation by the
Brehon Law Commission, of this great monument of our ancient
civilization ; so that you will understand why the subject cannot
with propriety be entered into further here. So far as the ques-
tion of the antiquity of the contents of the Senehas Jlor is
concerned, I may only observe that Cormac Mac CuUinan often
quotes passages from this work in his Glossary, which is known
to have been written not later than about the close of the
ninth century.
There is a curious account of a private collection of books, " of
all the sciences", as it is expressed, given in a note to the Felire,
or metrical Festology of Aengus CeU De^ or the " Culdee"; it
is to this effect : Saint Colum Cille having paid a visit to Saint
Longarad of Ossory, requested permission to examine his
books, but Longarad having refused, Colum then prayed that
his friend should not profit much by his refusal, whereupon the
books became illegible immediately after his death ; and these
books were in existence in that state in the time of the origi-
nal author, whoever he was, of the note in the FelirS.
The passage (for the original of which see Appendix. No,
XVII.) is as follows : it is a note to the stanza of the great poem,
for September 3 ; which is as follows : —
" COLMAN OF DrOM-FERTA,
Longarad, a shining sun;
Mac Nisse with his thousands,
From great Condere".
[Note.] — "Longarad the white-legged, of Magh Tuathat, in
the north of Ossory (Osraifjhe) ; i.e,m Uihh Foirchellain ; i.e
in Magh Garad, in JDisert Garad particularly, and in Cill
Gahhra in Sliabh Mairge, in Lis Longarad. The ' white-
9
18 01- THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN.
LECT I. legged', i.e., from great wliite hair wlilcli was on his legs ; or his
Of the Book ^^S^ Were transparently fair. He was a Suidh (Doctor or Pro-
of s.Mochta. fessor) in classics, and in history, and in judgment (law), and
in philosophy [_JilidecJit], [see ante, note (2)]. It was to him
Colmn Cille went on a visit; and he concealed his books
from him ; and Colum Cille left a ' word' [of imprecation]
on his books, i.e., 'May it not be of avail after thee', said
he, ' that for which thou hast shown inhospitality'. And this
is what has been fulfilled, for the books exist still, and no man
can read them. Now, when Longarad was dead, what the
learned tell us is, that all the book-satchels of Erinn dropped
[from their racks] on that night. Or they were the satchels
which contained the books of sciences [or, professions] which
were in the chamber in wliich Colum Cille was, that fell. And
Colum Cille and all that were in that house wondered, and
they were all astounded at the convulsions of the books,
upon which Colum Cille said : ' Longai'ad ', said he, ' in
Ossory, i.e., a Sai^^*^ (Doctor) in every science [it is he] that has
died now'. ' It will be long until that is verified', said Baithin.
' May your successor [for ever] be suspected, on account of
this', said Colum Cille ; et dixit Colum Cille : —
Lon is dead [Lon is dead] ;^'^^
To cm Garad it is a great misfortune ;
To Erinn with its countless tribes ;
It is a destruction of learning and of schools.
Lon has died, [Lon has died] ;
In cm Garad great the misfortune ;
It is a destruction of learning and of schools,
To the Island of Erinn beyond her boundaries".
However fabulous this legend may appear, it will SLifiice,
at all events, to show in what estimation books were held
in the time of the schoHast of the works of Aengus, and also
the prevalent belief in his time m the existence of an Irish
literature at a period so long antecedent to his own. The pro-
bability is that the books were so old at the time of this writer
as to be illegible, and hence the legend to account for their
condition.
(14) The word occurs in the original so, — not spelled the same way in which it
appears just before, probably owing to the carelessness of the scribe.
o-)^In ancient poetry, when the second half line was a repetition of the first,
it was very seldom written, though it was always well understood that it ought
to be repeated. And in fact the metre would not be complete without this
repetition.
OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 19
VI. There are some otlier ancient books quoted in the Annals lect. i.
ofUlster, of which one is called the Book of Saint Mochta, oftj^ggoo^,
who was a disciple of Saint Patrick. This book is quoted at a.d. of cuana,
527, but it is uncertain whether it was a book of general An- d'albuhk.
nals, or a Sacred Biography.
We also find mention of the Book of Cuana and the Book
of Dubli da leithe.
VII. The Book of Cuana, or Guana's Book of Annals, is
quoted for the first time in the Annals of Ulster, at the year
468, and repeatedly afterwards down to 610. The death of
a person named Cuana, a scribe of Treoit (now Trevit, in
Meatli), is recorded in the same Annals (of Ulster), at the year
738, after which year no quotation from Cuana's Book occurs in
these Annals ; whence it may be inferred that this Cuana was the
compiler of the work known as the Book of Cuana, or Cuanach.
VIII. The same Annals of Ulster quote, as we have already
said, the Book of Dubiwaleithe, at the years 962 and 1021,
but not after. There were two persons of this name : one of
them an Abbot, and the other a Bishop (of Armagh) ; the
former from the year ^65 to the year 998, and the latter from
1049 to 1064 ; so that the latter must be presumed to have been
the compiler of the Book of Dubhdaleithe.
IX. Next after these, because of the certainty of Its author's TiiR^of^^''
time, I would class the Saltair of Cashel, compiled by the Cashel.
learned and venerable Cormac MacCullinan, King of Munster
and Archbishop of Cashel, who was killed in the year 903.
At what time this book was lost we have no precise know-
ledge ; but that it existed, though in a dilapidated state, in the
year 1454, is evident from the fact, that there is in the Bodleian
Library in Oxford (Laud, 610), a copy of such portions of it as
could be deciphered at that time, made by Sedan^ or Shane,
O'Clery for Mac Richard Butler. From the contents of this copy,
and from the frequent references to the original, for history and
genealogies found in the Books of Ballymote, Lecan, and others,
it must have been a historical and genealogical compilation of
large size and great diversity.
If, as there is every reason to believe, the ancient compila-
tion, so well known as Cormac's Glossary, was compiled from the
interlined gloss to the Saltair, we may well feel that its loss is
the greatest we have suffered, so numerous are the references
and citations of history, law, romance, druidism, mythology,
and other subjects in which this Glossary abounds. It is be-
2b
20 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF AXCIENT ERINN.
LECT. I. sides invaluable in the study of Gacdlilic comparative philo-
logy, as the author traces a great many of the words either by
lost books, derivation from, or comparison with, the Hebrew, the Greek,
the Latin, the British, and, as he terms it, the Northmantic
language ; and it contains at least one Pictish word \_Cartait], —
almost the only word of the Pictish language that we possess.
There is a small fragment of this Glossary remaining in the an-
cient Book of Leinster (wliich is as old as the year 1150), and a
perfect copy made about the year 1400 is preserved in the Royal
Irish Academy, besides two fragments of it in O'Clery's copy
of the Saltair already mentioned, the volume in the Bodleian
Library, at Oxford (Laud, 610).
Besides the several books enumerated above, and the pro-
bable dates of which we have attempted to fix, we find in
several existing MSS. reference to many other lost books,
whose exact ages and the relative order of time in which they
were composed are quite uncertain. But the references to
them are so numerous, and occur in MSS. of such different
dates, that we may readily believe them to have embraced a
tolerably extensive period in our history ; and it is highly pro-
bable that they connected the most ancient periods with those
which we find so well illustrated in the oldest manuscript re-
cords which have come down to us.
I do not profess to give here a complete enumeration of all
the books mentioned in our records, and of which we have now
no further knowledge, but the following list will be found to
contain the names of those which are most frequently referred to.
In the first place must be enumerated again the Cuihnenn;
the Saltair of Tara; The Cin Droma Snechta; the Book of
St. Mochta; the Book of Cuana; the Book of Duhlidaleithe;
and the Saltair of Cashel. Besides these we find mention of
the Leahhar buidhe Slaine, or Yellow Book of Slane ; the ori-
ginal Leahhai^ na h-Uidhre; the Books o£ Eochaidh O'Flanna-
gain; a certain book known as the Book eaten by the poor
people in the desert; the Book of Inis an Duin; the Short
Book of Saint Buithe's Monastery (or Monasterboice) ; the
Books of Flann, of the same Monastery ; the Book of Flann
of Dungeimhin (Dungiven, Co. Derry) ; the Book of Dun da
Letli Ghlas (or Downpatrick) ; the Book of Doire (or Derry) ;
the Book of Sahhall Phatraic (or Saull, Co. Down) ; the Book
of the Uaclionghliail (Navan, probably) ; the Leahhar duhh
Malaga, or Black Book of Saint Molaga; the Leahhar huidhe
Moling, or Yellow Book of Saint Moling ; the Leahhfir buidhe
Mhio Murchadha, or Yellow Book of Mac Murrach; the
OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 21
Leahhar Arda Macha, or Book of Armagh (quoted by Keat- lect. i.
ing) ; the Leahhar ruadh Mkic Aedhagain, or Red Book of j^^^^^^
Mac Aedhagan or Mac Aegaii; the Leabhar breac Mldc Aedh- referred to
again, or Speckled Book of Mac Aegan ; the Leahhar fada ^ ^'^'^""s-
L^eitlighlinne, or Long Book of Leithghhnn, or Leithhn ; the
Books of O'Scoba of Cluain Mic Nois (or Clonmacnois) ;
the Dull Droma Ceata, or Book of Drom Ceat; and the
Leahhar Chluana Sost, or Book of Clonsost (in Leix, in the
Queen's Coimty).
Such, then, is a brief glance at what constituted probably
but a few of the books and records of Erinn wlaich we are sure
must have existed, with perhaps three or four exceptions, an-
terior to the year 1100, and of which there are now no frag-
ments known to me to remain, though some of them are
referred to in works of comparatively modern date.
The Rev. GeofFry Keating (Parish Priest of Tubrid, near
Clonmel) compiled, about the year 1630, from several ancient
MSS. then accessible, a History of Erinn, from its earliest
ascribed colonization, down to the Anglo-Norman Invasion in
the year 1170. This book is written in the modified Gaedhlic
of Keatmcr's own time : and although he has used but little dis-
crmiination in his selections from old records, and has almost en-
tirely neglected any critical examination of his authorities, still
his book is a valuable one, and not at all, in my opinion, the
despicable prodviction that it is often ignorantly said to be.
Some of the lost works that I have mentioned are spoken of,
and even quoted by this writer. He refers to the following
books as being extant in his own time ; namely, the Book of
Armagh (but evidently not the book now known imder this
name) ; the Saltair of Cashel ; the Book of the Uachongbhail; the
Book of Cluain Eidhneach (in Leix) ; the Saltair na Rann (writ-
ten by Aengus Ceile De); the Book of Glenn da Locha; the
L^eahhar na h-Uidhre, which was written originally at Cluain
Mic JVois, or Clonmacnoise, in Saint Ciaran's tune ; the Yellow
Book of Saint MoHng ; the Black Book of Saint Molaga ; the Red
Book of Mac Aegan ; and the Speckled Book of Mac Aegan,
Of this list of Books, all of which were certainly extant in
1630, we now know only the Saltair na Mann, which still exists
in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
Prefixed to the Leabhar Gabhdla, or Book of Invasions, com-
piled by the O'Clerys in 1630 or 1631, there is a hst of the
ancient books from which that compilation was made. They
were the foUowine;: — The Book o^ BaiU ui llhaoilchonaire
or Bally Mulconroy, which had been copied by Maurice
22 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN.
LECT. I. O'Maelchonaire, or O'Mulconroy (who died in 1543), out of
tlie Leabhar na li- Uidhre, which had been written at Cluain
referred to Mic JVots (Clonmacnois), in the time of Saint Ciaran ; the Book
lusters."'^'" of Baile ui Chleirigh, or Bally Clery, which was written in the
time of Maelsechlainn Mar, or Malachy the Great, son of Donih-
nall, monarch of Erinn (who began his reign a.d. 979) ; the
Book of Muintir Duibhghenainn, or of the O'Duigenans of
J> Seanchuach in Tir Oililla, or Tirerrill, in the county of Sligo,
and which was called the Leahhar Glilinn da Locha, or Book
of Glenndaloch ; and Leabhar' na h~ Uacliongbhala, or the Book
of the Uachongbhail ; with many other histories, or historical
books besides.
Of this list of Books not one is known to me to be now extant.
The ever to be remembered Michael O'Clery, and his fel-
low-labourers (who together with him are familiarly known as
the Four Masters), insert in their Annals a list of the ancient
books from which that noble work was compiled. They were
the following: — The Book of Chiain Mic Nois, or Clonmac-
noise ; the Book of the Island of the Saints in Loch Ribh (or
Loch Bee), in the Shannon; the Book of Secmadh MMc Magh-
nusa, in Loch Eirne, or Loch Erne ; the Book of Muintir
Mhaoilchonaire, or the O'Mulconroys ; the Book of Muintir
Duibhghenan7i, or of the O'Duigenans, of Cill Ronain ; and the
Historical Book of Leacain Mic Fhirbhisigh, or Lecan Mac
Fn'bis. The Books of Cluain Mic Nois and of the Island of the
Saints come down but to the year 1225. The Book of the
O'Mulconroys came down to the year 1505. The Book of the
O'Duigenans contained entries extending only from the year
1)00 to the year 1563. The Annals of Seanadh Mic Magh-
nusa (now called the Annals of Ulster) came down to the
year 1632, The Foiir Masters had also a fragment of Cucoi-
griche (a name sometimes Englished Peregrine), O'Clery 's Book,
containing Annals from the year 1281 to the year 1537, The
Book of Maoilin 6g Mac Bruaideadha, or Maoilin the younger
Mac Brody, of Thomond, containing Annals from the year
1588 to the year 1602, was also in their possession, as well as
Lughaidh O'Clery's Book, containing Annals from the year
1586 to 1603. This last book was probably that known at
the present day as the Life of Aedh Muadh, or Hugh Hoe
O'Donnell ; which was written by this same Lughaidh O'Clery,
and from which the Four Masters have evidently taken all the
details given in their Annals relating to that brave and vmfor-
tunate Prince.^'^^
(16) A MS. copy of this work, in the handwriting of Cucogry O'Clery, the
son of the origmal compiler, has been lately [1858] purchased by the Rev. Dr.
OF THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF MSS. 23
Of this list of Books (witli the exception of the last men- lect. i
tioned) not one is known to me to be now in existence except- ^^^^g .^ ^.^^^
ing the Annals of Ulster, the copy of Lugaidh O'Clery's Book, LiWary of
made by his son Cucogry, and the book which is now known Duwin
as the Book of Lecain, m the Royal Irish Academy, but which
at present contains nothing that could be properly called Annals,
though there are in it some pages of occurrences with no dates
attached.
The language in which such a number of books was written
must have been highly cultivated, and found fully adapted to
the pm-poses of the historian, the poet, the lawyer, the physi-
cian, and the ecclesiastic, and extensively so used; else it may be
fairly assumed that Aengus Ceile De, Cormac Mac Cullinan,
Eocliaidh O'Flannagan, Cuan O'Lochain, Flann of Saint Buithes
Monastery, and all the other great Irish writers from the seventh
to the twelfth century, who were so well acquainted with Latin,
then the imiversal medium, would not have employed the Gaeclh-
lic for their compositions.
Notwithstanding, however, the irreparable loss of the before-
named books, there still exists an immense quantity of Gaedhlic
waiting of great purity, and of the highest value as regards
the history of this country. And these MSS. comprise general
and national history ; civil and ecclesiastical records ; and abun-
dant materials of genealogy ; besides poetry, romance, law, and
medicine ; and some fragments of tracts on mathematics and
astronomy.
The collection in Trinity College consists of over 140
volumes, several of them on vellum, dating from the early part
of the twelfth down to the middle of the last century. There
are also in this fine collection beautiful copies of the Gospels,
known as the Books of Kells, and Durrow, and Dimma's Book,
attributable to the sixth and seventh centuries ; the Saltair of St.
Ricemarch, bishop of St. David's, in the eleventh century, con-
taining also an exquisite copy of the Roman Martyrology ; and
a very ancient ante-Hieronymian version of the Gospels, the
history of which is unknown, but which is evidently an Irish MS.
of not later than the ninth century ; also the Evangelistarium of
St. Moling, bishop of Ferns in the seventh centmy, with its an-
cient box ; and the fragment of another copy of the Gospels, of
the same period, evidently Irish. In the same hbrary will
be found, too, the chief body of our more ancient laws and
Todd, S.F.T.C.D., at the sale of the books of Mr. W. Monck Mason, in London,
and is destined soon (if funds to secure it can be raised) to enrich still farther
the splendid collection of the Royal Irish Academy.
24 OF THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF MSS.
LECT. I. ^nnals: all, witli tlie exception of two tracts, written on vel-
lum ; and, in addition to these invaluable volumes, many liis-
MSS. in the ,','-,„ ., p , . . .,, • "^ n ^
Library of toricai and lamily poems oi great antiquity, illustrative oi the
I'i'fsh "^ '""^ battles, the personal achievements, and the social habits of the
Academy. wamoi'S, chicfs, Biid otlicr distingviished personages of our early
history. There is also a large number of ancient historical and
romantic tales, in which all the incidents of war, of love, and of
social life in general, are portrayed, often with considerable power
of description and great brilliancy of language ; and there are
besides several sacred tracts and poems, amongst the most
remarkable of which is the Liber Hyinnorum, believed to be
more than a thousand years old.^"-' The Trinity College col-
lection is also rich in'Lives of Irish Saints, and in ancient forms
of prayer ; and it contains, in addition to all these, many curious
treatises on medicine, beautifully written on vellum. Lastly,
amongst these ancient MSS. are preserved numerous Ossianic
poems relating to the Fenian heroes, some of them of very
great antiquity.
The next great collection is that of the Hoj^al Irish Aca-
demy, which, though formed at a later period than that of Tri-
nity College, is far more extensive, and taken in connection
with the unrivalled collection of antiquities secured to this
coiuitry by the liberality of this body, forms a national monu-
ment of which we may well be proud. It includes some noble
old volumes written on vellum, abounding in history as well as
poetry ; ancient laws, and genealogy ; science (for it embraces
several curious medical treatises, as well as an ancient astrono-
mical tract) ; grammar ; and romance. There is there also a
great body of most important theological and ecclesiastical com-
positions, of the highest antiquity, and in the purest style per-
haps that the ancient Gaedhlic language ever attained.
The most valuable of these are original Gaedhlic composi-
tions, but there is also a large amount of translations from the
Latin, Greek, and other languages. A great part of these
translations is, indeed, of a religious character, but there are
others from various Latin authors, of the greatest possible im-
portance to the Gaedhhc student of the present day, as they
enable liim by reference to the originals to determine the value
of many now obsolete or obscm-e Gaedhlic words and phrases.
Among these latter translations into Irish, we find an exten-
sive range of subjects in ancient Mythology, Poetry, and His-
(i7> This iiiTahiable MS. is in course of publicatioii (a portion haying been
issued since the above lecture was deHvered), by the Irish Archa?ologi-
cal and Celtic Society, undei- the able superintendence of the Rev. Dr. Todd.
OF THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF MSS. 25
tory, and the Classical Literature of tire Greeks and Romania lect. i
as well as many copious illustrations of tlie most remarkable ^j^^ .^
events of tlie IMiddle Ages. So that any one well read in the ^""io"^ li
comparatively few existing fragments of oiu' Gaedlilic Litera- England.
ture, and whose education had been confined solely to this
source, woidd find that there are but very few, indeed, of the
great events in the history of the world, the knowledge of
which is usually attained through the Classic Languages, or
tliose of the middle ages, with which he was not acquainted.
I may mention by way of illustration, the Irish versions
of the Argonautic Expedition ; the Destruction of Troy ; the
Life of Alexander the Great ; the Destruction of Jenisalem ;
the Wars of Charlemagne, including the History of Roland
the Brave ; the History of the Lombards ; the almost contem-
porary translation into Gaedhlic of the Travels of Marco Polo,
etc., etc
It is quite evident that a Language which has embraced so
wide a field of historic and other important subjects, must have
undergone a considerable amount of development, and must
liave T3een at once copious and flexible ; and it may be ob-
served, in passing, that the very fact of so much of translation
into Irish having taken place, shows that there must have been
a considerable number of readers ; since men of learning would
not have translated for themselves what they could so easily un-
derstand in the original.
Passing over some collections of MSS. in private hands
at home, I may next notice that of the British INIuseum in
London, which is very considerable, and contains much valuable
matter ; that of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, which, though
consisting of but about sixteen volumes, is enriched by some
most precious books, among which is the copy already alluded to
of the remains of the Saltair of Cashel, made m the year 1454 ;
and some two or three works of an older date. Next comes
the Stowe collection, now in the possession of Lord Ash-
burnham, and which is tolerably well described in the Stowe
Catalogue by the late Rev. Charles O'Conor. There are also
in England some other collections in the hands of private indi-
viduals, as that of Mr. Joseph Monck Mason"*^ in the neigh-
(18) This collection has been lately sold (1S58) — since the preparation of thig
lecture; and through the exertions of the Rev. Dr. Todd, F.T.C.D., two of the
most valuable MSS. contained in it haA-e been secured for Ireland, and, ii
funds can be procured, will probably be added to the collection of the Koyal
Irish Academy; the ie>.\'b>.\i\ Ve^^P^^i^i<^i5e, or Book of Fermoy, on vellum,
and the copy before mentioned of Luphaidh O'Clery's Life of Red Ilvigb
O'Donnell in the handwriting of Cucogry O'Clery.
26 OF THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF MSS.
LECT. I. bourhood of London, and that of Sir Thomas Phillipps in Wor-
cestershire. The Advocates' Library in Edinburgh contains a
Continent, few important vohimes, some of which are shortly described in
the Highland Society's Report on MacPherson's Poems of
Oisin, published in 1794.
And passing over to the Continent, in the National or Im-
perial Library of Paris (which, however, has not yet been
thoroughly examined), there will be found a few Gaedhlic
volumes; and in Belgium (between which and Ireland such in-
timate relations existed in past times), — and particularly in the
Burgundian Library at Brussels, — there is a very important
collection, consisting of a part of the treasures formerly in the
possession of the Franciscan College of Lou vain, for which our
justly celebrated Friar, Michael O'Clery, collected, by transcript
and otherwise, all that he could bring together at home of
matters relating to the ancient ecclesiastical history of his
country.
MSS. in the The Louvaiu collection, formed chiefly, if not wholly, by
sfc'itlLre's, Fathers Hugh Ward, John Colgan, and Michael O'Clery, be-
inRome. twccn the years 1G20 and 1640, appears to have been widely
scattered at the French Revolution. For there are in the Col-
lege of St. Isidore, in Rome, about twenty volumes of GaedhHc
MSS., which we know at one time to have formed part of
the Louvain collection. Among these manuscripts now at
Rome are some of the most valuable materials for the study of
our language and history — the chief of which is an ancient cojjy
of the Felire Aengusa, the Martyrology, or Festology of Aengus
Cede De, (pron: " KJli DJ"), incorrectly called Aengus the
Culdee, who composed the original of this extraordinary work,
partly at Tamhlacht^ now Tallaght, in the county of DubKn,
and partly at Cliiain Eidhnech in the present Queen's County,
in the year 798. The collection contains, besides, the Festology
of Cathal M'Guire,^'^^ a work only known by name to the Irish
scholars of the present day ; and it includes the autograph of the
first volume of the Annals of the Four Masters. There is also
a copy, or fragment, of the Liber Hymnorum already spoken of,
and which is a work of great importance to the Ecclesiastical
History of Ireland; and besides these the collection contains
several important pieces relating to Irish History, of which no
copies are known to exist elsewhere. It may be hoped, there-
fore, that ovxr Holy Father the Pope — who feels such a deep
interest in the success of this National Institution — will at no
distant day be pleased to take steps to make these invaluable
09) This is probably a copy of Aengus's Festology, with additional Notes by
MacGuire, ayIio died a.d. 1499.
OF THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF MSS 27
works accessible to tlie Irish student, by placing them within the lkct. i
walls of the Catholic University of Ireland, where only they can
be made available to the illustration of the early History of the
Catholic Faith in this country.
Lastly should be noticed the Latin MSS. from which Zcuss mps. dcscri
di-ew the materials for the Irish portion of his celebrated ^'^'^'^y^''^"ss.
Grammatica Celtica (Lipsias, 1853). The language of the
Irish glosses in these codices is probably older, in point of
transcription, than any specimens of Irish now left in Ire-
land, excepting the few passages and glosses contained in
the Books of Armagh and Dimma, with the orthography and
grammatical forms of which the Zeussian glosses correspond
admirably. The following is a list of the Zeussian Codices
Hibernici, which, as Zeuss himself observes, are all of the
eighth or the ninth century, and were either brought from
Ireland, or written by Irish monks in continental monasteries.
I. A codex of Priscian, preserved in the hbrary [at St. Gall
in Switzerland, and crowded Avith Irish glosses, interhnear
or marcrinal, from the bewinninor down to page 222. A mar-
ginal gloss at p. 194, shows that the scribe was connected
with Inis Madoc, an islet in the lake of Templeport, coimty
Leitrim.
II. A codex of St. Paxil's Epistles, preserved in the library
of the university of Wiirzburg, and containing a still greater
nimiber of glosses than the St. Gall Priscian.
III. A Latin commentary on the Psalms, formerly attributed
to St. Jerome, but which Muratori, Peyi'on, and Zeuss concvu'
in ascribing to St. Columbamis. This codex, which is now
preserved in the Ambrosian Hbrary at Milan, was brought
thither from Bobbio. It contains a vast amount of Irish
glosses, and will probably, when properly investigated,*^"^
throw more hght on the ancient Irish language than any
other MS.
IV. A codex containing some of the venerable Bede's works,
preserved at Carlsruhe, and formerly belonging to the Irish
monastery of Reichenau. This MS. contains, besides many
Irish glosses, two entries which may tend to fix its date :
one is a notice of the death of Aed, king of Ireland, in the
year 817; the other a notice of the death oi Muirchad mac
Maileddin at Clonmacnois, in St. Ciaran's hnda or bed.
V. A second codex of Priscian, also preserved at Caiisrulie,
(20^ Zeuss (Praef., xxxi.) mentions that he was unable to devote the neces-
sary time either to this MS. or to the fragment of an Irish codex preserved at
Turin, wliich, I believe, is a copiously glossed portion of St. Mark's Gosiiel.
28 OF THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF MS3.
LECT. I. and brought thither from Reichenan. It contains fewer Irish
d cri glosses than the St. Gall Priscian.
bedbyzeuss. VI. A miscellaneous codex, preserved at St. Gall (No.
1395), and containing some curious charms against strangiuy,
headache, etc., which have been printed by Zeuss. Goihnenn
the smith, and Diancecht the leech, of the Taatlia De Danann,
are mentioned in these incantations.
VII. A codex preserved at Cambray, and containing, besides
the canons of an Irish council held a.d. 684, a fragment of
an Irish sermon intermixed with Latin sentences. This MS.
was written between the years 763 and 790. A facsimile,
but inaccurate, of this Irish fragment may be found in Appen-
dix A (unpublished) to the Report of the Enghsh Record Com-
mission.*^^^^
It is, I may observe in conclusion, a circumstance of great
importance, that so much of our ancient tongue should have
been preserved in the form of glosses on the words of a lan-
guage so thoroughly knoA\n.i as Latin. Let us avail ourselves
of our advantages in this respect by collecting and aiTanging
the whole of these glosses, before time or accident shall have
rendered it difficult or impossible to do so.
I have thus endeavoured to place before you some evidences
of an early cultivation of the language and literature of Ire-
land. The subject would require much more extensive illus-
tration and much more minute discussion than can be given to
it in a public Lecture; and time did not allow more than a
rapid enumeration of the more ancient works, and a brief
glance at their contents, such as you have heard. Sufficient,
however, has been said in opening to you the consideration of
the subject, to show what an immense field lies before us, and
what abundant materials still exist for the illustration of the
History and Antiquities of our country, and, above all, of that
most glorious period in our Annals, the early ages of Catholi-
cism in Ireland.
The materials are, I say, still abundant : we want but men
able to use them as they deserve.
(21) This Sermon is printed entire, together with corrections and a translation
furnished by me some years ago (through the Kev. J. Miley, then President
of tlie Irish College in Paris), in the Bibliothvque de I'Ecole des Charles, 3""=
serie, tome S'"*^'- Janv.-Fevr., 1852, 3'"'' livraison, p 193. [Paris: Dumoulin,
1852.]
LECTURE II.
[Delivered 15th JIarch, 1855.]
Of the Cuilmenn. Of the Tain bo Chuailgne. Of Cormac Mac Airt. Of
the Book of Acaill.
In speaking of the earliest written documents of ancient Erinn, ofthe
of which any account has come down to us, I mentioned that Cuilmenn.
we had incidental notices of the existence, at a very remote
period, of a Book called the Cuilmenn^ It is brought under
consideration by references made to a very ancient tale, of
which copies still exist. The first notices of the Cuilmenn have
been already partly alluded to in the first lecture, but we shall
now consider them at greater length ; and in doing so, we shall
avail ourselves ofthe opportiuiity thus afforded, to illustrate, in
passing, a period of our history, remote indeed, and but little
known, yet filled with stirring incidents, and distinguished by
the presence of very remarkable characters.
According to the accovuits given in the Book of Leinster, to
which I shall presently refer, Dalian ForgaiU, the chief poet
and File of Erinn, [see ante, note (2)] (author of the celebrated
Amhra or post mortem Panegyric on St. Colum Cille), having
died about the year 598, Senclian Torpeist, then a File of dis-
tinction, was called upon to pronounce the funeral elegy or
oration on the deceased bard. The young File acquitted him-
self of this so much to the satisfaction of his assembled brethren,
that they immediately elected him Ard Ollamh in Filedecht,
that is chief File of Erinn.
Some time after this, Senchan called a meeting ofthe Files of of the i-eoo-
Erinn, to ascertain whether any of them remembered the Avhole xfue of the
of the celebrated tale of the Tain Bo Chuailgne, or " Cattle J!'/"' .f*^ .
spod of Cuailgne" (a place now called Cooley, m the modern
county of Louth). All the Files said that they remembered
only fragments of it. On recei\dng this answer, Senchan ad-
di-essed himself to his pupils, and asked if any of them would
take his blessing and go into the country of Letlia to learn the
Tain, which a certain Saoi or professor had taken to the east
after the Cuilmenn (that is, the Book called Cuilmenn), had been •
carried away. (Letha was the ancient name, in the Gaedhilg,
for Italy, particularly that region of it in which the city of
Rome is situated). — [See Appendix, No. Xyill.]
30 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS
LECT. II. Emine, tlie grandson of Ninene, and Murgen, Senchan's
own son, volunteered to go to the east for tliat purpose.
The Tcfin Bo • • • • -i
Cuaiign^re- Having Set out on tlieir journey, it happened that the first
^guf^Mac^^^' place to which they came was the grave ol' the renowned chief
Edigh. Fcrgus Mac E,6igh, in Connacht ; and Murgen sat at the grave
while Emine went in search of a house of hospitahty.
While Murgen was thus seated he composed and spoke a
laidh, or lay, for the gravestone of Fergus, as if it had been
Fergus himself he was addressing.
Suddenly, as the story runs, there came a great mist which
enveloped him so that he coidd not be discovered for three
days ; and during that time Fergus himself appeared to him
in a beautiful form, — for he is described as adorned with brown
hair, clad in a green cloak, and wearing a collared gold-ribbed
shirt, a gold-hilted sword, and sandals of bronze : and it is said
that this apparition related to Murgen the whole tale of the
Tdhi, from beginning to end, — the tale which he was sent to
seek in a foreign land.
This Fergus Mac Roigh was a great Ulster prince, who had
gone into voluntary exile, into Connacht, through feelings of
disHke and hostility to Conor Mac Nessa, the king of Ulster,
for his treacherously putting to death the sous of Uisnech, for
whose safety Fergus had pledged his faith according to the
knightly customs of the time. And afterwards when the Tain
Bo Chuailgne occurred, Fergus was the great giude and director
of the expedition on the side of the Connacht men against that
of Conor Mac Nessa, and, as it would appear, he was hunself
also the historian of the war.
This version of the story is from the Book of Leinster.
However, according to another account, it was at a meeting of
the Files, and some of the saints of Erinn, which was held near
the Carn, or grave that Fergus appeared to them and related the
tale ; and St. Ciaran thereupon wrote down the tale at his dic-
tation, in a book which he had made from the hide of his pet
cow. This cow from its colour was called the Odliar, or dark
gray ; and from this circumstance the book was ever after known
as Leabhar na h-Uidhre (^^ron: nearly " Lewar, or Lowr na
heer-a"), or "The Book of the dark gray [Cow]", — the form
Uidhre being the genitive case of the word Odhm'.
According to this account (which is that given in the ancient
tale called Imtlieclit na troni ddimlie, or the Adventures of the
I Great Company, i.e., the company or following of Senchan),
after the election of Senchan to the position of Chief File, he
paid a visit to Guaire the Hospitable, King of Connacht, at
his palace of Durlus, accompanied by a large retinue of atten-
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 31
dants, or subordinate files, aud piipils, as well as women, and lect. ii.
servants, and dogs; so tliat tlieir sojovirn there was so oppres-
sive, that at their going away, Marhhan, King Guaire's wise to the lost
brother, imposed it as an obligation on Senchan to recover the '"'"'*'"'•
Tale of the Tain Bo Chuailgne. Senchan accordingly went
into Scotland to search for it, but having foimd no trace of
it there, he retiu-ned home again ; and then Marhlian advised
him to invite the saints of Ireland to meet him at the grave of
Fergus, where they were to fast three days and three nights to
God, praying that he would send them Fergus to relate to
them the history of the Tain. The story goes on to say that
St. Caillin of Fiodhnacha (m the present county of Leitrim),
who was Senchan's brother by his mother, undertook to invite
the saints ; and that the following distinguished saints came to
the meeting, namely, St. Colum Cille, St. Caillin himself, St.
Ciaran of Clonmacnois, St. Brendan of Birra, and St. Brendan
the son of Finnlogha; and that after their fast and prayer,
Fergus did appear to them, and related the story, and that St.
Ciaran of Clonmacnois, and St. Caillin of Fiodluiacha, wrote it
down.
This ancient tale is referred to in the Book of Leinster,
a MS. of the earlier half of the twelfth century, though it re-
mains to us only in the form preserved in copies of a much .
more modern date, one of which is in my possession.
The next notice of a Cuihnenn, as 1 have already shortly
stated, is to be found in an ancient glossary, where the " seven
Orders of Wisdom", — that is, the seven degrees in a Hterary
college, including the student on his first entrance, — are distin-
guished by name and qualifications. The highest degree was
the Druimcli, who, as it is stated, had knowledge " of all wis-
dom, from the greatest book which is called Cuilmenn to the
smallest book which is called Deich m-Breithir, in which is
well arranged the good Testament which God made unto
Moses". — [See Appendix, No. V.]
What the Cuilmenn mentioned here was, we have no positive
means of knomng ; but as an acquaintance with both profane
and sacred writings is set down amongst the qualification of
each degree of the order of Wisdom, it may be assumed that
the Cuilmenn embraced profane, as the Deich m-Breitliir did
sacred learning ; since it appears that the Drumcli was versed
in all profane and sacred knowledge.
Another instance of the occm'rence of the word Cuilmenn is
found in the lower margin of a page of the book now called the
Leabhar Breac, the proper name of which was Leahhar Mor
Duna Doighre, that is, the Great Book of Dun Doighre (a
32 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS.
LECT. II. place on tlie Connaclit side of tlie Shannon, some miles below
\ccountof ^^® town of Atlilone). In this book, which is preserved in the
the Tain Bo Library of the Royal Irish Academy, the following words appear
tia^'jn ■ ^^ ^ hand three hundi'ed years old: — "A trymg of his pen by
Fergal, son of William, on the great Cuilmend". — [See Appen-
dix, No. XIX.] This " great Cuilmend" was of course the
book on which he wrote these words, viz., the Leabhar Duna
Doighre jnst mentioned; and this passage establishes the use of
the word to designate a book, generally. It may be also ob-
served that the word (Cuilmenn) in its original meaning lite-
rally signifies the skin of a covv.*^^^-*
To retm'n to the Tciin B6 Chuailgne.
This tale belongs to a period of considerable antiquity, and
in it we find introduced in the course of the narration the
names of several personages who acted a very important part
in our history, and whose deeds are recorded by most of our
annalists. As the tale is itself curious and interesting, and be-
sides supplies a pretty good view of the customs and manners
of the times, it will be interesting to give you here a brief
sketch of it.
When the Argonautic Expedition, the Siege of Troy, or any
others of the notable occurrences of the very old pei-iods of the
world's history, are brought under consideration, not the least
interesting and valuable features which they present are the
illustrations they furnish us of the habits and life of the various
people to whom they relate, and it is of little moment to
attempt to fix the precise year of the world's age in which they
actually happened.
Some persons complain that our Irish Annals are too precise
in the time and place assigned to remote events, to be altoge-
ther true; but this is a subject not to be disposed of in a cur-
sory review like the present. At present my intention is only
to draw briefly, for the purpose of illustration, from one of the
oldest and most remarkable of our national historic tales. I do
(22) That the word Cvnbnent-i signified, in the first instance, a Cow-skin,
appears from the following passage in an ancient Glossary hi the Library of
the Royal Irish Academy (MS. No. 74 of the collection, purchased from
Messrs. Hodges and Smith): ColAi-nnA -peA^xb, .i. Ctiibneniux -peA-tAb; "the
skins of cows", — from ctiilme-nn a skin, and i:eA|\b a cow. That the word
Cuibmenii Avas applied to a Book, is proved not only by the passage above
quoted, in wliich the leAbAiA in6|\ 'Ouiia •Ooij^Ne is so called, but still more di-
rectly by an explanation of it which is to be found in another ancient Glos-
sary, preserved in a IMS. in the Library of Trin. Coll., Dublin (classed H. 3.
18.). In this Glossary the word occurs in reference to the lost book above
mentioned, and to the quotation from it alluded to in the text: — " Cuiimenn,
i e., a Book ; ut est: ' Which the Professor carried to the East after the Cuil-
menw'".— [See original in Appendix, No. XX.]
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 3*3
not propose here to enter into any critical discussion as to the lect. n.
historic accuracy of its details ; but I may observe that, though
often exhibiting liigh poetic colouring in the description of par- the Tain no
ticular circumstances, it unquestionably embraces and is all ""*^^" •
through founded upon authentic historic facts. The Tain Bo
Chuailgnc is to Irish, what the Argonautic Expedition, or the
ScA^en against Thebes, is to Grecian history.
Many copies of the tale still exist. As has been seen, we
have traced it back to one of perhaps the oldest written records,
one of which we now retain little more than the name.. We know
unfortunately nothing of the other contents of the Cuihnenn;
but if we may judge from the character of the events detailed in
the Tidn, we may fairly suppose this Great Book to have been a
depository of the most remarkable occurrences which had taken
place in Ancient Erinn up to the time of its composition.
We are told in om- Annals and other ancient writings, that
Eochaidh Feidlech closed a reign of twelve years as Monarch
of Erinn in Anno Mundi 5069, or a little above a hundred
years before the Incarnation, according to the chronology of the
Annals of the Four Masters. This prince was directly descended
from Eremon (one of the surviving leaders of the Milesian colo-
nists), and succeeded to the monarchy by right of descent.
Eochaidh had three sons and several daughters, and among
his daughters one named Meadhhh (pron: "Meav"), who, from
her early youth, exhibited remarkable traits of strength of mind
and ^agour of character Meav, in the full bloom of life and
beau.ty, was married to Conor, the celebrated provincial King
of Ulster ; but the marriage was not a happy one, and she soon
left her husband and returned to her father's court. The reign
of the monarch, her father, had at this time been embittered by
the rebellion of his three sons, which was carried so far that he
was at last compelled to give them battle ; and a final engage-
ment took place between the two parties at Ath Cumair (the
ancient name of a ford near MuUingar), in which the king's
arms triumphed, and his three sons were slain.
The victory over his sons brought but little peace to Eoch-
aidh; for the men of Connacht, taking advantage of his weak-
ened condition after it, revolted against him ; and to overcome
their opposition he set up his daughter Meav as Queen of Con-
nacht, and gave her in marriage to Ailill, a powerful chief of
that province, and son of Conrach, a former king — the same
Conrach who built the royal residence of Rath CruachanP^^
Ailill died soon after, and Meav finding herself a young widow,
(-3) The remains of tlie Eatb of Cruachan are still to be seen, near Carrick-
on-Sliannou, in the modern county of Roscommon.
3
34 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS.
LECT. II. and an independent queen, proceeded to exercise her own riglit
and taste in tlie selection of a new husband; and with this view
the Tdin Bo shc made a royal progress into Leinster, where Ross Ruadli was
Chiiaiign . ^^q-^ king, residing at the residence of the Leinster kings, at
Naas. Meav there selected, from the princes of the com"t, the
king's younger son, \f\\o bore the same name as her previous
husband, Ailill, and whom she married and made king-consoit of
her province.
Their union was happy, and Meav became the mother of
many sons, and of one daughter.
One day, however (as tlie story runs), a dispute arose between
Queen Meav and her husband about their respective wealth
and treasures, — for all women at this time had their private
fortunes and dowries secured to them in marriage. This dis-
pute led them to an actual comparison of their various kinds
of property, to determine which of them had the most and
the best. There were compared before them then (says the
tale) all their wooden and their metal vessels of value; and
they were found to be equal. There were brought to them
their finger rings, their clasps, their bracelets, their thumb
rings, their diadems, and their gorgets of gold ; and they were
found to be equal. There were brought to them their gar-
ments of crimson, and blue, and black, and green, and yellow,
and mottled, and white, and streaked ; and they were found
to be equal. There were brought before them their great flocks
of sheep, from greens and lawns and plains ; and they were
found to be equ.al. There were broiight before them their
steeds, and their studs, from pastures and from fields ; and they
were found to be equal. There were brought before them their
great herds of swine, from forests, from deep glens, and from
solitudes ; their herds and their droves of cows were brought
before them from the forests and most remote solitudes of the
province ; and on counting and comparing them they were found
to be equal in niunber and in excellence. But there was found
among Ailill's herds a young bull, which had been calved by
one of Meav's cows, and which, "not deeming it honourable to
be under a woman's control", went over and attached himself to
Aihll's herds. The name of tliis fine animal was Finnhlieannach
or the Wliite-horned ; and it was formd that the queen had
not among her herds one to match him. This was a matter of
deep disappointment to her. She immediately ordered Mac
Roth, her chief courier, to her jDresence, and asked him if he
knew where a young bull to match the Finnbheannacli, or
White-horned, could be found among the five provinces of
Erinn. Mac Roth answered that he knew where there was a
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 35
better and a finer bull, namely in the possession of Dare, son of lect. n.
Fachtna, in tlie Cantred of Cuailgne and province of Ulster,
and that his name was the Donn Chuailgne, or Brown [Bull] of the T&in no
Cuailgne. Go thou, then, said JMeav, with a request to Dare '"'"'''""^•
from me, for the loan of the Donn Chuailgne for my herds for
one year, and tell him that he shall be well repaid for his loan ;
that he shall receive fifty heifers and the Donn Chuailgne back
at the expiration of that time. And you may make another
proposition to him, said the queen, namely, that should the
people of the district object to his lending us the Donn Chuailgne,
he may come himself with his bull, and that he shall have the
full extent of his ovn\ territory given him of the best lands in
Hagh Ai [Flams of Roscommon], a chariot worth thrice seven
cumals (or sixty -three cows), and my future friendship.
The courier set out with a company of nine subordinates, and
in due time arrived in Cuailgne and delivered his message to
Dare Mac Fachtna.
Dare received hnn in a true spirit of hospitality, and on learn-
ing his errand, consented at once to accept the terms. He then
sent the covmer and his company into a separate part of his
establishment, furnishing them abundantly with the best of food
and drink that liis stores could supply.
In the course of the night, and when deep in their cups, one
of the Connacht couriers said to another : It is a truth that the
man of this house is a good man, and it is very good of him to
grant to us, nine messengers, what it wordd be a great work for
the other four great provinces of Erinn to take by force out of
Ulster, namely the Donn Chnailgne. Then a third courier in-
terposed and said that httle thanks were due to Dare, because
if he had not consented fi,xely to give the Donn Chuailgne, he
should be compelled to do so.
At this moment Dare's chief steward, accompanied by a man
laden with food and another with drink, entered ; and overhear-
ing the vaunt of the third courier, flew into a passion and cast
down their meat and drmk before them without inviting them
to partake of it ; after which he repaired to his master and re-
ported to him what he had heard. Dare swore by his gods
that they should not have the Donn Chuailgne, either by con-
sent or by force.
The couriers appeared before Dare early on the following
morning and requested the fulfihnent of his promise ; but he
made answer that if it had been a practice of his to punish cou-
riers for their impertinence, not one of them should depart alive
from him. The couriers returned to their mistress to Rath
Cruachan, the royal palace of the kings of Connacht. On his
3b
36 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS.
LECT. II. arrival Mac Roth related to Meav tlie issue of his embassy and
the cause of its failure ; iipon which Meav took up the words
the Tcim Bo of licr boastful messengor, and said that as Dare had not granted
maiipi , ^1^^ request freely, he should be compelled to do so by force.
Meav accordingly immediately summoned her sons to her
presence, as well as the seven sons of Ilagach, her relatives, with
all their forces and followers. She also invited the men of Muns-
ter and Leinster to join her cause, and take vengeance on the
Ulstermen for the many wrongs which they had of old inflicted
on them. There was besides at this time a large body of exiled
Ulstermen in Meav's ser\ace, namely, those who had abandoned
Conor after his treachery to the sons of Uisneach. This body
of brave men, amounting to fifteen hundi'ed, was under the lea-
dership of Fergus Mac Roigh and Conor's own son, Cormac
Conloingeas, or the Exile.
All these forces met at Cruachain; and after consulting her
Druid, and a. Bean sidhe (pron: nearly " banshee"), ^^^^ who ap-
peared to her, Meav set out at the head of her troops, crossed the
Shannon at Athlone, and marched through ancient Meath, till she
had arrived at the place now called Kells (within a fcAV miles of
the borders of the modern county of Louth, in Ulster), where she
encamped her army. Meav's consort, Ailill, and their daughter,
Finnahhair (the Fairbrowed), accompanied the expedition.
When they had encamped for the night, the queen invited all
the leaders of the army to feast with her, and in the course of
the evening contrived to enter into a private conversation with
each of the most brave and powerful amongst them, exhortig
them to valoiu" and fidelity in her cause, and secretly promising
to each the hand of her beautiful daugliter in marriage. So far
the plot of the tale as regards Queen Meav's movements.
(21^ The word beAn -p-oe (literally, " woman of the fairy mansions"), meant a
Woman from the fairy mansions of the Hills, or the land Immortality. In other
words, it meant, according to the ancient legendary belief, a Woman of that
Tiiath De Dunann race Avhicli preceded the Milesians, and which, on their con-
quest by the latter, were believed to have retired from this life to enjoy an in-
visible inmiortaUty in the hills, fountains, lakes, and islands of Eiinn, where
it M-as reported they are to remain till the last Judgment. From this state of
existence they were of old believed to be able to reappear at pleasiu-e in the
ordinary forms of men and women; and this ancient belief respecting the
Titath De Danann (whose sudden disappeai'ance from our ancient history
seems to have been only accounted for in this manner) still hngers among the
people of modern Ireland, in the form of the superstitious reverence for what
they now call the "Pairies" or " Good People". Some account of M'hat they
were anciently believed to be will be found in the Tripartite Life of St.
Patrick. A cmrious example of their api^carance, as introduced in our ancient
literature, occurs also in the tale of " The Sick-bed of CuchuUainn", printed
in the second number of the Atlantis, for July, 1858. — [See also Appendix,
No. XXL]
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS 37
Although the Ulstermen had sufficient notice of the approach lect. ir.
of such a formidable invasion, they exhibited no sims of de- , ^ ^
rm • • 1 • • 1 • • Account of
tensive preparation. Ihis singular inaction on their part is ac- the Tain bo
counted for in another talc so often spoken of as the Ceasnaidh- ""' ^" '
ean Uladh, or Child-birth-debility of the Ultonians.
It happened that Meav's expedition into Louth occurred at
the very time that Conor and all the warriors of Emania were
suffering imder the effects of the curse described in that tale, so
that the border lay quite unguarded except by one youth. This
youth was the renowned Cuclmlainn, whose patrimony was the
first part of Ulster that the hostile forces entered upon, and
within it the owner of the Donn Chuailgne resided.
This part of the tale relates many wonderful and various
stories of Cuchulainn's youthful achievements, which compli-
cate it to no small extent, but on the other hand, make no small
addition to its interest.
Cuchulainn confronts the invaders of liis province, demands
single combat, and conjures his opponents by the laws of Irish
chivah-y (the Fir comhlairm) not to advance farther until they
conquered him. This demand, in accordance with the Irish
laws of warfare, is granted ; and then the whole contest is re-
solved into a succession of single combats, in each of which
Cuchulainn was victorious.
Soon, however, Meav, impatient of this slow mode of pro-
ceeding, broke through the compact with Cuchulainn, marched
forward herself at the head of a section of her army, and
biuiied and ravaged the province up to the very precincts of
Conor's palace at Emania. She had by this time secvu'ed the
Donn Chuailgne ; and she now marched her forces back into
Meath and encamped at Clartha (pron : " Clarha", — now Clare
Castle m the modern comity of Westmeath).
In the meantime the Ulstermen having recovered from the
temporary state of debility to which the curse above alluded to
had subjected them, Conor summoned all the chiefs of his pro-
vince to muster their forces and join his standard in the pursuit
of the army of Connacht. This done, they marched in separate
bodies, under their respective chiefs, and took up a position in
the immediate neighbourhood of Meav's camp. The march
and array of these troops, including Cuchulainn's, — the distin-
giiishing descriptions of their horses, chariots, arms, ornaments,
and vesture, — even their size, and complexion, and the colour
of their hair, — are described with great vividness and power.
In the story the description of all these details is delivered by
Meav's courier, Mac Roth, to her and her husband ; and the
recognition of the various chiefs of Ulster as they arrived at
38 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS.
LECT. II. Conor's camp is ascribed to Fergus Mac Roigh, the exiled
p r- nai Ulstcr princc already spoken of. I may quote tlie following
description sliort passages, merely as specimens of the kind of description
ciiiettin\iie tlius givcu by Mac Roth to Meav and AiHll:
Tdiii^Bo^^ "There came another company there, said Mac Roth; no
chuaiigni. cliampiou could bc found more comely than he who leads them.
His hair is of a deep red yellow, and bushy ; liis forehead broad
and his face tapering ; he has sparkling blue laughing eyes ; —
a man regularly formed, tall and tapering ; thin red lips ; pearly,
shiny teeth ; a white, smooth body. A red and white cloak
flutters about him ; a golden brooch in that cloak, at his breast ;
a shirt of white, kingly linen, with gold embroidery at his
skin ; a white shield, with gold fastenings at his shoulder ; a
gold-hilted long sword at his left side ; a long, sharp, dark green
spear, together "with a short, sharp spear, with a rich band and
carved silver rivets in his hand. Who is he, O Fergus, said
AiKU? The man who has come there is in himself half a
battle, the valour of combat, the fury of the slaughter- hoimd.
His is Reochaid Mac Fatlieman (pron: " Faheman"), from
Rigdonn [or Rachlainn], in the north [said Fergus".] — [See
original in Appendix, No. XXII.] And again: —
" Another company have come to the same hill, at Slemain
of Meath, said Mac Roth, with a long-faced, dark complexioned
champion at their head ; [a champion] with black hair and long
limbs, i.e., long legs; wearing a red shaggy cloak wrapped
round him, and a white silver brooch in the cloak over his
heart ; a linen shirt to his skin ; a blood-red shield with devices
at his shoulder ; a silver-hilted sword at his left side ; an elbowed
gold-socketed spear to his shoulder. Who is he, O Fergus ?
said AiHll to Fergus. We know him well indeed, said Fergus ;
he is Fergna, the son of Finncona, chief of Burach, in Ulster".'-^^^
— [See original in Appendix, No. XXIII.]'
And again : "Another company have come to the same hill m
Sleamain of Meath, said Mac Roth. It is wild, and miHke the
other companies. Some are with red cloaks; others with
light blue cloaks ; others with deep blue cloaks ; others with
green, or blay, or white, or yellow cloaks, bright and flut-
tering about them. There is a young red-freckled lad, with
(2a) And here, lest it may be thought that these gorgeous descriptions of arms
and ornaments are but idle creations of the poet or the Seanchaidhe, drawn from
his imagination alone, I may recommend such of my hearers as are doubtful or
sceptical on these points to visit and inspect for themselves the rich and beau-
tiful collection of the Royal Irish Academy ; when they will find that no pen
could do justice to the exquisite workmanship, the graceful design, and dehcate
finish of those mirivalled relics of Ancient Irish Art, of which the best modern
imitations fall so immeasurably short.
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 39
a crimson cloak, in tlieii' midst; a golden broocli in tliat lect. ii.
cloak at his breast ; a shirt of kingly linen, -with fastenings ^^ ^^^.^^^ ^^
of red gold at liis skin ; a white shield with hooks of red gold legendary
at his shoulder, faced with gold, and with a golden rim ; "he xliiTof'"
a small gold-hilted sword at liis side ; a light, sharp, shining ^^^^Jif,'X^°
spear to his shoulder. Who is he, my dear Fergus ? said AiliU.
I don't remember, indeed, said Fergus, having left any such per-
sonages as these in Ulster, when leaving it, — and I can only
guess that they are the young princes and nobles of Tara, led by
Ere, the son of Conor's daughter Feidilim Nuachriithach^ [or
' of the ever-new form'], and of Carbry Niafear [the king of
Tara"]. — [See original in Appendix, No. XXIV.]
With descriptions like these, more or less picturesque, the
whole tale abounds. The most remarkable of these, but it is
too long for insertion here, is that of Cuchulainn, liis chariot,
his horses, and his charioteer, at the battle of Atli Firdiadh,
where he killed Ferdiadh in single combat ; a circumstance from
which the place has derived its name oi Ath Firdiadh, or Fer-
diad's Ford (pronoimced Ardee), in the modern county of Louth.
The armies of Queen Meav and Conor, her former husband, at
length met in battle at the hill of Gairech, some distance south-
east of Athlone, where the Ulstermen routed their enemies, and
drove them in disorder over the Shannon into Connacht. Meav,
however, had taken care to secure her prize, the Donn Chu-
aihjne, by despatching him to her palace, at Cruachaiu, before
the final battle ; and thus, notwithstanding the loss of umnbers
of her best champions and warriors, she congratulated herself
on having gained the two greatest objects of her expedition,
namely, the possession of the Donn Chuailgne, and the chas-
tisement of Conor, her former husband, and his proud Ulster-
men, at the very gates of his palace at Emania.
This wild tale does not, however, end here ; for it gravely
informs us that when the Donn Chuailgne found himself in a
strange country, and among strange herds, he raised such a loud
bellowing as had never before been heard in the province of
Connacht ; that on hearing those unusual sounds, AiHll's bull, the
Finnbheannach or White-horned, knew that some strange and
formidable foe had entered his territory ; and that he immediately
advanced at full speed to the point from which they issued, where
he soon arrived in the presence of his noble enemy. The sight
of each other was the signal of battle. In the poetic language
of the tale, the province rang with the echoes of their roaring,
the sky was darkened by the sods of earth they threw up with
their feet and the foam that flew from their mouths; faint-
hearted men, women, and children hid themselves in caves,
40 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS.
LECT. ir. caverns, and clefts of tlie rocks ; whilst even tlie most veteran
Histo • "warriors but dared to view the combat from the neighbouring
value of the liills and eminences. The Finnhheannach, or White-horned,
oit\\l Tdin ^^ length gavc way, and retreated towards a certain pass which
aiianT" opcncd into the plain in which the battle raged, and where six-
teen warriors bolder than the rest had planted themselves ; but so
rapid was the retreat, and the pursuit, that not only were all these
trampled to the ground, but they were buried several feet in it.
The Donn Chuailgne, at last, coming up with his opponent,
raised him on his horns, ran off with him, passed the gates of
Meav's palace, tossing and shaking him as he went, until at last
he shattered him to pieces, dropping his disjointed members as
he went along. And wherever a part fell, that place retained
the name of that joint ever after. And thus it was (we are told)
that Ath Luahi, now Athlone, which was before called Ath
Mar, or the Great Ford, received its present name from the
Finnhlieannacli s Luan, or loin, having been dropped there.
The Donn Chuaihjne, after having shaken his enemy in this
m.anner from his horns, returned into his OAvn country, but in
such a frenzied state of excitement and fury, that all fled every-
where at his approach. He faced directly to his old home ;
but the people of the haile or hamlet fled, and hid themselves
behind a huge mass of rock, which his madmess transformed
into the shape of another bull ; so that coming with all his
force against it he dashed out his brains, and was killed.
I have dwelt, perhaps rather tediously, on the history of this
strange tale ; but one of the objects of this course of Lectures
is to give to the student of the Gaedhlic language an idea of
the nature of some of the countless ancient compositions con-
tained in it ; and notwithstanding the extreme wildness of the
legend of the Bull, I am not acquainted mth any tale in the
whole range of our literature, in which he will find more of
valuable details concerning general and local liistory ; more of
description of the manners and customs of the people; of the
druidical and fairy influence supposed to be exercised in the
affairs of men ; of the laws of Irish chivalry and honour ; of
the standards of beauty, morality, valour, truth, and fidelity,
recognized by the people of old ; of the regal power and dig-
nity of the monarch and the provincial kings, as well as much
concerning the division of the country into its local dependencies ;
lists of its chieftains and chieftaincies ; many valuable topogra-
phical names ; the names and kinds of articles of dress and or-
nament ; of military weajDons ; of horses, chariots, and trap-
pings ; of leechcraft, and of medicinal plants and springs ; as well
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 41
as instances of, perhaps, every occnrrence that could be supposed lect. ii.
to happen in ancient Irish Hfe : all of these details of the utmost ~
value to the student of history, even though mixed up with any quity ofthe
amount of the marvellous or incredible in poetical traditions. <^'t"''"enn.
The chief actors in this "svarfare are all "well-known and un-
doubted historical characters, and are to be met with not only
in our ancient tales, but in our authentic annals also.
Tighernach (the most credited in our days of all our an-
nalists) mentions the Tain Bo Chuailgnh, and gives the age of
Cuchulainn as scA^enteen at the time he followed the Tain, which
IS calculated by OTlaherty to have taken place about a.d. 39. —
[See Appendix, No. XX V.J
As I have already stated, this tale may be traced back to the
first record to which we find the name of Cuilmenn attached, but
of which we have now no means of fixing the precise date,
any more than the nature and character of its other contents.
I have ventm-ed to assign the compilation of the Cuihnenn, or
Great Book of Skins, to an earlier date than that of the Saltair of
Tara, which was compiled about the middle of the third, and
the Gin Droma Snechta, which has been traced to the close of
the fourth or beginning of the fifth century ; and for two rea-
sons, among many others. The first is, that the manner in
which the Cuilmenn is spoken of, in the time of Senchann and
Saint Cohun Cille, implies a belief on their part that the tale
of the Tain had been written, in an authentic form, either in
a separate volume, or into this book, at or immediately after the
occurrence of the events so graphically narrated in it ; and the
fact, as related, of Saint Ciaran writing the recovered version
of it, no matter from what source it was obtained at the time,
on the skin of his pet cow, shows that this was done with the
clear intention of handing it down to posterity as nearly as
possible in the same form as that in which tradition had taught
them to believe it had existed in the Cuilmenn.
The second reason is, that, from the part which is ascribed to
Fergus in the conduct of the expedition, the frequent mention
in the tale of liis reading the Ogham writings, and using their
characters liimself, and the jDretended revelation of it at his grave,
to Seanchan's pupil, in the one version, as well as the recovery
of it, according to another account, at a great meeting of poets
and ecclesiastics, said to have taken place at his grave, it appears,
to me at least, that there is sufiicient ground to warrant the con-
jecture, that in the times of Seanchan and Saint Colum Cille, it
was generally believed that Fergus was the original writer of
the tale, that it had been written by him, or by some person of
his time, into a great book, and that this book was at some sub-
42
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS.
Of the
Saltair of
Taba.
Of King
Cormac Mac
Airt.
sequent period carried out of the country ; and this, as we have
said before, jDrobably may have taken place in the early Chris-
tian times. It is also not impossible that it was followed by the
owner or keeper of it, who, from his being called a Saoi, that is,
a Doctor or Professor in learning, was probably, it may be sup-
posed, converted to Christianity, and went into Italy, as many
certainly did in those times, carrying with him the only copy
or copies then in existence. It would be curious to find this
ancient book still existing in some neglected corner of the
Vatican, or of one of the other great Libraries of Italy.
In the first lectvu'e (to pass to the next of our oldest lost books),
we partly considered the history of that very ancient record, now
lost, known as the Saltair of Tara. It was stated that its
composition is referred to the period of the reign of Cormac
Mac Art (^Cormac Mac Airt, or son of Art), and that by some
this king was actually supposed to have been its author.
To give full value to all the evidence we possess as to the
nature of this record, the time at which it was said to have been
composed, and its reputed author, it will be necessary for us to
enter into a brief historical account of the period, and to give
some particulars about this celebrated prince ; from which I con-
ceive it will be fully evident, that to attribute the composition
of the Saltair to the time of Cormac, or even to state that he was
its author, would be to make no extravagant assumption.
The character and career of Cormac Mac Art, as a governor,
a warrior, a philosopher, and a judge deeply versed in the laws
which he was called on to administer, have, if not from his own
time, at least from a very remote period, formed a fruitful subject
for panegyric to the poet, the historian, and the legislator.
Om' oldest and most accredited annals record his victories and
military glories ; our historians dwell with rapture on his honour,
his justice, and the native dignity of his character; our writers
of historical romance make him the hero of many a tale of
curious adventure ; and our poets find in his personal accom-
plishments, and in the regal splendom* of his reign, inexhaus-
tible themes for their choicest numbers.
The poet Maelmura, of Othna, who died a.d. 844, styles him
Cormac Ceolach, or the Musical, in allusion to his refined and
happy mind and disposition. Cinaeth (or Kenneth) O'Harti-
gan (who died a.d. 973) gives a glowing description of the
magnificence of Cormac and of his palace at Tara. And Cuan
O'Lochain, quoted in the former lecture, and who died a.d.
1024, is no less eloquent on the subject of Cormac's mental
and personal qualities and the glories of his reign. He also,
in the poem which has been already quoted, describes the con-
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 43
dition aud dispc \ion of the rulus of the principal edifices at lect. ii.
Tara, as they e' ated in his time ; for, even at this early period ^^.^^^^ ^^
(1024), the x^ ,- dl Tara was but a ruin. Flann, of Saint Buithes KingCormaG
Monastery, who died a.d. 1056 (the greatest, perhaps, of the ' ""^
scholars, historians, and poets of his time), is equally fluent in
praise of Cormac as a king, a warrior, a scholar, and a judge.
Cormac's father. Art, chief monarch of Erinn, was killed in
the Battle of Jfar/h Jlucruimhe that is, the Plain of MucruimM
(pron: " Mucrivy") about a.d. 195, by Mac Con, who was the
son of his sister. Tliis Mac Con was a Munster prince, who
had been banished out of Erinn by OiHll Oluim, King of Mun-
ster; after which, passing into Britain and Scotland, he returned
in a few years at the head of a large army of foreign adven-
tiu'ers, commanded chiefly by Benne Brit, son of the King of
Britain. They sailed round by the south coast of Ireland, and
lauded in the Bay of Gal way ; and, being joined there by some
of Mac Con's Irish adherents, they overran and ravaged the
country of West Connacht. Art, the monarch, immediately
mustered all the forces that he could command, and marched
into Connacht, where he was joined by Mac Con's seven (or
six) step-brothers, the sons of Oilill Olum, with the forces of
Munster. A battle ensued, as stated above, on the Plain of
]\Iucruimlie (between Athenree and Galway), in which Art
was killed, leaving behind him an only son, Cormac, usually dis-
tinguished as Cormac Mac Airt, that is, Cormac the son of Art.
On the death of his tmcle Art, Mac Con assumed the
monarchy of Erinn, to the prejudice of the young prince Cor-
mac, who was still in liis boyhood, and who was forced to lie con-
cealed for the time among his mother's friends in Connacht.
Mac Con's usm-pation, and his severe rule, disposed his svibjects
after some time to wish for his removal ; and to that end young
Cormac, at the solicitation of some powerful friends of his father,
appeared suddenly at Tara, where his j)erson had by this time
ceased to be known. One day, we are told, he entered the
judgment hall of the palace at the moment that a case of royal
privilege was brought before the king, Mac Con, for adjudication.
For the king in ancient Erinn was, in eastern fashion, behoved
to be gifted with pecuHar wisdom as a judge among liis people ;
and it was a part of his duty, as well as one of the chief privileges
of his prerogative, to give judgment in any cases of difficulty
brought before him, even though the litigants might be among
the meanest of his subjects, and the subject of litigation of the
smallest value. The case is thus related : Certain sheep, the pro-
perty of a certain widow residing near Tara, had strayed into the
queen's private lawn, and eaten of its grass; they were captured
LECT. II.
of Coi-mac
Mac Airt.
44 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS.
by some of tlie houseliolcl officers, and tlie case was brought be-
fore the king for judgment. The king, on hearing the case, con-
deJcHpUon dcmucd the sheep to be forfeited. Young Cormac, hoAvever,
hearmg this sentence, exclaimed that it was unjust ; and declared
that as the sheep had eaten but the fleece of the land, the most
that they ought to forfeit should be their own fleeces. This
view of the law appeared so wise and reasonable to the people
around, that a murmur of approbation ran through the hall.
Mac Con started from his seat and exclaimed : " That is the
judgment of a king" ; and, immediately recognizing the youthful
prince, ordered him to be seized; but Cormac succeeded in
effecting his escape. The people, then, having recognized their
rightful chief, soon revolted against the monarch ; upon which
Mac Con was driven into Munster, and Cormac assumed the
government at Tara. And thus commenced one of the most
brilliant and important reigns in Irish history.
The following description of Cormac, from the Book of Bal-
lymote (142, b.b.), gives a very vivid picture of the person, man-
ners, and acts of this monarch, which it gives however on the
authority of the older Book of Uaclionghhail; and, even though
the language is often high-coloured, it is but a picturesque
clothing for actual facts, as we know from other sources, — [See
original in Appendix, No. XXVL]
" A noble and illustrious king assmned the sovereignty and
rule of Erinn, namely, Cormac, the grandson of Conn of the
Hundred Battles. The world was full of all goodness in his
time ; there were fruit and fatness of the land, and abundant pro-
duce of the sea, with peace, and ease, and happiness, in his time,
There were no killings nor plunderings in his time, but every
one occupied his lands in happiness.
" The nobles of Erinn assembled to drink the banquet of
Tara, with Cormac, at a certain time. These were the kings who
were assembled at that feast, namely, Fergus Dubhdeadach (of
the black teeth), and Eocliaidh Gunnat, the two kings of Ulster ;
Dunlang, son of Enna Nia, king of Leinster ; Cormac Cas, son
of AiHU Oluim, — and Fiacha Muilleatlian, son of Eoghan 3l6r,
the two kings of Munster ; Nia Mar, the son of Lugaidh Firtri,
Cormac's brother by his mother, and Eocliaidh, son of Conall,
the two kings of Connacht ; Oengus of the poisoned spear, king
of Bregia (East Meath) ; and Feradhach the son of Asal, son of
Conor the champion, king of Meath.
" The manner in which fairs and great assemblies were at-
tended by the men of Erinn, at this time, was : each king wore
his kingly robe upon him, and his golden helmet on his head ;
for, they never put their kingly diadems on, but in the field of
battle only.
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 45
" ^Magnificently did Connac come to this great assembly; for lect. ii.
no man, his equal in beauty, had preceded him, excepting Co-
naive JJor, son of Edersgel, or Conor, son of Cathhadh (pron: ^tv^atiaia.
nearly " Caa-fah"), or Aengus, son of the Daghda. Splendid,
indeed, was Cormac's appearance in that assembly. His hair
was slightly curled, and of golden colour : a scarlet shield with
engraved devices, and golden hooks, and clasps of silver: a
wide-folding purple cloak on him, with a gem-set gold brooch
over his breast ; a gold torque around his neck ; a white-collared
shirt, embroidered Avith gold, upon him ; a girdle with golden
buckles, and studded with precious stones, aroimd him; two
golden net-work sandals with golden buckles upon him ; two
spears with golden sockets, and many red bronze rivets, in his
hand; while he stood in the full glow of beauty, withou.t
defect or blemish. You would think it was a shower of pearls
that were set in his mouth ; his lips were rubies ; his symme-
trical body was as white as snow; his cheek was like the
mountain-ash berry ; his eyes were like the sloe ; his brows and
eye lashes were like the sheen of a blue-black lance.
" This, then, was the shape and form in which Cormac went
to this great assembly of the men of Erinn. And authors say
that this was the noblest convocation ever held in Erinn before
the Christian Faith ; for, the laws and enactments instituted in
that meeting were those which shall prevail in Erinn for ever.
" The nobles of Erinn proposed to make a new classification of
the people, according to their various mental and material quaHfi-
cations; both kings and ollamhs (or chiefs of professions), and
druids, and farmers, and soldiers, and all difierent classes like-
wise ; because they were certain, that, whatever regulations should
be ordered for Erinn in that assembly, by the men of Eiinn,
would be those which would live in it for ever. For, from the
time that Amergen Gluingeal (or of the White Knee), the File
(or Poet) and one of the chiefs of the Milesian colonists, deli-
vered the first judgment in Erinn, it was to the Files alone that
belonged the right of pronouncing judgments, until the dispu-
tation of the Two Sages, Ferceirtne the File, and Neidhe, son
of Adhna, at Emauia, about the beautiful mantle of the chief
File, Adhna, who had lately died. More and more obscure to
the people, were the words in which these two Files discussed
and decided their dispute ; nor could the kings or the other Files
understand them. Concobar (or Conor), and the other princes, at
that time present at Emania, said that the disputation and deci-
sion could be understood only by the two parties themselves, for
that thei/ did not imderstand them. It is manifest, said Concobar:
all men shall have share in it from this day out for ever, but they
46 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS.
LECT. II. [the Files] sliall have tlieir liereditary judgment out of it; ol
what all others require, every man may take his share of it.
cormac Mac Judgment was then taken from the Files, except their inheritance
^*'''" of it, and several of the men of Erinn took their part of the judg-
ment; such as the judgments of ^oc/ia^c?/i, the son oi Luchta;
and the judgments of Fachtna, the son of Senchadh; and the
(aj)parently) false judgments of Caradniadh Teisctlie; and the
judgments of Morann, the son of Maen ; and the judgments
of Eoghan, the son of Durrthaclit [king of Farney] ; and the
judgments of Doet of JVeimthenn, and the judgments of Brigh
Anibui [daughter of Senchadli] ; and the judgments of Dian-
cecht [the Tuath De Dandnn Doctor] in matters relating to
medical doctors. Although these were thus first ordered at
this time, the nobles of the men of Erinn (subsequently) insis-
ted on judgment and eloquence (advocacy) being allowed to
persons according to rank in the Bretha Nemlieadh (laws of
ranks) ; and so each man usurped the profession of another
again, until this great meeting assembled around Cormac.
They then again separated the professors of every art from
each other in that great meeting, and each of them was or-
dained to liis legitimate profession".
And thus when Cormac came to the sovereignty of Erinn,
he found that Conor's regulations had been disregarded ; and
this was what induced the nobles to propose to him a new
organization, in accordance with the advancement and progress
of the people, from the former period. And this Cormac did ;
for he ordered a new code of laws and regulations to be drawn
up, extending to all classes and professions. He also put the
state or court regulations of the Teach Midhchuarta, or Great
Banqueting House of Tara, on a new and permanent footing;
and revived obsolete tests and ordeals, and instituted some
important new ones ; thus making the law of Testimony and
Evidence as perfect and safe as it could be in such times.
If we take this, and various other descriptions of Cormac's
character as a man, a king, a scholar, a judge, and a warrior,
into account, we shall see that he was no ordinary prince ; and
that if he had not impressed the nation with a full sense of his
great superiority over his predecessors and those who came
after him, there is no reason why he should have been specially
selected from all the rest of the line of monarchs, to be made
above all the possessor of such excellences.
Such a man could scarcely have carried out his various be-
hests, and the numerous provisions of his comprehensive enact-
ments, without some written medium. And it is no unwar-
rantable presumption to suppose that, either by his own hand,
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS.
47
or, at least, in his own time, by liis command, liis laws were lect. it.
committed to writing ; and wlien we possess very ancient tes- ^j^^ j^^^^
timony to tliis effect, I can see no reason for reiectinff it, or andiegai
% . Kf o * writiiitrs of
even for casting a doubt upon the statement. King cormac
It is not probable that any laws or enactments forged at a ^^"''^ '^"''"
later period, could be imposed on a people who possessed in
such abundance the means of testing the genuineness of their
origin, by recourse to other sources of information; and the
same arguments which apply in the case of the Saltair of Tara,
may be used in regard to another work assigned to Cormac, of
which mention will be presently made. Nor is this all, but
there is no reason whatever to deny that a book, such as the
Saltair of Tara is represented to have been, was in existence at
Tara a long time before Cormac's reign ; and that Cormac only
altered and enlarged it to meet the circiuiistances of his own times.
These bards and druids, of which our ancient records make
such frequent mention, must have had some mode of perpetuating
their arts, else it would have been impossible for those arts to
have been transmitted so faithfully and fully as we know they
were. It is true that the student in the learning of the File is
said to have spent some twelve years in study, before he was pro-
noiniced an adept ; and this may be supposed to imply that the
instruction was verbal ; but we have it from various writers, even
as late as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, that it was
customary with the medical, law, and civil students of these
times, to read the classics and study their professions for twenty
years.
All this is indeed but presumptive evidence of the possession
of writing by the Irish in the time of Cormac ; but, from other
sources we have reason to believe that the art existed here long
antecedent to his reign: this subject is, however, of too great
extent and importance to admit of its full discussion at present.
There still exists, I should state to you, a Law Tract, attri-
buted to Cormac. It is called the Book of Acaill ; and is always
found annexed to a Law Treatise by Cennfaelad the learned,
who died in a.d. 677. The following preface always prefixed
to this first work gives its history. — [See original in Appendix,
No. XXVIL]
"The locus^'^^ of the Book was Aicill (or Acaill, pron:
(26) It was always the habit of the old Irish -writers to state four circum-
stances concerning the comjDosition of their works : the j^Iace at which they
were written (or the locus of the work, according to tlie form here used),— the
date, — the name of the author, — and the occasion or circumstances which sug-
gested the undertaking. Tiiese forms were adhered to by writers using the
native language down even to the time of the Four Masters, as will be seen
in a subsequent Lecture (VIII.), on the various works of the O'Clerys.
48
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS.
Of the Book
of Acaill.
Of Cenn/ae -
lad.
Akill'), near Teamair [Tara] ; and the time of it was tlie
time of Cairbre Lifeachair (Cairbre of tlie Liffey), son of
Cormac, and the person [author] of it was Cormac; and
the cause of making it was, the bhnding of Cormac's eye
by Aengus Gabuaideeh (Aengus of the poisoned spear), after
the abduction of the daughter of Sorar, son of Art Corb,
by Cellach, the son of Cormac. This Aengus Gabuaideeh
was an Aire Eclita (an avenging chief) at this time, avenging
the wrongs of his tribe in the territories of Luigline (Leyney) ;
and he went into the house of a woman there, and forcibly
drank milk there. " It would be fitter for you", said the wo-
man, " to avenge your brother's daughter on Cellach, the son of
Cormac, than to consume my food forcibly". And books do not
record that he committed any evil upon the woman's person ; but
he went forward to Teamair; and it was after sunset he reached
Teamair; and it was prohibited at Tecnnair to take a champion's
arms into it after sunset ; but only the arms that happened to
be in it ; and Aengus took Cormac's Crimall (bloody spear) down
off its rack (as he was passing in) and gave a thrust of it into
Ceallach, son of Cormac, which killed him ; and its angle struck
Cormac's eye, so that he remamed hah'blmd ; and its heel struck
in the back of the steward of Teamair, when drawing it out
of Cellach, and killed him ; and it was prohibited to a kmg
with a blemish to be in Teamair; and Cormac was sent out to
be cured to Aicill, near Teamair; and Teamar could be seen
from Aicill, and Aicill could not be seen from Teamar ; and
the sovereignty of Erinn was (then) given to Cairbre Lifea-
chair, the son of Cormac ; and it was then this book was com-
piled ; and that which is Cormac's share in it is every place where
"jB^ai" (immunity) occurs, and ^^Ameic arafeiser'^ (my son would
you know) ; and Ceimdfaelad's share is, everything from that
out".
Such is the account of this curious tract, as found prefixed to
all the copies of it that we now know ; and, though the compo-
sition of this preface must be of a much later date than Cor-
mac's time, still it bears internal evidence of great antiquity.
Cormac's book is, as I have observed, always found prefixed
to the laws compiled by Cennfaelad just mentioned. Tliis
Cennfaelad had been an Ulster warrior, but, happening to re-
ceive a fracture of the skull, at the battle of Magh Rath, fought
A.D. 634, he was carried to be cured, to the house of Bricin'^^^^ of
(2'') The reader will please to observe, once for all, that the letter c is in the
Gaedhlic always ijronounced hard, or like the English k; it never has the soft
sound of au s, even before an e or an i.
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 49
Tuaim Drecain, wliere tliere were tliree schools, iiamelj- : a Lite- lect. ii.
rary (or Classical) school; a Fenechas, or Law school; and a
school of Poetry. And, whilst there, and listening to the instruc- of Acaui.
tions given to the pupils, and the subtle discussions of the schools,
his memory, which, before, was not very good, became clear
and retentive, so that whatever he heard in the day (it is re-
corded) he remembered at night ; and thus, he finally came to
be a master in the arts of the three schools, reducing what he
had heard in each to order, and committing it to verse, which
he first wrote upon slates and tablets, and afterwards in a
White Book, in verse. The Fenechas, or law part only, of
this book, is that now found annexed to Cormac's treatise.
These laws, however, are not in verse noAv. And, whether the
laws at present known, in connection with Cennfaeladlis name,
are of his own composition, or those he learned in the schools
here mentioned, is not certain. The explanation of the word
Aicill, as well as the circumstances just mentioned respecting
Cennfaeladli, occurs in the following passage, in continuation of
that last quoted. — [See original in Appendix, JSTo. XXVIIL]
^''Aicill [is derived] from Uch Oil [the Great Lamenta-
tion], which A (cell, the daughter of Cairbre [_Cairhre Niafear,
monarch of Erinn], made there, lamenting Ere, the son of
Cairbre, her brother ; and here is a proof of it : —
" The daughter of Cairbre, that died,^^®'
And of Feidelm, the ever-blooming.
Of grief for Ere, beautiful her part.
Who was slain in revenge of Cuchulainn".
" Or, it was Aicell, the wife of Ere, son of Cairbre, that died of
grief for her husband there, when he was killed by Conall Cear-
nach (in revenge of Cucludainn) ; and this is a proof of it : —
" Conall Cearnach, that brought Erc's head
To the side of Temair, at the third hour ;
Sad the deed that of it came.
The breaking of AcailFs noble heart".
*' If there was established law at the time the eric (reparation)
which was paid for this crime (against Cormac, etc.) — provided
it was on free wages'^-^^ Magh Bregh (Bregia) was held — was the
(28) These t\vo verses are taken from the ancient Dinnsexchus, but there is
no authority for the second version to be found in tlie copy of tliat tract, pre-
served in the Book of Ball^Tnote. The poem from wliicli tliey are taken, and
which gives the origin of the place called Acaill, was written by Cinaeth or
Kenneth O'Hartigan, who died a.d. 973, and, consequently, this account, in its
present state, of the Book of Acaill, was written after the writing of the poem.
(29) Pfgg wages. — That is, if they had only held their lands and original stock,
4
50
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS.
Of the Book
of Acaill.
same as if free wages had been given to half of them, and base
wages to the other half, so that one half of them would be in
free service, and the other half in base service.
"If free wages were not on them at all, the eric which should
be paid there was the same as if free wages had been given to
the half of them and base wages to the other half, so that half
of them would be in free service, and the other half in base
service.
" If there was not established law there, every one's right
would be according to his strength. ^^°^
" And they (Aengus's tribe) left the tenitory, and they went
to the south. They are the Deise (Decies or Deasys) of Poi't
Laegliaire or Port Lairge (Waterford) from that time down.
" Its (the book's) locus and time, as regards Cormac, so far.
"In regard to Cennfaelad, however, the locus of [his part of]
it was Doire Lurain, and the time of it was the time of [the
Monarch] Aeclh Mac Ainmerech, and its person [i.e. author]
was Cennfaelad, and the cause of compiling it, his brain of for-
getfulncss having been extracted from Cennfaelad's head after
having been cloven in the battle of Magh Rath'^^'-' [a.d. 634].
" The three victories of that battle were : the defeat of Congal
Claen, in his falsehood, by Domnall, in his truthfulness ; and
Suihhnk, the maniac, to become a maniac ; and it is not Siiihh-
nes becoming a maniac that is (considered) a victory, but all
the stories and all the poems which he left after him in Erinn ;
and it was not a victory that his brain of forgetfuhiess was ex-
tracted from Cennfaelad's head, but what he left of noble book
works after him in Erinn. He had been carried to be ciu'ed to
the house of [St.] Bricin, of Tuaim D7'ecain, and there were
three schools in the toAvn, a school of classics, and a school of
which -was the wages, or rath, on the condition of certain personal services, and
the payment of a certain rent every third year, — which was called saer-rath, or
free wages, — they should be now reduced, one half the tribe, to base wages,
which amounted to a species of slavery, under which they were forced to pay
every year what the parties on free wages paid but every third year. And even
though according to the second clause the lands were not held by them on wages
at all, but as independent inheritors (that is, owners owing only an acknow-
ledgment to the king, with such contributions only as they pleased), which
they were, being the descendants of Fiacha Sidd/ie, the brother of Conn of
the Hundred Battles, and consequently cousins to Cormac himself. — even then
they were reduced to the state of one half of them becoming free vassals, and
the other half base vassals, their hereditary title to their lands having become
for ever forfeited.
(30) There is a most curious and important account of the trial and decision in
this ancient case, preserved in the ancient Irish Manuscript lately purchased
in London for the Eoyal Irish Academy, through the liberahty and fine na-
tional spirit of the Rev. Dr. Todd, of T.C.D.
(31) See The Battle of Mayh Rath, edited by John O'Donovan, LL.D., for
the Irish Archaeological Society ; 1842.
OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 51
Fenechas (laws), and a school of Filidhecht (pKilosophy, poetry, lect. h.
etc.); and eveiy thing that he used to hear of what the three Qf^j^gg^^^
schools spoke every day he used to have of clear memory [i.e., ofAcani.
perfectly by rote] every night ; and he put a clear thread of
poetry to them [i.e., put them mto verse] ; and he wrote them
on stones and on tables, and he put them into a vellum-book" /^^^
The whole of this volume, comprising the parts ascribed to
the King Cormac, and those said to be Cennfaelad's, form a
very important section of oiu' ancient national institutes, known
as the Brehon Laws ; but it does not, for the reason I before
alluded to, fall within my province to deal with those laws
farther on the present occasion.
(32) The latter portion of this passage is somewhat more minutely given in
another MS. version (T.C.D. Library, H. 3. 18. p. 399), as follows :—
" And where he was cured was at Tuaim Drecain, at the meeting of the
tlu*ee streets, between the houses of the three professors (Sai), namely, a pro-
fessor of Fenechas, a professor of Filidhecht, and a professor of Leighenn
(classics). And all that the tlu-ee schools taught (or spoke) each day, he had,
through the shai-pness of his intellect, each night ; and so much of it as he
wished to show, he put into poetical arrangement, and it was written by him
into wliite books". [See original in Appendix, No. XXVIII.]
4b
LECTURE III.
[Delivered March 20, 1835.]
Of the sjnQchronisms of Flann of Monasterboice. Of the Chronological Poem
of Gilla Caemhain. Of Tighernach the Annalist. Of the foundation of
Clonmacnois. The Annals. — I. The Annals of Tighernach. Of the
Foundation of Emania, and of the Ultonian dynasty.
In shortly sketching for you some account of our lost books of
history, and in endeavouring to suggest to you. Avhat must have
been the general state of learninof at and before the introduction
of Christianity by our national Aj)ostle, I have, in fact, opened
the whole subject of these lectures: the MS. materials existing
in our ancient language for a real history of Erinn. Let us
now proceed at once to the consideration of the more important
branches of those materials ; and, first, of the extent and charac-
ter of our national annals, and their importance in the study
of oiu' history.
Of the anci- The principal Annals now remaining in the Gaedlilic lan-
ent Annals, guagc, and of wlucli wc liavc any accvirate knowledge, are
known as: — the Annals of Tighernach (pron: nearly " Teer-
nagh") ; — the Annals of Senait Mac Manus (a compilation now
better known as the Annals of Ulster) ; — the Annals of hits Mac
Nerinn in Loch Ce (erroneously called the Annals of Kiho-
nan) ; — the Annals of Innisfallen ; — the Annals now known as
the Annals of Boyle ; — the Annals now known as the Annals
of Connacht ; — the Annals of Dun na n-Gall (Donegall), or those
of the Four Masters ; — and lastly, the Chronicum Scotorum.
Besides these we have also the Annals of Clonmacnois, a
compilation of the same class, which was translated into English
in 1627, but of which the original is unfortunately not now
accessible or known to exist.
With regard to annals in other languages relating to Ireland,
I need only allude to the Latin Annals of Multifernan, of
Grace, of Pembridge, Clyn, etc., pubhshed by the Irish Archseo-
logical Society.
At the head of our list I have placed the Annals of Tigher-
nach, a composition, as we shall presently see, of a very re-
markable character, whether we take into account the early
period at which these annals were written, namely, the close of
the eleventh century, or the amount of historical research, the
OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 53
judicious care, and tlie sclaolarlilce discrimination, which distin- lect. ni.
ffuish the compiler. These annals have accordino-ly been con- „„,, ,.
c r . ID J Of the earlier
sidered by many to constitute, ii not our earliest, at least one oi cinonoio-
the most important of ovu" historical records now extant. Historians.
How far the arrangement of events and the chronology ob-
served in most of our annals are to be ascribed to Tighernach,
is a matter that cannot now be clearly determined. It is certain,
however, that there were careful and industrious chroniclers
and chronologists before liis time, with whose works he was
doubtless well acquainted.
From a very early period, we find notices of chroniclers and
historical comj)ilers. I have already mentioned the royal his-
torian, Cormac INIac Art, and also the author of the Cin Dromd
Sneachta. From the sixth to the eighth century we meet,
amongst many others, the names of Amergin Mac AmalgaidJi,
author of the Dinn Seanchas ; Cennfaeladh; and Aengus CeiU
De. From the year 800 to the year 1000, we find Maolmura
of Othan ; Cormac Mac Cidleannain; Flann Mac Lonan ;
Eochaidh O'Flinn ; and Cinaeth or Kennett O'Hartigan. In the
eleventh century the historical compilers are still more frequent :
the chief names in this period are, those of Cuan O'Locliain;
Colman 0' Seasnan ; Flann Mainistrech, or of the Monastery,
and Gilla Caemhain. The two latter lived in the same cen-
tury with Tighernach ; Flann, the professor of St. Bidthes
Monastery (or Monasterboice), who died a.d. 1056 ; and Gilla
Caemhain, a writer wdio died a.d. 1072, the translater into
Gaedhlic of Nennius' history of the Britons. Of these, as they
were contemporaries of Tighernach, it will be necessary to give
some account, before we proceed to consider more particularly
the Annals of that author.
Flann compiled very extensive liistorical synchronisms, which of the Syn-
have been much respected by some of the most able modern Fia,°n'o™Mo-
writers on early Irish historv, such as Ussher, Ware, Father John na.'^teiboice
Lynch (better known as Gratianus Lucius, the well known author tm-y).
of Cambrensis E versus), O'Flaherty, and Charles O'Conor.
The synchronisms of Flann go back to the most remote
periods, and form an excellent abridgment of universal history.
After synchronizing the chiefs of various lines of the children
of Adam in the east, the author points out what monarchs of
the Assyrians, IVIedes, Persians, and Greeks, and what em-
perors of the Romans, were contemporary with the kings of
Erinn and the leaders of its various early colonists, beginning
wdth Ninus, the son of Belus, and coming down to the first of
the Roman emperors, Julius Ceesar, who was contemporary with
54 OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS.
LECT. m. Eochaidh Feidhlech, a monarcli of Erinn wlio died more than
half a century before the Incarnation of our Lord. The parallel
chronisms of lincs are then continued from Julius Caesar and his Irish con-
nas'tertoice'' temporary Eochaidh Feidhlech, down to the Emperors Theo-
^•\?^^' dosius the Third, and Leo the Third, and their contemporary
Ferghal, son of Maelduin, monarch of Erinn, who was killed
A.D. 718.
Flann makes use of the length and periods of the reigns of
the emperors to illustrate and show the consistency of the
chronology of the Irish reigns, throughout this long list.
After this he throws the whole series, from Julius Cassar
down, into periods of 100 years each, grouping the emperors
of Rome and the kings of Erinn in each centmy in the fol-
lowing manner. Thus, he takes one hundred years, from the
first year of Julius Cassar to the twelfth year of Claudius.
Five emperors will be found to have reigned within this time,
namely, Julius, Octavius, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius.
The Irish parallel period to this will be found in the one hun-
dred years from the eighth year of Eochaidh Feidhlech to the
fifth year of the reign of Lughaidh Riabh Derg. Six mo-
narchs ruled in Erinn during that term, namely, Eochaidh
Feidhlech, Eochaidh Ah^emh, his brother; Edersgel Mac lar,
NuadJia Necht, Conaire Mor, and Lughaidh Riahh Derg.
A second period of one hundred years, in Flann's computa-
tions, extends from the second last year of Claudius to the
eighteenth year of Antoninus Pius. Thirteen emperors reigned
within that time. There were also one hundred years from the
fifth year of Lughaidh Riahh Derg, monarch of Erinn, to the
end of the reign of Elim Mac Conrach, and seven monarchs
governed in that space of time, namely, Conchohhar or Conor,
Crimthann, Cairbre, Eearadhach, Fiatach, Fiacha, and Elim
MacConrach himself.
And so Flann continues down to the time of the Emperor
Leo, and Ferghal Mac Maelduin, King of Erinn, who was killed
A.D. 718, That portion of the work wliich carries down the
synchronisms to JuKus C^sar is next summed up in a poem of
which there are two copies, one of 1096, and the other of 1220
lines, intended no doubt to assist the student in committing to
memory the substance of the synchronisms (Lecain; fol. 20. 36).
There is another chronological piece of cm-ious interest and
of very considerable value, which was also probably composed
by Flann, or at least that portion of it which precedes A.D.
1056, the year of Flann's death. It comprises a list of the reigns
of the monarchs of Ireland, with those of the contemporary j^ro-
vincial kings, and also of the kings of Scotland. This synchro-
OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 55
nolo^ical list commences with LaeghairS, who succeeded to the lect. m.
sovereignty in the year of om' Lord 429, and it is carried down oftheSyn-
to the death of MuircJieartach O'Brien, in 1119, sixty-five years curonismsof
after Flann's death. Wlio the continuator of Flann may have na^terboice "
been we do not now know. twy)?^"'
It may be interesting to give the following abstract as a spe-
cimen of Flann's synchronisms of the kings of Scotland, as it
shows their connection with the royal lines of Erinn.
It was, he says, in the year 498 that Fergus Mor and liis
brothers went into Scotland. They were the sons of Ere, the
son o^ Eochaidh Muinreamhar, whose father was the renowned
CoUa Uais, who, with his brothers, overthrew the Ulster dynasty
and destroyed the palace of Emania. Muirchertach Mao Eire,
one of the brothers, was the ancestor of the MacDonnells, Lords
of the Isles, and of other great families in Scotland. Our tract
says that from the Battle of Ocha, a.d. 478, to the death of the
monarch, Diarmaid, son of Fergus Cerrbeoil, there was a space
of eighty years. There were four monarchs of Erinn within
that time, namely, Lnghaidh, son of Laegliaire; Mzcircheo'tach,
son of Ere; Tuathal Mael Garhh; and Diarmaid. There were
five kings of Scotland to correspond with these four of Erinn,
namely, the above Fergus Mor; his brother, Aengus Mor;
Domangort, the son of Fergus ; Comgall, the son of Domangort ;
and Gabran, the son of Domangort.
The parallel provincial kings of Erinn follow, but it is not
necessary to enumerate them here.
The first part of the synchronisms ascribed to Flann is lost
from the Book of Lecan, but it is preserved in the Book of Bally-
mote (fol. 6, a.) ; and as far as can be judged from their tenor in
the latter book, they must have been those used by Tighernach,
or they may possibly have been taken from an earher work
which was common both to Tighernach and to the compiler of
this tract. It is, in fact, the synchronism of Flann, now imper-
fect, which we find at the commencement of Tighernach, but
inserted there after having been first subjected to the critical
examination and carefid balancing of authorities which gene-
rally distinguish that learned annalist.
There is yet another important chronological composition in of the cbro-
existence, to which I must here allude: I mean the Poem ofp°g°^'of^
Gilla CaemJiain, who died a.d. 1072. ^'*""«. .
This wTiter begins by stating that he will give the annals oi
all time, from the beginning of the world to his own period.
He computes the several periods from the Creation to the De-
luge, from the Deluge to Abraham, from Abraham to David,
and from David to the Babylonian Captivity, etc. From the
56 OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS.
LECT. m. Creation to the Incarnation lie counts 3952 years. (This is
Of the wit- obviously the common Hebrew computation.) He then goes
ings of Fiaun on to Synchronize the Eastern sovereigns with each other, and
caemhain afterwarcls with the Firbolgs and Tuatha De Danaiui of Erinn,
tury)?'^"' and subsequently with the Milesians.
He carries down the computation through several Eastern
and Irish dynasties, giving the deaths of all the monarchs, and
of several of the provincial kings of Erinn, as well as of many
remarkable persons : such as the death of Finn Mac Cumhaill,
of Saint Patrick, and of Saint Brigicl. He also notices the great
mortality of the seventh century, the drowning of the Danish
tyrant Turgesius, by King Maelsechlainn (or Malachy), etc. ;
continuing still to give the intervening years, down to the death
of Brian Boroinihe, in 1014, and so on to the "Saxon" battle in
which the king of the Danes was killed, five years before the
date of the composition of his poem.
The names of many other early writers on Irish history, and
even, in some instances, fragments of their works, have come
down to us ; but the two of whose compositions I have given
the foregoing brief sketch, are in many respects the most re-
markable.
The short notices we have given of the writings of Flann and
Gilla Caemhain are quite sufficient to show that they were
famihar with a large and extensive range of general history ;
and their chronological computations, parallels, and synchro-
nisms, prove that they must have industriously examined every
possible available source of the chief great nations of anti-
quity. Such learning will probably seem to you remarkable
at so early a period (a.d. 1050) in Ireland ; and even were it
confined to churchmen, it must be admitted to be evidence of
very considerable cultivation. But in the instance of Flann of
the Monastery we have proof that this learning and cultivation
were not confined to the Irish ecclesiastics ; for though we always
find the name of Flann associated with the ]\lonastery of Saint
JBuithS, it is well known that he was not in orders. He is never
mentioned as an ecclesiastic ; and we know that he was married
and left issue, as I have shown in the genealogical table pub-
lished in the Celtic Society's edition of the Battle of Magh
Lena. In fact, his employment was that simply of a lay teacher
in a great school ; and he filled the office of Fer Leghinn, or
chief professor in the great College of Saint Buithe (a college as
well lay as ecclesiastical), the ruins of which may still perhaps be
seen at Monasterboice, in the modern coimty of Louth.
Flann's death is noticed by Tighernach, under the year 1056,
thus: — " Flann, of the monastery, a Gadelian [i.e., Gaedhlic,
OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 57
or Irish] author in history, in genealogy, in poetry, and in elo- lect. hi
quence, on the 7th of the kalends of December, the 16th day
of the moon, happily finished his life in Christ". — [See original nach. (xr.
in Appendix, No. XXIX.] The O'Clerys, in the Book of In- ^"•'*^'^^-
vasions (page 52), speak of him in the following terms: —
" Flami, a Saoi of the wisdom, chronicles, and poetry of the
Gaels, made this poem on the Christian kings of Erinn, from
Laeghaire to Maelseacldainn Mor, beginning, ' The Kings of
faithful Temar afterwards'", etc. — [See original in Appendix,
No. XXIX]
It is to be observed- that Flann was the predecessor of Tigher-
nach ; and without in the least degree derogating from the well-
earned reputation of that distinguished annahst, enough of the
works of Flann remain to show that he was a scholar of fully
equal learning, and a historic investigator of the greatest merit.
Let us now return to Tighernach, whose name stands among
the first of Irish annalists ; and, as we shall see in investigating the
portions of his works whicli remain to us, this position has been
not unjustly assigned him. If we take into account the early
period at whicli he wrote, the variety and extent of his know-
ledge, the accuracy of his details, and the scholarly ciiticism
and excellent judgment he displays, we must agree with the
opinion expressed by the Rev. Charles O'Conor, that not one of
the countries of northern Europe can exhibit a historian of equal
antiquity, learning, and judgment with Tighernach. " No
chronicler", says this author, " more ancient than Tighernach
can be produced by the northern nations. Nestor, the father of
Russian history, died in 1113; Snorro, the father of Icelandic
history, did not appear until a century after Nestor ; Kadlubeck,
the first historian of Poland, died in 1223; and Stierman could
not discover a scrap of writing in all Sweden older than 1159". —
[Stowe Catalogue, vol. i., p. 35.]
In this statement, I may however observe, the learned author
makes no mention of Bede, Gildas, or Nennius. With the great
ecclesiastical historian of the Saxons, the Irish annahst does not
come into comparison, as he did not treat exclusively of Church
history ; but with the historians of the Britons, Tighernach may
be most favourably compared.
As to Tighernach's personal history, but Httle, unfortunately,
is known. Little more can be said of him than that he was of
the Siol Muireadhaigh, or Murray-race of Connacht, of which
the O'Conors were the chief sept; his own name was Tigher-
nach CBraoin. He appears to have risen to high consideration
and ecclesiastical rank, for we find that he was Abbot of the
58
OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS.
Of Ticjher-
nach (XI.
Century).
Monasteries of Clonmacnois and Roscommon, being styled the
Comharba or " Successor" of Saint Ciaran and Saint Coman.
The obituary notice in the Chronicimi Scotorum runs thus : —
" A.D. 1088, Tifjhernach Ua Braoin, of the Siol Muireadhaigh
[the race of the O'Conors of Connacht,] Comarba of Ciaran of
Cluain-mic-nois and of Coman, died". — [See original in Ap-
pendix, No. XXX.] The Annals of Innisfallen describe him
as a Saoi, or Doctor in " Wisdom", Learning, and Oratory; and
they record his death at the year 1088, stating that he was
buried at Clonmacnois. These statements are confirmed by
the Annals of Ulster.
Of the Mo-
nastery of
Clonmac-
nois.
In speaking of Tighernach, I cannot pass without some notice
the monastery over which he presided : an institution of great
antiquity. It was one of those remarkable establishments, eccle-
siastical and educational, which seem to have existed in great
numbers, and to have attained a high degree of excellence in
learning in ancient Erinn. Clonmacnois would appear to have
been amply endowed, and to have enjoyed a large share of royal
jDatronagc, several of the Kings and nobles of Meath and Con-
nacht having chosen it as their place of sepulture. And we find
it mentioned, that in many of the great establishments such as
this, a very extensive staff of professors was maintained, repre-
senting all branches of learning. We have already seen, in the
case of Flann of the Monastery, that it was by no means neces-
sary that those professors should be always ecclesiastics.
Saint Ciaran was the founder of Clonmacnois. He was of
Ulster extraction ; but his father (who was a carpenter) emi-
grated into Connacht, and settled in Magh Ai (a plain, of which
the present county of Roscommon forms the chief part) ; and
here it was that young Ciaran was born, in the year 516. He
studied at the great College of Clonard, in Westmeath, under
the celebrated Saint Finnen ; and after finishing his education
there, he went into the Island of Arann, on the coast of Clare,
to perfect himself in religious discipline under the austere rule
of Saint Enna. He returned again to Westmeath, where he
received from a friendly chief a piece of ground upon which to
erect a church. The situation of this church was low, and hence
the church and locality obtained the name of Iseal Chiarain, or
Ciaran's low place.
Saint Ciaran, after some time, left one of his disciples to rule
in this church, and, apparently for the purpose of greater soli-
tude, retired into the island called Inis Ainghin, in the Shannon,
now included in the barony of Kilkenny West, in the modern
county of Westmeath. Here he founded another church, the
OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 59
ruins (or site) of wliicli bear liis name to tliis clay. But the fame lect. m.
of his wisdom, learning, and sanctity, soon brought round him Q^^j^gj^^
such a number of disciples and followers, that the limits of the nastery of
island were insufficient for them, and he therefore resolved once nois!™*""
more to return to the main land of Westnicath. This was in the
year 538, the last year of the reign of Tuathal Maelgarbh, mo-
narch of Erinu.
This Tuathal (pron: "Toohal") was the third in descent
from the celebrated monarch Niall, known in history as Niall
of the Nine Hostages ; and at the time that he came to the
throne there was another young prince of the same race and of
equal claims to the succession of Tara, namely, Diarmaid, the
son of Fergus Cerrhheoil.
The new king, Tuathal, feeling uneasy at the presence of a
rival prince, banished Diarmaid from Tara, and ordered him to
depart out of the territory of Meath. Diarmaid, attended by a
few followers, betook himself in boats to the broad expansion of
the Upper Shannon, living on the bounty of his friends at both
sides of the river ; and in this manner did he spend the nine
years that his opponent reigned. It was about this time that
Saint Ciaran retiu-ned with his large establishment from Inis
Ainghin to the main land, and Diarmaid, happening to be on the
river in the neighbourhood of the place where they landed, went
on shore and followed them to Druim Tihrait (Hill of the
Well), now called Cluain-mic-nois, or Clonmacnois, where
they stopped. As he approached them, he found Saint Ciaran
planting the first pole of a church. " Wliat work is about being
done here ?" said Diarmaid. " The erecting of a small church",
said Saint Ciaran. " Well luay that indeed be its name", said
Diarmaid, ^'■Eglais Beg, or The Little Church". " Plant the pole
with me", said Saint Ciaran, "and let my hand be above your
hand on it, and your hand and your sovereign sway shall be
over the men of Erinn before long". " How can this be", said
Diarmaid, "since Tuathal is monarch of Erinn, and I am exiled
by him?" "God is powerful for that", said Ciaran. They then
set up the pole, and Diarmaid made an offering of the place to
God and Saint Ciaran.
Diarmaid had a foster-brother in his train. This man's name
was Maelmora. When he heard the prophetic words of the
samt, he formed a resolution to verify them. With tliis purpose
he set out, on horseback, to a place called Grellach Eillti (in
the north part of the modern coimty of Westmeath), where he
had learned that the monarch Tuathal then was : and havinfj
by stratagem gained access to his presence, he struck him in the
breast with his spear, and killed him. It is scarcely necessary
60 OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS.
LECT. HI. to say tlaat Maelmora liimself was killed on the spot. However,
no sooner was Tuatlial dead than Diarmaid's friends sought him
nastery of out and brouglit him to Tara ; and the very next day he was
aomnac- j^i-Qclaimed monarch of Erinn. [See Appendix, No. XXXI.]
Diarmaid continued to be a bountiful benefactor to Clonmac-
nois; and rmder his munificent patronage the Eglais heg, or
Little Church, soon became the centre around which were
grouped no less than seven churches, two Cloictechs, or Round
Towers, and a large and important town, the lone ruins of which
now form so picturesque an object on the east bank of the
Shannon, about seven miles below Athlone.
Clonmacnois continued to be the seat of learning and sanctity,
the retreat of devotion and solitude, and the favourite place of
interment for the kings, chiefs, and nobles of both sides of the
Shannon, for a thousand years after the founder's time, till the
rude hand of the despoiler plundered its shrines, profaned its
sanctuaries, murdered or exiled its peaceful occupants, and
seized on its sacred property.
Fanciful as this account of the orioin of the far-famed Clon-
macnois may at first sight appear, there still exists on the sj)ot
evidence of its veracity, which the greatest sceptic would find it
difficult to explain away. There stands within the ruined pre-
cincts of this ancient monastery, a stone cross, on which, amongst
many other subjects, are sculptured the figures of two men,
holding an erect staff or pole between them ; and although the
erection of this cross may belong (as I believe it does) to the
beginning of the tenth century, and although it was then set up,
no doubt, to commemorate the building of the Great Church by
the monarch Flann and the Abbot Colman, there can be but
little doubt, if any, that the two figures of men holding the pole
were intended to perpetuate the memory of the manner of found-
ing of the primitive Eglais beg, or Little Chm'ch, the liistory of
which was then at least implicitly believed.
Many abbots and scholars of distinction will be found amongst
the inmates of this retreat of piety and learning at various
periods. I shall mention here the names of but a few :
A.D. 791. Saint Colchu Ua Dicinechda, surnamed The
Wise, died on the 20tli February this year. He was supreme
moderator or prelector, and master of the celebrated school of
this abbey ; he was also a reader of divinity, and wrote a work,
to which he gave the name of Scuap Crabhaigh, or the Besom
of Devotion; he obtained the appellation of chief scribe, and
was master of all the Scots of Ireland. Albin, or Alcuin, bishop
of Tritzlar, in Germany, and one of Charlemagne's tutors, in a
letter to Saint Colchu, informs him that he had sent fifty shekels
OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 61
(a piece of money of the value of Is. 4d.) to tlie friars of his lect. iit.
house, out of the alms of Charlemagne, and fifty shekels from q^^. ^^^.
himself. nacfi.
A.D. 887 died Suibhne, the son of Maehimha, a learned scribe
and anchorite. Florence of Worcester calls him Suifneh, the
most esteemed writer of the Scots, and says that he died in 892.
A.D. 924. On the 7th February, the Sage, Doctor, and
Abbot, Colman Mac Ailill, died full of years and honour ; he
erected the Groat Chiu'ch where the patron saint lies interred.
A.D. 981. On the IGth of January died Donncliadh OJBraoin^
liaAnng obtained a great repiitation for learning and piety; to
avoid the appearance of vain glory, he resigned the govern-
ment of his abbey in the year 974, and returned to Armagh,
where he shut himself up in a small enclosure, and lived a lonely
anchorite till his death.
A.D. 1024. Fachtna, a learned professor and priest of Clon-
macnois, Abbot of lona, and chief Abbot of Ireland, died this
year in Rome, whither he had gone on a pilgrimage, etc.
These are but a few of the distinguished childi'en of Clon-
macnois previous to the time of Tighernach.
Tighemach himself was undoubtedly one of the most remark-
able of all the scholars of Clonmacnois. His learning appears
to have been very varied and extensive. He quotes Eusebius,
Orosius, Africanus, Bede, Josephus, Saint Jerome, and many
other historic writers, and sometimes compares their statements
on points in which they exhibit discrepancies, and afterwards
endeavours to reconcile their conflicting testimony, and to cor-
rect the chronological errors of one writer by comparison with
the dates given by others. He also collates the Hebrew text
with the Septuagint version of the Scriptures.
These statements, which you will find amply verified when
you come to examine the Annals of Tighernach in detail, will
be sufiicient to show the extent of his general scholarship. It is
to be presumed that he was perfectly acquainted with the seve-
ral historical compositions which had been written previous to
his time.
The common era, or that computed from the Incarnation of
our Lord, is used by Tighernach, though we have no reason to
believe that it was so by the great Irish historical compilers
who immediately preceded him.
Tighernach also appears to have been familiar with some of
the modes of correcting the calendar. He mentions the Lunar
Cycle, and uses the Dominical letter with the kalends of several
years ; but he makes no direct mention of the Solar Cycle or
Golden Number.
62
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. III.
Of the An-
KALS OF
TlGHEK-
NACH.
I shall now proceed to consider tlie several copies of the
Annals of Tighcrnach which have come down to us, all of
which are nnfortiinately in a very imperfect state.
Seven copies of these annals are now known to exist, besides
the vellum fragment which I shall mention presently. Two
of them in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, are described by
Dr. O'Conor in his Stowe Catalogue ; and one of these he has
pubhshed, without the continuation, in the second volume of
his " Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores", a work which cannot
be mentioned without a tribute of respect to the industry,
learning, and patriotism of the author, and the spirited Hberality
of the English nobleman (the late Marquis of Buckingham),
at whose personal expense this work, in four volumes 4to,
was printed.
Two copies of Tighernach, one of them in English charac-
ters, are to be found in the collection of the Royal Irish Aca-
demy ; and one in the Hbrary of Trinity College. The last,
although on paper, is the most perfect, the oldest, and the most
original, of those now in Ireland. In the Trinity College
Library there is however also preserved a fragment, consisting
of three leaves of an ancient vellmn MS., apparently of Tig-
hernach, though it is now bound up with the vellmn copy of
the Annals of Ulster.^^^^
Two other but very inferior copies are to be found in the
British Museum. The first of these (Egerton, 104, — Hardi-
man MS.) is in small folio on paper, and has evidently been
made either from one of the Stowe copies or from that in Trin.
Coll. Dublin. It is a bad copy in every way. The handwrit-
ing, both of the Gaedlilic text and of the inaccurate transla-
tion which accompanies it, are (as well as my memory serves
me) identical with that of the bad translation mixed with
Gaedlilic words in the first volume of the MS. Annals of the
Four Masters in the Library of the R.I. A., — the first of the two
volumes in small folio. This copy of Tighernach commences
at the same date as the T.C.D. copy, and comes down to 1163.
The second in the British Museum (Egerton, 94, — Hardiman
MS.) is but a bad copy of the last mentioned, made by a very
inferior scribe.
It is beheved that an eighth copy of these annals exists in
the collection of Lord Ashburnham; but as that nobleman
does not allow any access to his valuable Library of MSS., I
am imable to say whether tliis is so or not.
(33) See Appendix, No. XXXII., in which will be found some valuable re-
marks xiiion this remarkable fragment kindly communicated to me by the Kev.
Dr. Todd, S.F.T.C.D., while these sheets were passing through the press.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 63
These annals are of sucli importance to tlie illustration of lect. m.
Irish History, that I shall offer no apology for introducing here q^^^^^ ^j,.
some particular account of the copies which still remain. nals of
Dr. O'Conor has carefully examined those in the Bodleian nach.
Library, and from his account of them, the following extracts
are taken (Stowe Catalogue, Vol. I. p. 191, etc.).
" It has not been liitherto observed", says this writer, " that Dr.oconors
there are two Oxford cojDies, both imperfect : the first escaped '^'"'^o'^^"'-
Sir J. Ware, though he had the use of it, and entered it in his
catalogue as another work. It is marked ' Rawlinson', No.
502. In a label prefixed to it, in Ware's hand, it is described
thus : — ' Annales ab Urbe condita usque ad initium Imperii An-
tonini Pii ' (Annals from the building of the city to the reign of
Antoninus Pius).
" This MS. begins, in Its present mutilated condition, with
that part of Tighernach's chronicle, where he mentions the
foundation of Rome, and consists only of a few leaves ending
with the reign of Antoninus ; but it is valuable as a fragment
of the twelfth centmy. Very brief are the notices of Ireland,
which are mixed up with the early parts of Tighernach. He
questions the veracity of all the most ancient docmnents rela-
ting to Ireland; and makes the historical epoch begin from
Cimhaoth, and the founding of Emania, about the eighteenth
year of Ptolemy Lagus, before Cluist 289. ' Omnia Monu-
menta Scotorum', says he, ' usque Cimboeth incerta erant'.
(All the monuments of the Scots to the time of Cimboeth
were uncertain.)
" But yet he gives the ancient lists of the kings as he found
them in the ' Vetera Monumenta'.
" In the fragment, RawHnson, 502, fol. 1 b., col. 1, line 33,
the end of the reign of Cobthach, the son of Ugaine, he syn-
chronizes Avith the Prophet Ezechias, thus given : — Cobtach the
Slender, of Bregia, the son of Ugan the Great, was burned with
thirty royal Princes about him in Dun Riga, of the plain of
Ailb, in the royal palace of the hill of Tin-bath (^Tin is fire,
hath is to slay), as the ancients relate, by Labrad, of ships, the
beloved son of Ailill, the illustrious son of Laogare the Fierce,
son of Ugan the Great, in revenge for the murder of his father
and grandfather, killed by Cobtach the Slender. A war arose
fi'om this between Leinster and the Northern half of Ireland.
" The second copy of Tighernach in the Bodleian, ' Raw-
linson', 488, has not tliis passage, neither has it any part of
this MS. preceding the time of Alexander. But from thence
both agree, to where the fu'st ceases, in the reign of Anto-
ninus; the loss of the remainder of that MS. is the more
64
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. iir.
Of tlie An-
nals OF
TlGHER-
NACH.
lamentable, as the MS., No. 488, is imperfect and very ill
transcribed. ' The quotations from I^atin and Greek authors
in Tighernach are very numerous ; and his balancing their autho-
rities against each other, manifests a degree of criticism uncom-
mon m the iron age in which he Hved. He quotes Maehnura's
poem, thus:
" Finit quarta setas, incipit quinta, quae continet annos 589,
ut Poeta ait: — The foiu'th age of the world finishes, the fifth
commences, which contains 589 years as the poet says". — [See
original in Appendix, No. XXXIIL]
[From the bondage of the people to the birth of the Lord,
Five hundred and eighty nine years of a truth ;
From Adam to the birth of Mary's glorious Son,
Was three thousand nine himdred and fifty -two years.]
" This is a quotation from the Irish poem of Maelmura
already mentioned ; from which it appears that both followed
the chronology of the Hebrew text, rejecting that of the
Seventy.
" Several leaves of this MS. are missinof at the bcffinnino-.
In its present state, the first words are, ' regnare inchoans', and
then follows the reign of Ptolemy Lagus, king of Egypt, the
successor of Alexander, from whose eighteenth year he dates
the founding of Eomania. The leaf paged 4 by Ware, is
really the third leaf of the book ; so that in Ware's time it ap •
pears to have had one leaf more than at present. The leaf
marked 5, is the 4th — that marked 6, is the 5th — that marked
7, is the 6th. The next leaf is numbered 8 ; but this is an ad-
ditional error, for one folio is missing between it and the pre-
ceding ; so that it is neither the 8th in its present state (but
the 7th), nor was it the 8th in Ware's time, or at any time. Its
preceding leaf ends with an account of St. Patrick's captivity,
and the reign of Julian ; whereas the first fine of the leaf paged
8, relates the death of St. Cianan, of Duleek, to whom St.
Patrick committed his copy of the Gospels ; so that there is a
whole century missing, from St. Patiick's captivity, A.D. 388, to
Ciaran's death in 490.
" In the MS., Rawlinson, 488, the years are frequently
marked on the margins in Arabic numerals, opposite to leading
facts — thus, at fol. 7, col. 3, of the MS., counting the leaves as
they now are, opposite to the words ' Patricius nunc natus est',
the margin bears the date 372 ; and opposite the words, ' Pa-
tricius captivus in Hiberniam ductus est ' (col. 4), the margin
bears the date 388 ; and opposite to the words kal. iii. Aiias-
tasius Regnat, annis xxviii. ' Patricius Archiepiscopus et Apos-
NACH.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 65
tolus Hiberniensium anno oetatis siice, cxx. die. xvi. kal. April, lect. hi.
quievit, folio, paged 8, col. 1, tlie margin bears tlie date 491. ^ ^^^^^
" The two former of these dates are accurate ; but the latter is annals of
repugnant to the mind of Tighernach, who quotes a very ancient
Irish Poem on St. Patrick's death, to prove that he died in
493, thus [see original in Appendix, No. XXXIV.] :
" From the birth of Christ — happy event,
Four hundred and fair ninety.
Three noble years along with that.
Till the death of Patrick, Chief Apostle.
" The next year is erroneously marked on the margin 492 ;
it ought to be 494.
" The marginal annotator has marked the years in Arabics,
opposite to all the subsequent initials of years, in conformity
with his calculation of 491 for the death of St. Patrick, and he
errs also by omitting some of Tighernach's dates in that very
page. Tighernach's work ends at page 20, col. 1, of this MS.
The remainder, to folio pagM3d 29 inclusive, is the Continuation
of Tighernach's Annals, from his death in 1088, to 1178 inclu-
sive. The whole is in one hand.
" It is also to be observed that one leaf is missing after that
marked 14 ; the next is marked 16 ; and the hiatus is to be la-
mented, extending from 765 inclusive, to 973 — a period of 228
years.
" From tliis account", says Dr. O'Conor, " it is clear that no
good edition of Tighernach can be founded on any copy in
the British Islands ; for that of Dublin, and all those hitherto
discovered, are foimded on the Oxford MS., which is imperfect
and corrupted by the ignorance of its transcriber. Lines,
speaking of this MS., says — ' The Chronicle of Tighernach,
which Sir J. Ware possessed, and is now in the Duke of
Chandos' Library, is a very ancient MS., but seems not so
entire as one that is often quoted by O'Flaherty' — Critical
Essay^ vol. ii. p. 504.
" O'Flaherty 's copy is quoted in the Journal des Scavans,
tom. iv. p. 64, and tom. vi. p. 51, year 1764, in these words: —
' Many learned strangers, in acknowledging the history of Ire-
land, give her annals as of an antiquity very considerable and
an universally approved authenticity. This is the judgment
given by Stillingileet in the preface to his Antiquities, where
he appears, on the contrary, to make of very little consequence
all the moniunents of the Scotch. Mr. Innes, who never flat-
ters the Irish, acknowledges the antiquity as well as the au-
thenticity of their Annals, particularly those of Tighernach,
5
66
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. Ill
Oftlie
Annaxs op
Tl'iHEE-
KACH.
. Inisfallen, and of several others. He remarks tliat tlie copy
of tlie Annals of Tigliernacli, wliicli belonged to Mr. O'Fla-
liertj, author of the Ogjgia, appears more perfect than that
fomid in the library of the Duke of Chandos. I believe it
my duty to declare here, continues this writer, that I pos-
sess actually this same copy of the Annals of Tighernach, which
was possessed by Mr. O'Flaherty, with an ancient Apograph
of the Chronicle of Clonmacnois, which is well kno^vn under
the title of Chronicon Scotorum Cluanense, and which belonged
also to the same Mr. O'Flaherty, who cites it very often in Iris
Ogygia. I possess also a perfect and authentic copy of the
Aimals of Inisfallen".
The copy of Tighcrnach's Annals here last alluded to, there is
every reason to beheve, is that now in the library of Trinity Col-
lege, DubUn [H. 1. 18]. The saionjmous writer in the Journal
des Sgavans was, I have scarcely any doubt, the Abbe Connery ;
though he may possibly have been the Rev., afterwards the
Right Rev., Dr. J. O'Brien, Bishop of Cluain Uamha (Cloyne).
How the MS. passed from the hands of R. O'Flaherty
into those of the Abbe, we know not, nor is it certain what
their destination was after his decease. I believe it Ukely that
they were for some time the property of the Chevalier O'Gor-
man, though at what period they came into Ireland is not clear ;
but they appear to have been at one time in the possession of the
above-mentioned Dr. O'Brien (the author of an Irish-English
Dictionary, printed at Paris in 1768), who probably brought
them to Ireland about that time.
The copy in the hbrary of Trinity College, Dublin, under-
went a pretty careful and accurate examination at the hands of
the Rev. Dr. O'Conor, and he has left an autograph account
of his investigation of it, which is now prefixed to the volume.
This critical examination is the more important as having been
made by one so familiar with the other copies of this codex in
the Bodleian Library, and as it well shows the actual state and
comparative value of the Trinity College MS., it is well worthy
the attention of the student. ^^^^
The Trinity College MS. appears to have almost exactly
the same defects as those in the RawHnson MS., No. 488 in
the Bodleian Library. Both, Dr. O'Conor says, begin with the
same words ; but this we do not find to be accurately and literally
the case, comparing the Trinity College MS. with the version
of the Rawlinson MS., 488, printed in the second volume of
the Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores. Doctor O'Conor enters
(34) The greater part of this MS, account by Dr. O'Couor of the MS. in
T.C.D. will be found in the Appendix, No. XXXIV.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 67
with mucli detail into an argument to show that the T.C.D. lect. m.
MS. was copied, and, as he tliinks, by a very illiterate scribe,
from the Bodleian MS. (Rawlinson, 488). He points outA^^-ALsoy
various faults in the Irish and Latin orthography and grammar nIcu!'^"
peculiar to both, and indeed identical in the two copies.
We have already mentioned that there are two copies of the
Annals in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, but both,
it is much to be regretted, are exceedingly imj^erfect. One,
that in the Irish character, is probably from the hand of the
Abbe Connery already alluded to.
From all that has been said, it will appear that not any one,
nor even a collation and combination of all the copies of these an-
nals now known to be extant, afford us any possibihty of forming
even a tolerably complete text. In their present state, all the
copies want some of the most important parts relating to our
early history, and many chasms exist at several of our most me-
morable epochs.
The authority of Tighernach is commonly appealed to by
modern writers on Irish affairs, m fixing the date at which our
national records should be deemed to fall within the domain
of credible and authentic history. His well-known statement
that the monuments of the Scoti before the time of Cimhaoth
and the founding of Emania (about 300 years before the birth
of our Lord) were uncertain, has been almost universally ac-
cepted and ser^alely copied without examination. And yet, on
examining the remains of his Amials which we now possess,
we shall find it extremely difficult to decide how he was led to
this conclusion, as to the value of our records previous to this
period, records which we know to have existed in abundance
in his time. [See Appendix, No. XXXIL] We have now no
means of knowing why he was induced to adopt this opinion, or
what may have been the grounds of it ; or why, again, he fixed
on this particular event — one remarkable not in the general
national annals, but in those of a single province — as that from
wliich alone to date all the true history of the whole country.
It is, at all events, exceedingly remarkable that he should have
assumed a provincial era instead of a general national one, and
that he should have chosen the buildhig of the palace of Emania,
in the province of Ulster, near Ardmagh, instead of some event
connected with the great national palace of Tara, the existence
and preeminence of which he himself admits in the first passage
of the fragments which remain to us.
In the Rawhnson MS., 488, a,s printed by Dr. O'Conor, we
find the passage rims thus :
" In anno x"sdii. Ptolemsei, iuitiatus est reguare in Eamain
5b
68
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
ASNALS OP
TiGHEK-
NACH.
LECT. III. (i.e., in Eraania Ultoni^ Regia), Cimbaeth, filius Fintain, qui
resnavit annis xviii. Tvmc in Temair, Eachach-buadhach
ATHAiR Ugaine (i.e., Tunc in Temoria totius Hiberniae Regia
regnabat Eocliaclius Victor, pater Ugaini)". That is (for the
explanatory words in tlie parentlieses are O'Conor's) : "In tlie
18tli year of Ptolemy, Cinibaotli, son of Fintan, began to reign
in Emania, who reigned eighteen years. Then Eochaidh, the
Victorious, the father of Ugaine, reigned in Tara". [But see
Appendix, No. XXXV.] But he immediately after says, "all
the monuments of the Scoti to the time of Cimbaoth were un-
certain": (" Omnia monumenta Scotorum usque Cimbaoth in-
certa erant").
Of this singular preference of the provincial to the national
monarch as the one from whose reign to date the commence-
ment of credible Irish history, we can offer no solution. It is,
moreover, to be remarked that, at least in the copies of his An-
nals now extant, Tighernach continues to give the succession of
the Emanian monarchs in regular order through ten successive
generations, without noticing the contemporary rulers at Tara, of
whom no mention is again made until we come to the reign of
Duach Dalta Deadhgha, whom he makes king of Erinn about
48 years before the birth of our Lord, when Cormac Mac Lagh-
tegJii, or Loitigh, reigned in Emania. This period he synchro-
nizes with the battle between Julius Caesar and Pompey.
The next kings of Erinn he mentions are the two Eochaidhs,
whom he makes contemporary with Eochaidh Mac Daire,
twelfth king of Emania. But throughout it is to be remarked,
and not without great cause for surjarise, that the Emanian dy-
nasty is given the place of precedence, which, as far as we know,
is not to be found assigned to it in the works of any other
historian of an earlier or later period. It is also to be observed,
that this preference for the Emanian dynasty is quite inconsistent
with his own statement as given under the reign of Findchadh
mac Baicheda, eighth king of Emania, about 89 years before
the Christian era, when he says : " Thirty kings there were of the
Leinster men over Erinn from Labhraidh Loingsech to Caihair
M6r\ — [See original in Appendix, No. XXXVL] Now accord-
ing to the best Irish chronologists, Lahhraidh Loingseach reigned
a.m. 4677 (B.C. 522), and (7a^/ua> il/o> died a.d. 166. By this it
is evident, that Tighernach here recognizes the existence of a su-
preme dynasty at Tara, ruling over Erinn at least 200 years before
the founding of Emania, or the period at which he in a former
statement says that the credible history of Erinn commences.
It is also to be noticed, that while the details of foreign his-
tory given by Tighernach relating to remarkable occurrences
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 69
at and preceding' the Christian era are very ample, his accomits lect. hi.
of Irish events down to the third or fomth century, are ex- ^^
ceedingly meagre and scanty. annals of
Thus, he only mentions by name many of the kings whose kIch^''"
reigns, from other som'ccs, we know to have been filled with
remarkable and important acts. He barely notices the birth
and death of Cuclndainn, and gives but a few passing words to
the Tain ho Chuailgne, a national event, as we have already
shown, of such interest and importance ; and all these events,
be it remarked, falling within the historic period as Hmited
by himself.
We may also observe that there is reason to think, from
some few facts exclusively mentioned by him, that he had be-
fore him at the time of compiling his annals, ancient records
not available to subsequent writers, as is shown by his accomit
of the manner of Conor Mac Nessa's death, and liis notice of
the battle of "Craunagh" (vide O'Conor's Annals of Tigher-
nach. Anno Domini 33).
Tighernach undoubtedly takes the succession of the kings xhe chrono-
of Emania from Eochaidh O'Flinn's poem, which enumerates ^of^Eolhai^dh
them from Cimbaoth to Fergus Foglia. A fine copy of this <J'-t'i"'n-
curious poem is preserved in the Book of Leinster (fol. 11.),
and two in the Book of Lecan. These different copies give
us an important instance of the irregularities which must,
almost of necessity, creep into dates and records which depend
on irresponsible transcription, where the smallest departvu'e
from accuracy, particularly in the enumeration of dates, will lead
to confusion and inconsistency. In the copy of this poem pre-
served in the Book of Leinster, — a compilation of the middle of
the twelfth centmy, — the duration of the Ulster dynasty, from
Cimbaoth to Conor Mac Nessa, is set down at 400 years, and
the dm-ation from Cimbaoth to the final overthrow ^of the
Ulster sovereignty by the Three Collas, at 900 years. Now
the destruction of this power by the Collas in the Battle of
Achaidh Leitliderg, in Farney, took place in a.d. 331, which
number, added to the four hundred years from Cimbaoth to
Conor, would make but 731 years instead of 900.
Again, in each of the copies in the Book of Lecain, the
space from Cimbaoth to Conor is set down as 450 years, and
still they give the entire duration as 900 years.
Indeed the dangers of error in transcription are admitted
in a very ancient poem in the Book of Leinster itself (folio 104),
in which many matters of actual occurrence, but raised to fabu-
lous importance, though not affecting chronology, are explained
aAvay. This curious poem consists of 111 stanzas, and its
70
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Anxals of
TlGHEK-
NACH.
:.ECT. in. autliorsliip is ascribed to Gilla-an-Chomdech Ua Cormaic, of
" whom I know nothing more. It begins: —
" O, King of Heaven, clear my way". — [See original in
Appendix, No. XXXVII.]
However laboriously Tighernach may have worked to fix a
starting date for Irish chronology, it is quite evident that the ma-
terials froin which he drew, were those records, poems, and other
compositions of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, in
which the length of reigns of the kings of Tara and of Emania
are set out. For, having once fixed, say, the date of the found-
ing of Emania, and the Roman era, and the corresponding
king of Tara, he seems to have done little more, and indeed
to have had occasion to do Httle more, than to correct the errors
of dates, chiefly given in round nmnbers, and which after any
considerable lapse of time must have led to errors in computa-
tion and to false chronology. But as far as we can judge, Tigher-
nach had not put the finishing hand to his work at the time of
his death, and, his observations on the ante-Emanian period
being lost, we are left very much in the dark as to the grounds
of his views.
From all that has been said, I think it is not unreasonable to
conclude, that this great annalist was surprised by the hand of
death, when he had but laid down the broad outlines, the
skeleton as it were, of his annals ; and that the work was never
finished.
oftiieFoun- 'pj-^g founding of the palace of Emania, taken as the starting
Emania. point of credible Irish history by Tighernach, is an event of
such importance as to warrant a digression here, and to require
us to give some account of the circumstances which led
to the erection of this seat of royalty in the north. The fol-
lowing is a nearly literal account of the event, from a tract in
the Book of Leinster. — [See the text of the original, with an
exact translation, in Appendix, No. XXXVIII.]
"What is the origin of the name Emliain Madia?'' begins
the wiiter, " Three kings that were upon Erinn in co-sove-
reignty. They were of the Ulstermen, namely, Dithorba, the
son of Dimaii, from Uisnech, in Meath; Aedh Ruadh, the son,
of Badvirn, son of Airgetmar, of Tir Aedh [now Tir-Hugh,
in Donegal] ; and Cimhaoth, the son of Fintan, son of Arget-
mar, from Finnahair, of Magli Inis\
These kings made a compact, that each of them should
reign seven years in turn, and this compact was confirmed by
the guarantee of seven druids, seven jiles, and seven young
chiefs (or champions) ; the seven druids to crush them by their
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS 71
incantations, the seven files to lacerate tliem by their satires, lect. hi.
and the seven young champions to slay and burn them, should oftheFoua-
the proper man of them not receive the sovereignty at the end dationof
of each seventh year. And the righteousness of their sove-
reignty was to be made manifest by the usual accompaniments
of a just government, namely, abundance of the fruits of the
earth, an abundance of dye-stuffs for all colouring, and that
women shoidd not die in childbirth.
They Hved until each reigned three times in his turn, that
is, during the space of sixty -three years. Aedli Ruadh was
the first of them that died, ha'V'ing been ch'owned in the great
cataract named from him Eas Ruaidli (or Easroe), at Bally-
shannon, near Sligo, and his body was carried to the hill there ;
hence Aedlis Hill, and Easruaidh. Aedh left no sons and but
one daughter, who was named Macha Mongruadli (or Alacha the
red-haired), who after her father's death claimed his place in the
sovereignty ; but Dithorha and Cimbaoth said that they would
not allow a woman to have any share in the government.
Macha thereupon raised an army amongst her friends,
marched against the two kings, gave them battle and defeated
them, and then took her turn of seven years of the monarchy.
Dithorha was killed in battle soon after, but left live sons
who also claimed their turn of the sovereignty. Macha said
she woidd not admit them, as it was not tmder the former gua-
rantee that she had obtained her sovereignty, but by right of
battle. The young - princes therefore raised an army and en-
gaged the queen in battle, in which they were defeated with
the loss of all their followers. 3Iacha then banished them into
the wilds of Connacht, after which she married her co-sove-
reig-n Cimbaoth, to whom she resigned the command of the
national, or perhaps more correctly, the provincial army.
Macha having now consolidated her power, and secured
her throne against all claimants but the sons of Dithorha, laid
a plan for their destruction ; and, with this intention, she went
into Connacht, where she soon discovered their retreat, cap-
tured and carried them prisoners into Ulster. The Ulstermen
demanded that they should be put to death, but Macha said
that that would make her reign mirighteous, and that she would
not consent to it, but that she would enslave them, and con-
demn them to build a rath or court for her, which should be
the chief city of Ulster for ever. And she then marked out
the foundations of the court with her golden brooch, which she
took from her breast (or neck) ; and hence the name of Emain,
or rather Eomuin, from Eo a breast-pin or brooch, and Muin
the neck, — which when compomided make Eomuin, — now
Collar.
72 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. Ill, inacciu-ately Latinized Emania, instead of Eomania. Ulster was
then erected into a kingdom with Cimbaoth for its first king.
This occm-red, according to some authorities, 405 years before
the Incarnation of our Lord (O'Flinn's poem makes it 450
years), and it was not till the year 331 of the Christian era
that Emania was destroyed by the Collas, and the Ultonian
dynasty overthrown.
Of the Xhe princes known in the ancient Chronicles of Erinn as the
Destruction rrw An i ^ • n • i •
of Emania; Inrce Coilas, make such an important ngru'e m history m con-
^The Three nection with the destruction of Emania, that it is but proper to
give a brief account of them.
Cairhre Lifechair succeeded his father, the celebrated Cormac
Mac Art, in the sovereignty of Erinn, a.d. 267. This Cairbre,
who was killed in the Battle of GabJira, or Gawra, left three
sons, namely, Fiacha SrahtenS, Eochaidh, and Eochaidh Domh-
Un. Fiaclia Srahtene succeeded his father, Cairhre; but his
reign, though long, was not peaceable, being disturbed by the
sons of his brother, Eochaidh DomUn, namely, the Three Collas
(Colla Uais, or the Noble, — CoUa Meann, or the Stammerer, —
and Colla Fochri, or of the Earth, earthy, claylike), who
revolted against him, and at last, at the head of a large num-
ber of followers, gave him battle at Dubh-Cho7nar, near Tailltin
(now Telltown, in the modern county of Meath), Avhere they
overthrew and killed him, after which Colla Uais assumed the
monarchy of Erinn, which he held for four years.
Fiacha, the late monarch, had, however, left a son, Muireadh-
ach, who, in his turn, made war on Colla Uais, drove him from
the sovereignty, and forced liimself and his brothers and their
followers to fly into Scotland. Here they led such a Hfe of
turmoil and danger, that in three years' time they returned into
Ireland and surrendered themselves iij) to their cousin, the mo-
narch, to be punished as he might think fit, for the death of his
father. Muireadhach, however, seeing that they were brave
men, declined to visit them with any pmiishment ; but, mak-
ing friends with them, he took them into his pay and confi-
dence, and gave them command in his army. After some years,
however, he proposed to them to establish themselves in some
more independent position than they could attain in his service,
and pointed to the conquest of the kingdom of Ulster as a project
worthy of their ambition. The Collas agreed to make war on
Ulster, and for that purpose marched with a numerous band of
followers into that country, and encamped at the Cam oiAchaidh
Leith derg, in Fearnmhaigh (Farney, in the modern county of
Monaghan). From this camp they ravaged the country around
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 73
them, until the Ulstermen, under their king Fergus Fogha, lect. hi.
came to meet tliem, when a contested battle was fought for ^^ ^^^
six days, in which, at length, the Ulstermen were defeated, Destruction
and forced to abandon the field. They were followed by their
victorious enemies, and driven over Glen JRighS (the valley
of the present Newry Water), into the district, which forms
the modern comities of Down and Antrim, from which they
never after returned. The Collas destroyed Emania, and then
took the whole of that part of Ulster (now forming the modern
counties of Armagh, Louth, Monaghan, and Fermanagh) into
theii' own hands as Swordland ; and it was held by their descen-
dants, the Maguires, Mac Mahons, O'Hanlons, and others, down
to the confiscation of Ulster under the English king, James
the First.
Thus ended the Ultonian dynasty, after a period of more than
seven hundred years' duration, and the glories of Emania and
of the House and Knights of the Royal Branch were lost for
ever.
LECTURE IV
[Delivered March 22, 1855 ]
The Annals (continued). 2. The Annals of Inisfallen. 3. The Annals
called the Annals of Boyle. The Poems of O Huidhrin. i. The Annals
of Senait Mac Manus, called the Annals of Ulster.
According to the order I liave prescribed to myself, we proceed
now to the consideration of the Annals compiled subsequent
to the period of Tighernach (pronounced nearly "Teer-nah").
It is generally supposed that a considerable interval of time
elapsed between the year 1088, in which this great Irish histo-
rian died, and the appearance of any other body of historic
composition deserving the name of Annals ; and it will be ne-
cessary for us to inquire whether any writers on Irish affairs
existed within this period requiring notice at oiu' hands, in order
that we may folloAv the chain of historic composition with some
degree of uniformity
continua- It is, liowever, to be observed here, that in the existing
A^inai^o'r copies of Tigliemacli we find the annals continued to the year
Tighernach.', 1407; that is, to a date more than three hundred years subse-
quent to Tighernach's own time. It is not improbable that the
original body of these annals was gradually and progressively
enlarged ; but we have no rehable information as to the precise
manner in which, or the persons by whom, the earlier parts of
the continuation were made.
In the commencement of the fifteenth century we find re-
corded the death of a certain Augustin MacGrady, who, it is
well known, laboured at the continuation of these annals ; but
we again find them continued after his death, which happened
in 1405, down to the year 1407 (where they end imperfect),
though by what hand is not certain.
The following entry is found in the Annals themselves at the
end of the year 1405 : —
" Augustin Ma Gradoigh, a canon of the canons of the Island
of the Saints [in Loch Ribh in the Shannon] , a Saoi (or Doctor)
during his life, in divine and worldly Wisdom, in Literature,
in History, and in various other Sciences in like manner, and
the Doctor [Ollamli] of good oratory, of western Europe, — the
man who compiled this book, and many other books, both of
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. iO
tlie Lives of tlie Saints and of historical events, — died on tlie lkct. iv.
Wednesday before tlie first day of November, in the fifty-sixth ^^ ^.^^^
year of his age, on the sixth day of the moon. May the mercy Annalists
of the Saviom- Jesus Chnst come upon his soul". [See origi- to rigfer-
nal in Appendix, No. XXXIX.] _ _ ""'"■
It is not improbable that the subsequent continuation of
Tighernach may have been carried on by some member of the
same fraternity.
In enumerating those of om* national records to which the
name of Annals has been given, we have commenced with those of
Tighernach, because these annals seemed naturally to claim our
attention in the first place, not only on account of their extent
and importance, but in consideration of the scholarship and
judgment exhibited in their composition. It is by no means
certain, however, that they were the first in order of time.
There is great reason to believe that both local and general an-
nals were kept, even long before the tune of Tighernach, in some
of the great ecclesiastical and educational estabhsliments, and
also by some of those accomplished lay scholars of whom men-
tion is so frequently made as having flourished in the eighth,
ninth, and tenth centimes.
We have before, in the remarkable instance of Flann 3Iai-
nistrech, called attention to the great learning and the devotion to
scholarly pm'suits which were to be found in Irish laymen of
the tenth and eleventh centuries. And when we reflect that
tliis learning and this devotion to the pursuit of knowledge
were often combined with exalted social rank, sometimes even
princely, and with the enjoyment of extensive territorial sway,
I think the fact ofters evidence of a cultivation and difliiision of
literatiu-e, which, at so early a period, would do honour to the
history of any country. We shall have frequent occasion to
speak of this class of Irish scholars.
The next existing compilation after that of Tighernach, in of the
order of time, is the very extensive body of ecclesiastical as bfisFALLEw.
well as general historic records, known as the Annals of Inis-
F ALLEN. The composition of these Annals is usually attri-
buted to the early part of the thiiteenth century (about a.d.
1215), but there is very good reason to believe that they were
commenced at least two centuries before this period.
The Monastery of Tnis Faitldenn (pron: " Inish Fah-len"),
or Inisfallen, on the island of the same name, in Loch Lein
(the Lake of Killarney), is of great antiquity, dating from the
sixth century, in the latter part of which it was founded by
76 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. rv. Saint Finan Lohhar, wlio was also tlie founder of Ard Finan (in
tlie modern County of Tipperary), and other cliurclies. The
Monastery of festival of the Saint was observed on the 16th of March, accor-
iNisFALLEN. ^^^ ^^ ^|^g Martyrology of Aengus CeiU De.
Amongst those who floimshed in this monastery, at the close
of the tenth century, we find the name of Maelsuthain OCear-
hhcdll (pron: " Mailsoohan O'Carroll"). This remarkable man
was Lord of the Eoganaclit or Eugenian Tribes of the terri-
tory of Loch Lein. It is probable that he had received his
early education within the walls of Inisfallen ; and at the close
of his days, after an eventful life, we find him again amongst
its inmates, as was not unusual with princes in those times.
Maelsuthain appears to have attained great eminence as a scho-
lar. He is styled the chief Saoi or Doctor of the western
world, in the notice of his death, under the year 1009, in the
Annals of the Foui* Masters. He attained also a high degree of
consideration amongst his contemporary princes.
There is reason to think that Brian BoroimhS was educated
under the care of this Maelsuthain; and at a subsequent time
we find him named the Anmchara, or Coimsellor, of that
great Dalcassian chief, when monarch of Erinn. His asso-
ciation with Brian is well evidenced by a curious note still
leofible in the Book of Armagh. This note was written about
1002, by Maelsuthahis own hand, in the presence of the king.
This valuable entry shall be brought under yom* more imme-
diate consideration on a futm'e occasion ; I only mention it at
present, as affording proof of the important rank and position
of O'Carroll.
Lesenrt of Amougst somc fcw otlicr notices of Maelsuthain which I
OTarroii!'"* liavc met with, the following is altogether so singidar, and
throws light on so many subjects of interest to the Irish histo-
rian, that, though of a legendary character, I think it worthy of
a place here. [See original in Appendix, No. XL.] I may
observe that I have seen bvit one copy of the tract in which it
is found.^^^^
" There came three students at one time", says the narrator,
" from Cuinnire" [the ancient church from which the diocese
of Conor, in Ulster, is now named] " to receive education
(35) This tract is in a MS. on vellum, in two parts or volumes quarto, writ-
ten in the year 1434 (part i. fol. 63, a.) The writing is often apparently that of
an unprofessional scribe, who seems to have copied largely from sources now
lost to us. These MSS. belong to James Marinus Kennedy, Esq., of 47
Gloucester Street, Dubhn, to whom they were handed down from his ancestor,
Dr. Fergus. They are known by the name of the "Liber Flavus Fergu-
sorum". These MSS. were lent me a few years ago by the owner, and a
general Hst of their contents will be fomid in the Appendix, No. XLI.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS 77
from the Anmchara of Brian Mac Kennedy (or Brian Bo- lect. iv.
roimhe); tliat is Maelsuthain O'Carroll, of the Eoo-anachts of, ^ ,
' • • LPffGncl of
Loch Lein, because he was the best sage of his time. These Maeuuthnin
three students resembled each other in figure, in featm'cs, and ^*^'*"°"-
in their name, which was Domnall. They remained three
years learning with him. At the end of three years, they said
to their preceptor: ' It is our desire', said they, 'to go to Jeru-
salem, in the laud of Judea, in order that our feet may tread
every path which the Saviour walked in when on Earth'".
The master answered: 'You shall not go until you have left
with me the reward of my labour'.
"Then the pupils said: ' We have not', said they, ' anything
that we could give, but we will remain three years more, to
serve you humbly, if you wish it'. ' I do not wish t1iat\ said he ;
' but yoix shall grant me my demand, or I will lay my curse upon
you'. ' We will grant you that', said they, ' if we have it'. He
then bound them by an oath on the Gospel of the Lord. ' You
shall go in the path that you desire', said he, ' and you shall die
all at the same time together, on the pilgrimage. And the de-
mand that I require from you is, that you go not to Heaven
after your deaths, until you have first visited me, to tell me the
length of my life, and until you tell me whether I shall obtain
the peace of the Lord'. ' We promise you all this', said they,
' for the sake of the Lord' ; and then they left him their bless-
ings (and departed).
" In due time they reached the land of Judea, and walked in
every path in which they had heard the Saviour had walked.
" They came at last to Jerusalem, and died together
there ; and they were burled with great honour in Jerusalem.
Then jNlichael the Archangel came from God for them. But
they said : ' We will not go, vmtil we have fulfilled the promise
which we made to oiu* preceptor, under our oaths on the Gospel
of Christ'. ' Go', said the angel, ' and tell him that he has still
three years and a half to live, and that he goes to Hell for all
eternity, after the sentence of the day of judgment'.
" ' Tell us', said they, ' why he is sent to Hell'. ' For three
causes', said the angel, ' namely, because of how much he in-
terpolates the canon; and because of the number of women
with whom he has connexion ; and for having abandoned the
Altus'.^^«^
(36) The AJtus. This was the celebrated poem or hymn written by Saint
Colum Cille at lona, in honour of the Trinity, when the messengers of Pope
Gregory came to him with tlie great cross and other presents. Tliis poem is
published in Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum", and is now (1859) again in com^se of
pubUcation, with notes and scholia, for the Irish Archasological and Celtic
Society, under the editorship of the Rev. Dr. Todd, S.r.T.C.D.
78 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. IV. "The reason wliy lie abandoned the Altus", says the narra-
tor of this singular story, " was tliis: He had a very good son,
Maehuthain whose name was Maelpatrick. Tliis son was seized with a
ocarrou. j^^ortal sickncss ; and the Altus was seven times sung around
him, that he should not die. This was, however, of no avail
for them, as the son died forthwith, llaelsnthain then said that
he would never again sing the Altus, as he did not see that God
honoured it. But", continues the narrator, " it was not in dis-
honour of the Altus that God did not restore his son to health,
but because he chose that the youth should be among the family
of Heaven, rather than among the people of Earth.
" Maelsuthaiii had then been seven years without singing the
Altus.
" After this his three former pupils came to talk to Mael-
suthaiii, in the fonns of wliite doves, and he bade them a
hearty welcome. ' Tell me', said he, ' what shall be the length
of my life, and if I shall receive the Heavenly reward'. ' You
have', said they, ' three years to live, and you go to Hell for
ever then'. ' What should I go to Hell for?' said he. 'For
three causes', said they ; and they related to him the tlu'ee causes
that we have abeady mentioned. ' It is not true that I shall go
to Heir, said he, ' for those three vices that are mine this day,
shall not be mine even this day, nor shall they be mine from
this time forth, for I will abandon these vices, and God will for-
give me for them, as He Himself hath promised, when He said :
"Impietas impii in quacumque hora conversus fuerit non nocebit
ei" [Ezek., xxxiii. 12.] (The impiety of the impious, in what-
ever hour he shall be turned from it, shall not injure him.) I
will pvit no sense of my own into the canons, but such as I
shall find in the divine books. I will j)erform an hundred
genuflections every day. Seven years have I been without sing-
ing the Altus, and now I will sing the Altus seven times every
night while I live ; and I will keep a three days' fast every week.
Go you now to Heaven', said he, ' and come on the day of my
death to tell me the result'. ' We will come', said they ; and
the three of them departed as they came, first leaving a blessing
with him, and receiving a blessing from him.
" On the day of his death the three came in the same forms,
and they saluted him, and he returned their salutation, and said
to them : ' Is my life the same before God that it was on the for-
mer day that ye came to talk to me ?' ' It is not, indeed, the
same', said they, ' for we were shown yoiu" place in Heaven, and
we are satisfied with its goodness. We have come, as we pro-
mised, for you, and come now you with us to the place winch
is prepared for you, that you may be in the presence of God,
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 79
and in tlie unity of tlie Trinity, and of the hosts of Heaven, lect. iv.
till the day of judgment'. ^^^.j^^
"There were then assembled about him many priests and annals np
ecclesiastics, aud he was anointed, and his pupils parted not
from him until they all went to Heaven together. And it is
this good man's manuscripts (" screptra") that are in Inisfallen,
in the church, still".
This singular, and, undoubtedly, very old legend, offers to
our minds many interesting subjects of consideration; amongst
which, not the least remarkable is that of this early pilgrimage
from Ireland to the Holy Land. On these points, however, we
shall not dwell at present, farther than to observe that the story
furnishes e^sadence of the reputation for learning enjoyed by
3Iaelsuthain, and also of the belief that manuscripts compiled by
his hand were to be found in Inisfallen at his death.
AVliether by the word " Screptra", thus mentioned, is meant
a single vohune, or a collection of wiitings constituting a library,
it is not easy to determine. We find the word used in the
accoimt of the bm'ning of the Teach Screptra, or Hoiise of Wri-
tings, of Armagh (a.d. 1020) ; and in that of the collection of
MSS. of O'Cuirmn, the largest known to exist in Ireland in the
fifteenth century (1416).
There has always existed in the south of Ireland a tradition
that the Annals of Inisfallen were originally composed by
Maelsnthaw ; and a similar statement is made by Edward
O'Reilly in his Irish writers.
Taking into accorurt the acknowledged learning of O'Carroll,
the character of liis mind, his own station, and the opportu-
nities afforded him by lais association with the chief monarch of
Erinn, there is certainly no improbabihty in connecting him
with the composition of these annals ; and, for my own part, I
have no doubt that he was either the original projector of
them, or that he enlarged the more meagre outlines of ecclesi-
astical events kept in the Monastery of Inisfallen, as probably
in most others, into a general historic work.
Of the continuations of these annals, in the two centuries
subsequent to 3£aelsutJiain, down to the year 1215, little is
known. Unfortunately no genuine copy of this important
body of annals is now ■ to be found in Ireland, and we must
therefore draw from the description of Dr. O'Conor.
A compilation of the latter half of the last centmy by John
O'Mulconry, has also received the name of Annals of Inisfallen.
Why they have been thus named is not sufficiently clear ; but
any notice that we shall take of them must be reserved for
another occasion.
80
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals of
inisfaxlen.
The Bodleian Library copy of tlie Annals of Inisfallen is a
quarto MS. on parclnnent. It is thns described by Dr. O' Conor,
under the No. 64, in the Stowe Catalogue [Vol. I., p. 202] :
" It contains fifty-seven leaves, of which the three first are
considerably damaged, and the fourth partly obliterated. Some
leaves also are missing at the beginning. In its present state,
the first treats of Abraham and the Patriarchs down to the
sixth, where the title is — ' Hie incipit Regnum Grcecorum'. At
the end of this leaf another chapter begins thus — ' Hie incipit
Sexta astas Mundi'. The leaves follow in due order from folio
nine to the end of folio thirty-six, but, rmfortunately, there are
several blanks after this. On the fortieth leaf two lines occm*
in Ogham characters, which have been thus deciphered [by Dr.
O'Conor] — ' Nemo honoratur sine nmnmo, nullus amatur .
Towards the end the writing varies considerably, and is un-
questionably more recent and barbarous.
" Indeed", adds Dr. O'Conor, " the latter part of this valu-
able MS., from folio thirty-six, where the division of each page
into three columns ceases, and where a leaf is missing, appears
to be written by a more recent hand ; so that from inspection
it might be argued, that the real original ended with the year
1130, and that the remainder has been added by dififerent
Abbots of Inisfallen afterwards. Down to 1130, the initials
are rudely adorned and coloured, and the writing is elegant ;
but from thence to the end, there is no attempt at any species
of ornament, and the writing dechnes from barbarous to more
barbarous still, in proportion as we approach the end. The
last leaf is the fifty-seventh of the manuscript, and ends with
the year 1319.
" The few scattered notices relative to the pagan history of
Ireland, which are occasionally introduced and synchronized
with the universal history in the first leaves of this chronicle,
have been carefully collated and published in the ' Rerum Hiber-
nicarum', vol. I., and from a collation of these fragments with
those preserved in the same manner by Tighernach, it is very
clear that both are founded on a common source, since several
of the quotations and several sentences are exactly in the same
words. What this common source was, it would be difiicult to
define. Tighernach quotes a great nmnber of Irish authors
of the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries.
" The folloAving account of this MS. is given by Innes, who
saw it when it was preserved in the Duke of Chandos' library" —
[I still quote the author of the Stowe Catalogue.] " In the
same Chandos library are the Annals of Inisfallen and Tigher-
nach. These, indeed, want some leaves in the beginning and
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 81
elsewhere, and begin only about the time of Alexander the i.ect. iv.
Great. But till St. Patrick's time, they treat chiefly of the ^^ ^^^
general history of the world. The Annals of Inisfallen, in annalsop
the same library, contain a short account of the history of the '*'^^^^^''-
"world in general, and very little of Ireland till the year 430,
where the author properly begins (at folio nine) a chronicle of
Ireland, thus — ' Laogaire Mac Neil regnavit annis xxiv.', and
thenceforward it contains a short chronicle of Ireland to 1318.
These three manuscrij)t chronicles, the Saltair of Cashel, Tigher-
nach, and Inisfallen, are written in Irish characters, and in the
Irish language intermixed wath Latin. They were formerly
collected, with many other valuable MSS. relating to Ireland,
by Sir J. Ware, and came first to the Earl of Clarendon, and-
then to the Duke of Chandos.
" To all this account by Innes", says Dr. O'Conor, *' the
compiler of this catalogue, after a most patient examination,
willingly subscribes. He only adds, what escaped Innes, that
this MS- is not all in one hand, nor all the work of one author".
In the same manuscript as that which contains the Annals of '^f /^e
Inisfallen, there is a copy of those known as the Annals of boyle.
Boyle, of which I shall have to say something in a future lec-
ture in correction of the mistakes of Dr. O'Conor and others,
as to the name thus attributed to the annals in question. No
copy of these annals exists in Ireland ; and I must again quote
Dr. O'Conor for a brief notice of the Bodleian MS.
" The ancient Monastery of Boyle was founded by St.
Columba, and called Eas-mac-n-Eirc, a name wliich it derived
from its pleasant situation, near a cataract, about a mile from
where the river Boyle discharges itself into Loch Cei. The
Cistercian Monastery of Boyle was founded, not exactly on the
site of the ancient monastery, but not far from it, in the year 1161.
" The writers on Irish antiquities frequently confoimd the
Annals of Boyle with the Annals of Connacht. To prevent
mistakes of this kmd, we must observe, that the manuscrij)t in
the Cotton Library (Titus A, xxv.), quarto, part on paper,
part on parchment, and consisting of 138 leaves of both, is the
original from which this Stowe copy was transcribed. The
first article of that MS. is on parchment, and is entitled —
' Annales Monasterii de BuelHo in Hibernia'. It is part in
Irish, part in Latin, beginning from the Creation; treating
briefly of tmiversal history to the arrival of St. Patrick, and
from thence of Irish history down to 1253".
It is to be regretted that we have no means of fixing, with
any degree of precision, the period at which the Annals of
6
82
OF THE ANCIENT AKNALS.
Of tlie
Annals of
Boyle.
Historic wri
ters of tlie
XII., XIII.,
and XIV.
Centuries.
Inisfallen, or tliose here called tlie Annals of Boyle, were
composed. Tlie difficulty is refernble, not to any paucity of
autliors in tlie centuries to wliicli tliey are usually assigned,
but rather to the impossibility of fixing upon any one out of
the hosts of writers whose names have come down to us, to whom
their compilation may be with tolerable certainty attributed.
With regard to the Annals of Inisfallen, there is, as we have
just seen, a high degree of probability , that some body of records
was compiled by O'C^arroll in his time ; but we do not know who
continued them in the two following centuries. Less is unfortu-
nately to be ascertained about the Annals called those of Boyle.
The periods, however, within which tlie compihition of both may
be comprised, were very fertile in men of learning, as Avill suf-
ficiently appear from the following list, which comprises but a
few only of the more remarkable historic writers of the period
which intervened between the time of the composition of the
Annals of Tighernach and that of the next body of historic
records which we shall have to notice. They are selected from
the very numerous writers whose deaths are recorded by the
Four Masters, in almost every year of this period.
A.D. 1136. Died Maelisa Mac Maelcoluim, the chief keeper
of the calendar at Armagh, and the cliief topographical surveyor
and librarian of that see. In the same year died Neidhe O'Mul-
conroy, the historian.
A.D. 1168. Died Flannagan ODubhtliaigh [or O'Duflfy], a
bishop and chief professor of the men of Ireland, in history,
genealogy, eloquence, and every species of knowledge known
to man in his time. He died at Cunga [or Cong], in Connacht.
A.D. V2?>2. Died Tiprcdte CBraoin [or O'Breen], a man
deeply learned in theology and in law. He was successor of
Saint Conian of Roscommon, and died in Inis Clothrann on his
pilgrimage.
A.D. 1279. Giolla losa 3f6r Mac Firbis, one of the chief
historians of Tir Fiachra, or North-western Connacht, died.
[This author, we are well aware, was succeeded by a line of
historians and chroniclers of his own family, ending with the
learned Duhhcdtach (or Duald) Mac Firbis, in the year 1668.]
A.D. 1372. Died Shane O'Dugan, a distinguished poet and
historian of Connacht, whose poems on the Cycles, Calendar,
Epact, Dominical Letter, Golden Number, etc., are so well
known.
A.D. 1376. Conor O'Bcaghan and Ceallach Mac Curtiii, the
two chief historians of Thomond, died. John ORuanaidli
[or O'Rooney], chief poet to Magenis, died. Melaghlin O'Mul-
vany, chief poet and historian to O'Caiie, died. Donogh Mac
Firbis, a good historian of Connacht, died.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 83
A.D. 1390. Daihhgenn O'Duigenan, chief historian of East lect. iv.
Connaught, died. of^v/a
A.D. 1398. David O'Duigonan, chief historian to the MacnojVaem/j
Dermots, etc., a man of all science and knowledge, and a wealthy
Brugaidh [or farmer], died.
A.D. 1400. Gregory, the son of Tanaidhe O'Mulconry, chief
chronicler to the Siol Muiredhaidh [or O'Conors of Connacht] ,
and a master in various kinds of knowledge, was accidentally
killed by William Mac Da\ad, who was condemned to pay a
fine of 126 cows for the act.
A.D. 1405. [We have already noticed the death of Augus-
tin M' Grady, the continnator of Tighernach at this date.]
Giolla na Naemli O'Huidhrin, a native of Leinster, who died
A.D. 1420, was the author of several valuable historical poems
and tracts. The most remarkable of them is his well known
Irish topographical poem.
Among his other compositions are, first, a tract and poem on
the names, reigns, and deaths of the Assyi'ian emperors, from
Ninus to Sardanapalus, synchronizing them with the monarchs
of Erinn, from its earhest reported colonization down to the
death of the monarch Muineaman, in the year of the world
3872. Second, a tract on the names and length of the reigns
of the kings of the Medes, from Arbactus to Astyages, and of the
corresponding monarchs of Erinn, from the abovementioned
Muineaman to Nuada Finnfdil, in the year of the world 4238.
Third, a tract or poem on the length of the reigns of the Chal-
dean kings, from Nebuchadnezzar to Baltazar, and the corres-
ponding monarchs of Erinn, from the abovementioned Nuada
to Lughaidh larrdonn, in the year of the world 4320, etc. And
thus he goes on Avith the Persian, Greek, and Roman emperors
in succession, and the succession of the contemporary monarchs
of Erinn, down to Theodosius and Laoghaire Mac Neill, who
was monarch of Erinn when Saint Patrick came in a.d. 432.
The Annals of Senait (pron: " Shanaf) Mac Manus, com- ofthe
monly called the Annals of Ulster, form the next P-reat annals op
*' ' o Ulster
body of national records which we have to consider ; and from
the preceding list of writers, subsequent to the time of Tigher-
nach, it will be apparent, that abundant materials must have
been accumulated in tliis long interval, which lay ready to the
hand of the compiler.
Of these annals there are five copies known to exist at pre-
sent— one in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford, wiitten on vel-
lum, and classed as E.awHnson, 489 ; a second (only a small
fragment), in the British Museum, classed Clarendon, 36 ; a
6b
Ulster.
84 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. IV. tlilrd (also but a small fragment), in the same museum, written
Of the ^^^ paper, and classed Ayscougli, 49 — 4795 ; a fovu-th, in tlie Li-
annalsop brary of Trinity College, Dublin, written on vellum, and
classed II. 1. 8; and a liftli copy, on paper, in tlie Library of
Trinity College (E. 3. 20), wliicli, however, extends only to
A.D. 665.=*^
The reason why these annals are called the Annals of
Sennit Mac Maglinusa is, because they were originally com-
piled by Catlial Mac Guire, whose Clann or Chieftain title was
Mac Maghnusa, and whose residence and property lay chiefly
in the Island of Senait (pron: " Shanat"), in Loch Erne, be-
tween the modern Counties of Donegall and Fermanagh ; and
it was in this island that the annals were written. They have
received the arbitrary name of Annals of Ulster, merely be-
cause they were compiled in Ulster, and relate more to the
affairs of Ulster than to those of any of the other provinces.
The death of the original compiler is recorded by his con-
tinuator in these annals, at the year 1498, in a passage of
which the following is a strict translation. [See original in
Appendix, No. XLIL]
" Anno Domini 1498. A great mournful news throucfhout
all Ireland this year, namely the following: Mac Manus Ma-
guire died this year, t.e., Catlial 6g (^Cathal, — pron: " Cahal", —
the younger), the son of Catlial, son of Catlial, son of Giolla-
Patrick, son of Matthew, etc. He was a Biatach (or Hospi-
taller), at Seanadh, a canon chorister at Armagh, and dean in
the bishopric of Clogher; Dean of Lough Erne, and Rector
of Inis Caein, in Lough Erne; and the representative of a
bishop for fifteen years before his death. He was a precious
stone, a bright gem, a luminous star, a casket of wisdom; a
fruitful branch of the canons, and a fountain of charity, meek-
ness, and mildness, a dove in purity of heart, and a turtledove
in chastity ; the person to whom the learned, and the poor, and
the destitute of Ireland were most thankful ; one who was full
of grace and of wisdom in every science to the time of his death,
m law, divinity, physic, and philosophy, and in all the Gaedhlic
sciences ; and one who made, gathered, and collected this book
from many other books. He died of the Galar Breac [the
small pox] on the tenth of the calends of the month of April,
being Friday, in the sixtieth year of his age. And let every
person who shall read and profit by this book, pray for a
blessing on that soul of Mac Manus".
(37) I may mention that a sixth copy was made by myself in 1841, for the
Kev. Dr. Todrl, from the vellum copy in T.C.D., with all the contractions
expanded in full.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 85
Harris, in liis edition of Ware's Irisli Writers, p. 90, has lect. iv.
the followinof notice of this remarkable man.
o Qf the
" Charles [the Gaedhlic name Cathal is often so translated annals of
in English] Slaguire, a native of the county of Fermanagh,
Canon of the Chm'ch of Armagh (and Dean of Clogher), was
an eminent divine, philosopher, and historian, and writ Annales
Hihcrnica2 to -his time. They are often called Annales Sena-
tenses, from a place called Senat-Mac -Magnus, in the County of
Fermanagh, where the author writ them, and oftener Annales
Ultonienses, the Annals of Ulster, because they are chiefly
taken up in relating the affairs of that province. They begin
anno 444, and are carried down by the author to his death, in
1498 ; but they were afterwards continued by Roderic Cassidy
to the year 1541. Our author wi'it also a book, intitled, Aen-
gusius Auctus, or the jMartyrology of Aengus enlarged ; wherein
from Marian Gorman, and other writers, he adds such saints as
are not to be met with in the composition of Aengus. He died
on the 23rd of March, 1498, in the sixtieth year of his age".
Seanadh, or Senait, where these annals were compiled, and
from which, as we have said, they are often called Annales
Senatenses, was the ancient name of an island situated in the
Upper Lough Erne, between the modern baronies of Maghera-
stephana and Clonawley, in the Coimty of Fermanagh. It is
called Ballymacmanus Island in various deeds and leases, and
by the natives of Clonawley, who speak the Irish language ; but
it has lately received the fancy name of Belle Isle. [See Note
in O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, at the year 1498.]
After the death of 3Iac Magh.nusa, the annals were continued
by Ruaidhridhe O'Caiside, or Rory O'Cassidy, down to the year
1537, or 1541, according to Ware. They were continued after
this (I mean the Dubhn copy) by some other persons, probably
the O'Luinins, down to the year 1604, where they now end.
I say probably by the O'Luinins, because the Dublin copy was
transcribed by Rnaidkriglie, or Rory O'Luinin, as appears
from two insertions which occur in that volume in a blank
space, at the end of the year 1373. The first is written in a
good hand, as old at least as the year 1600, in the following
words : " Let every one who reads this httle bit, bestow a bles-
sing on the sovd of the man that wrote it". And this is im-
mediately followed by these words : " It is fitter to bestow it on
the soul of Rory OLuinin, who wrote the book well". [See
original in Appendix, No. XLIIL]
From another note which is written in this copy, in the lower
margin of folio 35, col. a, it is evident that the writer of this
latter note was engaged in making a transcript of the volume
at the time, but we have no means of knowing who he was.
86
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals of
Ulstek.
The O'Luinins [tlie name is now sometimes Anglicised Lyne-
gar] were physicians, historians, and genealogists, chiefly to the
MacGuires of Fermanagh, from the fom-teenth to the seven-
teenth century. One of that family, named Gillapatrick OLui-
nin^ of Ard Oljuimn, in the County of Fermanagh, chief
chronicler to MacGuire, assisted the friar Michael O'Clery, the
chief of the " Four Masters", in the compilation of the Leabhar
Gabhala (or Book of Invasions and Monarchical Successions of
Erinn), for Brian Ruadh MacGuire, first Baron of Liiskillen, in
the year 1630 or 1631.
" The Bodleian MS. (Rawlinson, 489) is called the original
copy of those annals", says Dr. O'Conor, " because, it is the
matrix of all the copies now known to exist. But it is not
meant that there were not older manuscripts, from which Cathal
Maguire collected and transcribed, before the year 1498.
" Nicolson says that the Ulster Amials begin at 444, and end,
not at 1041, as the printed catalogues of our MSS. assert, but at
1541. Mr. Edward Llhwyd [the celebrated Welch antiqua-
rian] mentions a copy of these annals which he calls Senatenses,
which he had from Mr. John Conry, written on vellum in a fair
character, but imperfect at the beginning and end, for it begins,
says he, at the yeai- 454, ten years later than the Duke of Chan-
dos', and ends several years sooner, at 1492.
" The truth is, as stated in the Rermn Hibernicarmn, vol. 1.,
that neither Maguire nor Cassidi was the author of these annals,
but only the collector. Augustin Magriadan had preceded both
in the same task, and continued to his own time, says Ware,
the chronicle, which the monks of his monastery in the island
of All Saints, in the Shannon, had commenced ; and he died
in 1405.
" We have seen that MacGraidagh was in all probability the
continuator of Tighernach ; biit I know of no reason for assign-
ing to him any part in the compilation of the Annals of Ulster.
" In the Bodleian MS. (Rawhnson, 489), better known by
the name of the Chandos MS., fovu- folios are missing after the
leaf paged 50. That leaf concludes with the seventh line of the
year 1131, and the next leaf (nmnbered 55) begins Avith the
conclusion of 1155, so that there is an hiatus of 24 years. The
copy now before us concludes Avith the year 1131, where that
hiatus occurs.
" The first page of the Oxford MS. is nearly obliterated. By
some vmaccountable barbarity the engraved seal of the Univer-
sity is pasted over the written page, so as to efface all the writ-
ing underneath: the words which are illegible there have
been restored in tliis Stov/e transcript, by the aid of the copy in
OF THE AXCIEiiT ANNALS 87
the British Museum, wliicli is imperfect and interpolated, lect. iv.
The folios of the original Bodleian are paged from 1 to 134, ^^ ^^^^
in modern Arabics, and they are rightly paged down to the ankals of
vear 1131, after which four leaves are missino^ down to the
year 1156. The leaf containing the first part of 1131, is rightly
paged 51, and the next is rightly paged 55. How the four in-
termediate leaves have been lost, it is impossible now to ascer-
tain. Folio ijij is erroneously paged 67, as if one leaf were
missing there, which is not the case. Folio 70 is paged 80, as
if ten leaves were missing, whereas not one is lost. One foho
is missing from the year 1303 to 1315 inclusive, and the pag-
ing is then incorrect to the end. In its present state the folios
of this MS. are precisely 126.
" We must be cautious", continues Dr. O'Conor, " in assert-
ing that the whole of this MS. was written by one person, or
at one time. Down to 952, the ink and characters are uniform,
but then a finer style of writing follows down to 1001.
"When the transcriber comes to 999, he states on the op-
posite margin, that really this was the year of our sera 1000 ;
for that the Ulster Annals precede the common cera by one year,
— a clear proof that the transcriber was not the compiler or
author ; for this note is in the same ink and characters Avith the
text. He annexes the same remark frequently to the subse-
quent years; as at 1000, where he says, alias 1001.
"It is remarkable that these are uniform in antedating
the Christian JEra by one year only, down to the folio numbered
QS, year 1263, and that there, instead of preceding our ajra by
only one year, they precede by two; so that the year 1265 is
really 1264, as stated on the margin in Ware's hand: this
precedence of two years is regular to 1270. From thence to
1284, the advance is of three years; from 1284, the advance is
of foiu- years, down to 1303, wliich is really 1307. Then a
folio is missing which has been evidently cut out, and we j)as3
on to 1313, which is marked by Wai*e on the margin 1316, an
advance only of three years. This advance of three years
continues from that to 1366, which is marked on the margin by
Ware 1370, an advance of four years again, which continues to
1379, where the following note is in Ware's hand: — ' From this
year 1379, the computation of years is well collected'.
"It is pretty clear that the writer of this latter part of the
Ulster Annals, who thus antedates even the latter ages of the
Christian gera, must be very different from the writer of the
first part down to the year 1263.
" Johnston has published Extracts from a Version, part Eng-
lish and part Latin, in the British Museum, which he has in-
88
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals op
Ulster.
serted in his ' Antiquitates Celto-Normannic^e', Copenhagen,
4to, 1786, p. 57. Of" this version he says very truly, that the lan-
guage is extremely barbarous ; that it is often hard to discover
whether the transcriber means the Scots, Mc Ercs, Dalriad,
Cruachne, Athacliath of Ireland, or the Scots, Mc Ercs, Dal-
riedge, Cruithne, and Alacluoith of Britain; that it is with great
difSdence that he ventures to print these extracts, and that
his prmcipal inducement was a hope that such a specimen
might suggest to some Irish gentleman the idea of publishing,
at least, the more material parts of these valuable records,
in the original.
" After such a modest avowal, no man can find pleasure in
noticing the many errors in Mr. Johnston's work. But histo-
rical truth demands that those errors which affect the very
foundations of history, should be rectified.
"At 471, Mr. Johnston's edition states, 'The Irish plun-
dered the Saxons. Matthew, in the book of the Cuanac,
says it was ha 472'.
" Now", continues Dr. O'Conor, " the very words of the
original are : ' Preda secunda Saxonum de Hibernia, ut alii
dicunt, in isto anno deducta est, ut Mocteus dicit. Sic in
Libro Cuanac inveni'. That is, 'In 471, Ireland was plun-
dered a second time by the Saxons this year, as some say, as
Mocteus says. I found it so in the Annals of Cuanac' [sic] — In
Johnston's two short lines there are four material errors. — First,
he makes the Irish plunder the Saxons ; whereas the truth is,
that the Saxons a second time plundered them. — Secondly, he
inakes the annals quote Matthew ; whereas even the interpo-
lated copy in the museima has Mactenus: the original is pro-
perly Mocteus, who was an Irish writer of the fifth century.
Thirdly, he makes this Matthew a writer in the book of
Cuanac. — Fourthly, he makes the book of Cuanac refer these
transactions to 472 !
" At 473, Johnston's edition gives only ' The Skirmish of
Bui' ; whereas the original has some foreign history under that
year, and then adds : ' Quies Docci Episcopi Sancti, Brittonum
Abbatis. [The death of Docci, a holy bishop, Abbot of the
Britons] Dorngal Bri-Eile f. Laigniu ria n Alill Molt.
[The Battle of Bri Eile was gained over the Leinster men
by AHll Molt.]'
"At 482, Johnston's edition has "The Battle of Ochc.
From the time of Cormac to this battle, a period intervened
of 206 years'.
" Now here the original is strangely perverted and falsified.
"The words of the original are — ' a.d. 482 — Bellum Oche
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 89
la Lug. mac Laegaire agus le Mmrcearta mac Erca, in quo lect. iv.
cecidit Alill Moll [recte, Molt]. A Concobaro iilio Nesse usque ^^^^^^
ad Cormacum filium Airt amii cccviii., a Cormaco usqu.e ad hoc annais op
bellum cxvi., ut Cuana scripsit'. [That is, a.d. 482 — The ^''^'^^■
Battle of Ocha by Lughaidh, the son of Laegaire, and Muir-
ceartach, son of Earc, in which AHU Molt fell. From Concobar,
son of Nesse, to Cormac, son of Airt, 308 years. From Cor-
niac to this battle 116 years, as Cuana has written.]
" It would require", says Dr. O'Conor, " a quarto volume
as large as Mr. Johnston's whole work, to point out the errors
of his edition, with such illustrations as these unexplored re-
gions of Irish history seem to require. — The Ulster Annals",
he continues, " are written part in Latin, and part in Irish, and
both languages are so mixed up, that one sentence is often in
words of both ; a circumstance which renders a faithful edition
of the original difficult. In some instances the Irish words are
few, in others numerous, — in both, the version must be included
in hyphens, to separate it from the text. The author of this
Catalogue has most faithfully adliered to the original — tran-
scribing the whole of this, and of the preceding MS. from the
Bodleian MS., RawHnson 489, and inserting literal versions of
the Irish words in each sentence, so as to preserve not only the
meaning, but the manner of the author, from the year 431 to
1131". — Stowe Catalogue, vol. i., p. 174.
Another copy of these annals noticed by Dr. O'Conor, " con-
tains", he says, "117 written folios. This volume has copious
extracts from the Bodleian original, from 1156 to 1303, in-
clusive ; and it has the merit, also, of marginal collations with
the copy in the British Museum, Clarendon, tom. 36, in Ays-
cough's Catalogue, No. 4787 ; which appears from this collation
to be in many places interpolated. It has been collated, also,
with a copy in the British Musemn, written by one O'Connel^
who was still more ignorant than the former transcriber, as may
be seen by inspecting the MS. — Ayscough, tom. xlix., 4795".
—Ibid., p. 176.
[There is an English translation of the Annals of Ulster in
the British Museum — Clarendon MS., vol. xlix., Ayscough's
Catalogue, No. 4795 ; commencing with the coming of Palla-
cUus into Ireland, a.d. 431, and coming down to a.d. 1303 (or
1307), as thus w^ritten; but there is a defect from 1131 to
1156, at page 65. The writing appears to be of Sir James
Ware's time (XVII. Century), and the Latin of the original is
not translated. This is the volume with which Doctor O'Conor
says that he made marginal collations of the above manuscript ;
but it will be seen that 1 is library reference is wrong, as well
as that to the number in Ayscough's Catalogue.
90
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals of
Ulstek.
I examined tliis translation witli great care, and I could not
find any translator's name to it; no " one O'Connel". 1 think it
possible that the reverend doctor never saw it. The Clarendon
MS., xxxvi., British Museum, with which Dr. O'Conor says
the Stowe copy of the Annals of Ulster was collated, is only a
collection of short liistorical pieces, and extracts from unac-
knowledged Annals. The writing is Hke Ware's, as may be
seen from the volume i., No. 4787. The reverend doctor does
not appear to have seen this volume any more than the other ;
or if he did really see them, it is very strange that he should
leave his readers to believe that they were both full copies, and
written in the original Irish hand.]
That the reverend doctor is quite correct in these strictures
on Johnston's publication, he has given ample proof here; but
his own inaccurate readings of the original text are full of con-
tradictions, and are often as erroneous as those of Johnston;
and his translations and deductions are as incorrect and unjusti-
fiable. And, notwithstanding the respect in which his name
and that of his more accurate grandfather, the venerable Charles
O'Conor of Belanagare, are held by every investigator of the
history and antiquities of Ireland, still it must be admitted,
that his own writino-s — as regards matters in the Irish lan-
guage, in his Stowe Catalogue, and in his Rerum Hibernicanmi
Scrip tores, — would require very copious corrections of the inac-
curacies of text, as well as of the many erroneous translations,
imauthorized deductions, and unfounded assumptions which
they contain.
To retmii to the Annals of Senait Mac Manus.
The volume in vellum containing the beautifvd copy of these
annals now in the library of Trinity College, commences with
three leaves which appear to be a fragment of a fine copy of
Tighernach [see Appendix, No. XLIV.] After this the Annals
of Senait Mac Manus, which begin with a long line of calends
or initials of years, some of which are very briefly filled up, but
without dates, except occasionally the years of the world's age,
while others remain totally blank.
These Annals begin thus — "Anno ab Incarnatione Domini
ccccxxxi., Palladius ad Scotos a Celestino urbis Rome Epis-
copo, ordinatur Episcopus, Actio et Valeriano Coss. Primus
mittitur in Hiberniam, ut Christum credere potuissent, anno
Theodosii viii." That is: "In the year from the Incarnation of
our Lord four hundred and thhty-one, Palladius is ordained
bishop to the Scoti by Celestine, Bishop of the City of Rome,
in the consulship of Aetivis and Valerianus. He was the first
who was sent to Ireland, that they might believe in Christ, in
the eighth year of Theodosius".
Of THE AKCIENT ANNALS. 1)1
" Anno ccccxxxii. — Patricius pervenit ad Hiberniam in anno lect. iv.
Theodosii jimioris, primo anno Episcopatus Sixti xlii., Rom.
EccL, sic enunierant Beda, et Marcellinus, et Isidorus in annals or
Clironicis suis. in xii. an. Leaghaire mic NeilV\ " Anno 432 — i-^'Tek-
Patrick came to Ireland in the ninth year of Theodosius the
Yoimger, and first of the episcopacy of Sixtus, the forty-
second Bishop of Rome, so Bede and MarceUinus and Isidore
enumerate them in their Chronicles, in the twelfth year of
Laeghaire Mac Neilf.
" Anno ccccxxxiv. Prima preda Saxonmn in Hibernia.
" Anno ccccxxxv. Mors Breasail regis Lagenise.
" Anno ccccxxxvi. Vel hie mors Breasail".
" Vels", or aliases, occur very frequently in the early part of
these amials, but they are generally written in a later and in-
ferior hand. Doctor O'Conor notices them in the Bodleian
copy, but has not observed whether they are written in the ori-
ginal hand or not.
The following additional early notices are interesting.
" Anno 437. Finbar Mac Hui Bardene [a Saint] died.
"Anno ccccxxxviii. Chronicon Magnum Scriptum est".
This was the Seanchas Mor, or great law compilation, re-
ferred to in my former lecture.
" Anno ccccxxxix. Secundinus, Auxilius, et Iseminus mit-
tuntur Episcopi ipsi in Hiberniam, in auxilium Patricii ".
It is not until the middle of the sixth century that these an-
nals begin to notice more than two or three events, often merely
of an ecclesiastical character. Not even the early battles with
the Danes are given with anytliing more than the simple record
of the fact, and the chief persons concerned, or the names of
those who fell on such occasions. Nor is it imtil the beginning
of the ninth century that they commence to group events, and
nai-rate them to any considerable extent; but after the year
1000, they become diffuse enough, if not in narrative, at least
in the mention of distinct events, and sometimes in both, par-
ticularly as we approach the fifteenth centiuy.
The book is written on fine strong vellum, large folio size,
and in a very fine style of penmanship.
There is a loss of forty-eight years between the years 1115 and
1163, the beginning of the former and conclusion of the latter
only remaining. There is another defect between the years 1373
and 1379 ; and the volmne ends imperfectly v.dth the year 1504.
The whole manuscript vohmie, in its present condition,
consists of 121 folios or 242 pages ; the fii'st folio being paged
12, and the last 144, from which it appears that there are 11
folios, or twenty-two pages, lost at the beginning, and 12 folios.
92
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Anxals of
Ulstek.
LECT. IV. or 24 pages more, deficient between the years 1115 and 1163.
The missing years between 1373 and 1379 do not interrupt
the pagination, from which it may be inferred that they were
lost from the original MS. of the Annals of Ulster, of which
this part of the MS. is but a transcript. The first tliree fohos
are, I believe, a portion of the Annals of Tighernach. The
third leaf belongs to neither compilation. The foui'th leaf
begins the MS. of the Annals of Ulster. [See Appendix, No.
XLIV.]
Throughout this MS. the annals have the year of our Lord
prefixed to them, but they are antedated by one year. This error
is, however, generally corrected in a later hand throughout the
volume.
Throughout the earlier portion especially of these Annals of
Ulster, the text is a mixture of Gaedhlic and Latm, sometunes
being written partly in the one language and partly in the
other.
It may be remarked also, that throughout the entire MS.
blank spaces had been left by the original scribe at the end of
each year, and that in these spaces there have been added by a
later hand several events, and aliases or corrections of dates.
It will have been seen from Dr. O'Conor's remarks in the
Stowe Catalogue, that the copy which Bishop Nicholson des-
cribed, in his work called " Nicholson's Irish Library", was
carried down to the year 1541 , whilst the Dublin cojDy in its
present state ends with 1504. [See Nicholson's Irish Library,
p. 37.] There is, however, every reason to be certain that
this is the identical volume or copy of the same Annals men-
tioned by him in his Appendix (6 ; p. 243). [See discussion
on the Annals of Loch Ce; infra.]
It may seem that I have dwelt with too much prolixity on
the technical details of the Annals hitherto considered; but
I believe their importance fully warrants this. They form the
great framework around which the fabric of our history is yet
to be built up. The copies of them which now remain are un-
fortunately all imperfect and widely separated, in different libra-
ries and MSS. collections ; and in the critical examination of
them (short as such an examination must be in lectures such
as the present), and the collation of all the evidences we
can bring together about them, I believe that I am doing good
service to the future historian of Ireland.
LECTURE V.
[Delivered June 19, 1856.]
The Annals (continued). 5. The Annals of Loch Ce, liitherto sometimes
caUed The Annals of Kilronan. Of the Plain of Magh Slecht. 6. The
Annals of Connacht. Remarks on the so-called Annals of Boyle.
In my last Lecture I gave yon some account of the Annals of
Innisfallen, and those of Senait MacManus, commonly called
the Annals of Ulster: havmg on the previous day commenced
with the earlier compilation of Tighcrnach. Thus we have
disposed of the most of the earlier compilations in that list of
the more important annals, which I named to you as the
sources of our history, which it was my intention, in accordance
with the plan of these Lectures, to bring under your notice.
Before, however, we reach the last and greatest monument
of the learning of the Gaedliils, called the Annals of the Four
Masters, there remain at least four other remarkable collections
for your consideration : the Annals of Kilronan,^^*' or rather of
Inis Mac Nerinn in Loch Ce, as they ought to be called ; the
Annals of Boyle ; those called the Annals of Connacht ; and
Mac Firbis' Chronicum Scotorum ; and it is to these works
that, proceeding in regular order, I shall have this evening
to direct your attention.
And first, of the Annals which have been knowni for some oftiie
time mider the name of the Annals of Kilronan, but which, loch^ck^
I think, it will presently be seen should be called the Annals
of Inis Mac Nerinn in Loch Ce.
The only copy of these Annals known to exist at present is
that in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, Class H. 1, 19.
It is on vellmn, of small foHo size ; the original writing in va-
rious hands, but all of them fine and accurate. Several leaves
having, however, been lost from the original volume in various
parts of it, the chasms are filled up, sometimes with paper and
sometimes with vellum, and some of the missing annals re-
(38) It is only within the last few years that this name "Annals of Kilronan"
■was aijplied to these Annals, which are referred to by tlie Four Masters
(see Ann. IV. Masters, Preface, p. xxviii.) as the ' Book of the O'Duigenans
of Kilronan'. [They are so referred to by Dr. O'Douovan at p. 778 of the
Annals, note (6) to a.d. 1013.] lOlronan was in the country of the Mac
Dermotts, in the present County of Roscommon.
94
OF THE AXCIENT ANNALi?.
Of the
Annals op
Loch Ce.
_ stored, altliougli in an inferior style of penmansliip. These
restorations are principally in tlie handwriting of Brian Mac
Dermot. The chief defects in the body of the book are obser-
vable from the year 1138 to 1170, where thirty -two years are
missing; and from the year 1316 to 1462, where 142 years are
missing. The year 1468 is also omitted.
The following notices will sufficiently show the names of the
chief transcriber, of the owner, and the time of transcribing
the volume.
At the end of the year 1061 we find this notice: — "I am
fatigued from Brian Mac Dermot's book ; Anno Domini 1580.
I am Philip Badley". — [See original in Appendix, No. XLV.]
The Christian name of the scribe appears in several places
from this to the end of the year 1588 ; but a memorandum at
the end of the year 1515 is conclusive in identifying not only
the chief transci'lber, but the date of the original transcipt, as
well as the place in which, and the person for whom, the volume
was transcribed or compiled : —
" I rest from this work. May God grant to the man [that
is, the owner] of this book, to return safely from Athlone ; that
is Brian, the son oi Rnaidln'igh Mac Dermot. I am Philip who
wrote this, 1588, on the day of tlie festival of Saint Brendan
in particular. And Cluain Hi Bhraoin is my place". — [See
original in Appendix, No. XLVL]
Of this Badley, if that be his real name, I have never
been able to learn anything more than what he has written of
himself in this volume. I may observe, however, that the name
of Philip was not uncommon in the learned family of O'Diiibh-
ghenainn or Duigenan; and Cluain I Bhraoin, where Philip
wrote this book, was at this time the residence of a branch of the
ODuihhghenainn or O'Duigenans, as will appear from the fol-
lowing entry in these Annals, in the handwriting of the owner
of the book, Brian Mac Dermot, at the year 1581 : — " Fear-
caogadh O'Duigenan, the son of Fergal, son of Philip, died at
Cluain I Bhraoin\ — [See original in Appendix, No. XLVIL]
We find, too, the name of Duhhthach O'Duigenain, set
down as a scribe in the book at the end of the year 1224.
The following memorandum at the end of the page at which
the year 1462 commences (the book is not paged), gives us fur-
ther reason still for supposing that the O'Duigenans had some
connection with this book. It runs thus: — " Three leaves and
five scores of vellum that are contained in this book, per me,
Daniel Duignan". — [See original in Appendix, No. XLVIIL]
This memorandum is withovit date ; and I may observe that, as
the book contains at present but ninety-nine of the original
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 95
leaves, four leaves must have been lost since this memorandum lect. y.
was wiitten. ^^^^^
I have not, however, quoted these memoranda merely m a\-sals op
order to show by what particular scribe the Annals in question
were written. A mistake has, it appears to me, been long cur-
rent with regard to the identity of the MS., and I believe I am
in a position to correct it.
It is my opinion that the notices just referred to are sufficient
to show that these are not those Annals, or that ' Book of the
O Duihligenainns of Kilronan', which was one of the books men-
tioned by the Four Masters as having been used by them in their
compilation, and wliich extended from the year 900 to the year
1563. The present volume begins with the year 1014, and in its
original form ends (imperfectly) with the year 1571 ; and we
find that one of the O'Duigenan family was a transcriber in
the early part of it, and that it was transcribed at Clucdn I
Bhraoin. But it is, I think, more than probable that the
volume is but a transcript of the original Book of the O'Dui-
genans of Kih'onan, made, as far as it went, for Brian Mac
Dermot ; and that to the text of this transcript that noble chief
himself, and other scribes, made several additions, carrying the
annals down to the year 1590, or two years before his death
in 1592. Such is the opinion at which I have arrived as to
this manuscript.
That the present volume was carried down to the year 1590,
I am rather fortunately in a position to prove beyond any
doubt, haA^ng myself discovered a part of the continuation in the
British Museum in the year 1849. This part contains sixteen
consecutive years, and part of a dislocated year, extending from
the latter part of 1568 to 1590, but still leaving a chasm in
the volume from 1561 to 1568. This continuation is written
partly on vellum and partly on paper, in various hands, among
which that of Brian JNlac Dermot is still very plainly distin-
guishable ; and the following translation of an entry, at the year
1581, with Brian's note on it, seems to complete the identifica-
tion of the volume : —
" Calvagh {Calbhach), the son of Donnell, son of Teige
(Tadhg), son of Cathal O'Conor, the heir of Sligo and of
Lower Connacht, without dispute, died on the Friday between
the two Easters [that is, between Easter Sunday and Low Sun-
day] in this year". — [See original in Appendix, No. XLIX.]
To this article Brian ]\Xac Dermot adds the following note : —
" And the death of this only son of Donnell O'Conor and
Mor Ai Rucdrc is one of the most lamentable events of Erinn.
And there never came, of the descendants of Brian Luighneacli
96
OF THE AKCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals of
Loch Ce.
O'Conor] a man of his years a greater loss than him, nor is it
ikely that there will come. And this loss has pained the
learts of all Connacht, and especially it has pained the scholars
and poets of the province of Connacht. And it has divided
my own heart into two parts. Uch ! Uch ! how pitiable my
condition after my comrade and companion, and the man most
dear and truthful to me in the world !
" I am Brian Mac Dermot, who wrote this, upon Mac Der-
mot's Rock ; and I am now like Olioll Oluim after his sons,
when they were slain, together with Art Aenfhir, the son of
Conn of the Hundi'ed Battles, in the battle of Ifagh MucruimhS
by Mac Con, the son of Mac JViadh, son oi Lughaidh; or like
Deirdre after the sons of Uistieach had been treacherously slain
in Eamhain Mhaclia [Emania] by Co7ichohha7' the son of
Fachtna, son of Ruadli, son of Rudhraidhe [Conor Mac
Nessa] ; for I am melancholy, sorrowful, distressed, and dis-
pirited, in grief and in woe. And it cannot be described or
related how I feel after the departure of my companion from
me, that is the Calvach. And it was on the last day of the
month of March that he was interred in Sligecli (Sligo)". —
[See original in Appendix, No. XLIX.]
Mac Dermot's Rock (Carraig Mhic-Diarmada), and the Rock
of Loch Ce {Carraig Locha Ce) were the popular names of a
castle built on an Island in Loch Ce, near Boyle, in the pre-
sent County of Roscommon. This castle was the chief resi-
dence and stronghold of Mac Dermot, the native chief and
prince of Ifagh Luirg (or Moylorg), an extensive territory in
the same County of Roscommon.
The above Brian Mac Dermot, the owner, restorer, and conti-
nuator of these Annals, was cliief of Magh Luirg between the
years 1585 and 1592, though in what year he succeeded his
father, Rory (Ruaidhri), the son of Teige {Tadhg), I am not
able to say. The father was chief in 1540 and 1542.
Of Brian Mac Dermot himself, we find in the Annals of the
Four Masters, — under the year 1585 (in which year all the
native chiefs of Erinn were called by proclamation to a parlia-
ment in Dublin), — that Tadhg the son of JEoghan Mac Dermot
attended this Parliament as deputy froin Mac Dermot of Magh
Luirg ; that is, Brian the son of liuaidhri, son of Tadhg, son
of Ruaidhri Og, which Brian was then a very old man. And
at the year 1592 the same Annals record the death of this
Brian Mac Dermot in the following words :
"Mac Dermot of Magh Luirg, — Brian the son of Ruaidhri,
son of Tadhg Mac Dermot, died in the month of November;
and the death of tliis man was the more to be lamented, be-
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 97
cause tliere was no other like him of the claim Maolrua- lect. v.
naidli ['Maelrimy', the tribe name of the Mac Dermots,] to ^^.^j^^
succeed liim in the chieftainship". — [See original in Appendix, annals of
No. L.]
It -would then appear, I think, that these cannot be the so-
called Annals of Kilronan ; but that they are those called the
Annals of Loch Ce, quoted by Sir James Ware in his work on
the Bishops of Erinn, is by no means certain.
Dr. Nicholson (Protestant Bishop of Derry, and afterwards
Archbishop of Cashel), in his valuable " Irish Historical Li-
brary", published in Dubhn in 1724, p. 36, thus speaks of the
Annals of Loch Ce, quoted by Sir James Ware :
" The Annals of this monastery are frequently quoted by
Sir James Ware ; but all that he ever saw was a Fragment of
them (part in Latin and part in Irish) beginning at 1249 and
ending at 1408. He supposes the author to have been a Canon-
Reojular of the said Abbey, and to have lived about the middle
• Till
of the Fifteenth Century. His copy, perhaps, has had some
farther loss since it fell into other hands ; seeing all that can be
now said of it is ' Pars Annalium Ccenohii S. Trin. de Logh-
kcea, incipiens ah An. 1249. et desinens An. 1381. ex Hiher-
nico Idiomate in Angltcum versa ".
The same writer (Appendix No. 6, page 243) says:
" The most valuable collection of Irish MSS. that I have
met with, in any private hand, here in Dublin, next to that of
the Lord Bishop of Clogher, was communicated to me by Mr.
John Conry ; who has great numbers of our Historico-Poetical
Composures, and (being a perfect master of their language and
prosodia) knows how to make the best use of them. Amongst
these, there's
" 1. An ancient copy of the Annales Senatenses (Annals of
Ulster), written on Vellum and in a fair character; but imper-
fect at the beginning and end: for it begins at the Year 454,
ten Years later than the Duke of Chaudois's, and ends (about
50 years sooner) at 1492.
" 2. There is also, in the same Letter and Parchment, and the
same folio Volmne, a copy of the Annals of the Old Abbey of
Inch-Maccreen, an island in the Lake oi Loghkea, very diffe-
rent from those of the Holy Trinity, an abbey (in the same
Loch) of a much later foundation. This book commences at
the year 1013, and ends with 1571.
" 3. He has likewise the original Annals of Donegal (or the
Quatuor Magistri), signed by the proper hands of the four
Masters themselves, who were the Compilers of that Chronicle",
etc., etc., etc.
98
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals op
Loch Ce.
This, indeed, is a most valuable notice from the very candid
Bishop Nicholson.
The Annals of the Old Abbey of Inis Maccreen, properly
Inis Mac Nerinn, an island in Loch Ce, which he mentions,
are beyond any doubt those which I have already identified as
such. According to Conry's report to the bishop, these Annals
commenced with the year 1013, and ended with 1571 ; but it
is quite clear that the year 1013 is a mere mistake for 1014,
with which the book commences in its present, and I am siu-e
in its then condition. For it commences with an account of
the battle of Clontarf ; and as the original page is much de-
faced and the date totally illegible, and as the date of that
great event is given by the Four Masters under the year 1013,
it seems probable that, without looking to the copy of the
whole annal, and the date mentioned below, Conry gave that
year as the commencement of the book to the bishop. The
last page of the year 1571, with which the volume (without
the British Museum addition) ends, is also illegible, showing
plainly that the book had been a long time lying without a
cover, probably in the ruined residence of some departed mem-
ber of the Mac Dermot family, before it passed into Conry's
hands. Still, notwithstanding that Conry gave this book the
name of the Annals of the Abbey of Inis Mac Nerinn of Loch
CS, it is quite clear from the circumstances under wliich they
were written, that they were not the annals of that abbey, if
any such annals ever existed.
There is some mystery as to the way this volume passed
from the hands of John Conry. It was, however, purchased
at the sale of the books of Dr. John O'Fergus, in 1766, by
Dr. Leland, the historian, along with the Annals of Ulster, — a
transcrijDt made for the doctor of the first volume of the An-
nals of the Four Masters, — and the imjDcrfect autograph of the
second volume, described above by Dr. Nicholson, — and placed
by him (Dr. Leland) in the College Library, where the group
may now be seen together. It is fortunate that we actually
have still in existence a copy of the printed catalogue of the
books of the patriotic Doctor OTergus, which is preserved
along with several other memorials of him, by his worthy great-
grandson, my esteemed friend, James Marinus Kennedy, Esq.
(of 47 Lower Gloucester Street, in this city), who has kindly
permitted me to consult this interesting catalogue. On exa-
mining it, I found included in it the Annals of Ulster, — a tran-
script of the first volume of the Annals of the Four Masters,
by Hugh O'Mulloy, an excellent scribe, in two volmnes, — and
the imperfect autograph copy of the second volume, — among
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 99
several other M'SS. of less value, set down for sale ; but no i.ect. v.
account of the Annals of the Abbey of Inis Mac Nerinn, men- ^^ ^^^
tloned by John Conry in his communication to Dr. Nicholson, anxais op
So far indeed we have lost the direct evidence of the volume
being that which Conry had mentioned to the bishop ; but the
fact of its having- been pm-cliased by the College along with the
other books and transcripts belonging to Conry 's collection, the
identity in the years of its beginning and ending, and the
original locahty to which it was referred, wliich, though erro-
neous, was approximately correct, can leave no rational doubt
of its being the reputed Annals of the Abbey of Inis Mac
Keriim in Loch Ce, though the internal evidences clearly prove
it to be the Annals of the Rock of Loch Ce, or Mac Dermot's
Rock, the residence of the owner and part-compiler, Brian Mac
Dermot, in 1590. Indeed even the wanting link above alluded
to is sujDplied in a contemporary list or catalogue of the Irish
books sold at Dr. O'Fergus's sale, which is preserved in (pasted
into) a MS. volume in the Library of the Royal Irish Aca-
demy (commonly known by the name of " Vallancey's Green
Book"), and contains the names of the persons to whom and the
prices at which the various Irish MSS. there were sold. For
in that list I find it mentioned tliat Dr. Leland bought " No.
2427, Annals of the 4 Masters, 3 vols, [the two volumes of tran-
scrijition and one of aiitograph before mentioned], a fine MS.,
£7 19s."; and also, " 2410, Annals of Ulster, by the 4 Masters
[sic], a very ancient MS. on vellum"; and "2411, Continu-
ation of the Annals of Tighernach, very ancient, on vellum",
both together for £18. The last mentioned MS. was, I have
no doubt, the one of which we have been speaking, mistaken by
the maker of the catalogiie for a "Continuation of Tighernach",
probably only because he could make no better guess at what
it really was. And it is singular that this volume is now lettered
" Tighernaci Continuatio" on the back (H. 1. 19, T.C.D.)
I have thus, I think, conclusively identified the MS. spoken
of by Dr. O'Donovan as the " Amials of Kilronan", and I have
identified it as one different from the original Book of the
O'Duigenans of Kilronan, referred to by the Four Masters.
Wliether that IMS. is or is not the same as the Annals of Loch
Ce, referred to by Sir James Ware, does not, however, appear
to me to be by any means clearly settled by Nicholson, the ac-
curacy of whose descriptions of Irish MSS. is not always im-
plicitly to be depended on. Certainly Sir James Ware does
quote from what he calls the Annals of Loch Ce at the year
1217, as we shall presently see, though in the passage before
quoted from Nicholson, that writer positively says that " all he
7 B
Loch Ce.
100 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. V. (Ware) ever saw was a fragment of them, beginning at 1249
Qj ^jj and ending at 1408".
annat-s of The references by Ware to these Annals are in his " History
of the Bishops". In the fii'st vohime of this important work
(as edited by Walter Harris, pp. 84, 250, 252, 271), we find it
stated on the authority of the Annals of "Lough Kee" (Loch
Ce), that Adam O'Muirg {Annadh 0'3fuireadhaigh),J^isho-p of
Ardagh (Ardachadh), died in the year 1217; Cait'bre O'Scoba,
Bishop of Raphoe (Rath BhothaJ, in the year 1275; William
Mac Casac, Bishop of Ardagh, in the year 1373; and John
Colton, Archbishop of Armagh, in the year 1404. On refer-
ence to our volume of Annals, we find the death of AnnadJi
O Muireadhaigli and Cah^hre O'Scoba mider the respective years
of 1217 and 1275. The other years, 1373 and 1404, are now
lost, though these lost sheets were probably in existence in
Ware's time.
The following little note, written in the lower margin of the
eleventh page of the fragment in the British Museum, is not
without interest in tracing this very volume of Annals to the
possession of the family of Sir James Ware.
" Honest, good, hospitable Robert Ware, Esq., of Stephen's
Green; James Magrath is his servant for ever to command".
This Robert was the son of the very candid writer on Irish
history just mentioned. Sir James Ware ; and it is pretty clear
that this entry was made in the book, of which the fragment in
the British Museum formed a part, wliile it was in the hands
of either the father or the son.
Ha^dng thus endeavoured, and I trust successfully, to identify
for the first time tliis valuable book of Irish Annals, I now pro-
ceed to consider the character of its contents, so as to form a just
estimate of its value, as a large item in the mass of materials
which still exist for an ample and authentic History of Ireland.
These Annals of Loch CS, as I shall henceforth call them,
commence with the year of our Lord 1014, containing a very
good account of the Battle of Clontarf ; the death of the ever
memorable Brian Boroimhe; the final overthrow of the whole
force of the Danes, assisted as they were by a numerous army
of auxiliaries and mercenaries; and the total destruction of
their cruel and barbarous sway within the 'Island of Saints'.
The first page of the book is nearly illegible, but it was restored
on inserted paper in a very good hand, at Cam Oilltriallaigh in
Connacht, on the 1st of November 1698, by S. Mac Conmidhe.
The account of the Battle of Clontarf just alluded to, is es-
pecially interesting because it contains many details not to be
found in any of the other annals now remaining to us.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS 101
In clironology as well as the general cliaracter, the Annals of lect. v.
Loch Ce resemble the Annals of Tighernach, the Annals of Ul-
ster, and the Chroniciun Scotoruni ; but they are much more annals ov
copious in details of the affairs of Connacht than any of our °*^"
other annals, not excepting even, perhaps, the Clironicle now
known as the Annals of Connacht, — a collection which will
presently engage our attention. And as all these additional de-
tails involve much of family history and topography, every item
of them will be deemed valuable by the diligent investigator of
our history and antiquities.
The dates are always written in the original hand, and in
Roman numerals, represented by Irish letters.
The text is all in the ancient Gaedhhc characters, and mainly
in the Gaedhlic language, but mixed occasionally with Latin,
particularly in recording births and deaths, when sometimes a
sentence is given partly in both languages, as at a.d. 1087,
which runs thus :
" The Battle of Connchail in the territory of Corann (in
Sligo), was gained by Rory O'Connor of the yellow hoimd,
son of Hugh of the gapped spear, over Hugh the son of Art
O'Ruairc ; and the best men of the Cojimaicne were slaughtered
and slain. — [See original in Appendix, No. LL]
" In tliis year was born Torloch O'Conor". — [See Appendix,
No. LIL]
The following specimen of the style and copiousness of the
Annals of Loch Ce, may be appropriately introduced. The
same events are given in but a few lines in the Annals of
the Four Masters, a.d. 1256 It is the accoimt of the cele-
brated Battle of Magh Slecht (or Plain of Genuflexions). —
[See original in Appendix, No. LIH.]
"A great army was raised by Walter INIac Rickard Mac
William Burke, against Fedhlim, the son of Cathal Crohlidhearg
[or Cathal O'Connor of the red hand], and against Aedh [or
Hugh] the son of Feidlilim; and against the son of Tighernan
O'Ruairc. And it was a long time before this period since a
host so numerous as this was collected in Erinn, for their num-
ber was counted as twenty thousand to a man. And these great
hosts marched to Magh-Eo [jNIayo] of the Saxons, and from
that to Balla, and from that all over Luighne [Leyney], and
they ravaged Luighne in all directions around them. And they
came to Achadh Conaire [Achonry], and sent messengers thence
to the 0' Haghallaigli [O'Reillys), calHng upon them to come to
meet them at Cros-Doire-Chaoin, upon the south end oi Bvat-
Shliabh in Tir-Tiiathal. And the O'Reillys came to Clachan
Mucadlia on Sliabh-an-Iarainn, but they turned back without
ha^dng obtained a meeting from the English.
102
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals of
Loch Ce.
"It was on tlaat very day, Friday precisely, and the day of
tlie festival of the Cross, above all days, that Conchobhar the
son of Tighernan O'Riiairc, assembled the men of BreifnS and
Conmaicne, and all others whom he could, under the command
of Aedh O'Conor, as were also the best men of Connacht, and
of the Siol Muireadhaigh [the O'Conors]. And the best (or
noblest) that were of that host were Conor the son of Tigher-
nan O'Ruairc, King of the Ui Briuin and Conmaicne; Cathal
O Flaitlibheartaigh [O'Flaherty] , and Murchadh Finn OFergh-
ail; and Ruaidhri OFloinn of the wood ; and Flann Mac Oireach-
taigh; aiidBonn 6g Mac Oireachtaigh ; and a great body of the
Olvellys ; and Mac Dermot's three sons ; and Dermot OTlan-
nagan; 2ii\d Cathal the son of Duarcan OHeaghra (O'Hara) ;
and the two sons of Tighernan O'Conor, and Giolla-na-
Nao7nh CTaidhg [O'Teige.] And numerous indeed were the
warriors of Connacht there. And where the van of that host
overtook the O'Reillys was at Soiltean-na-nGasan; and they
pursued them to Alt Tighe Mhic Cuirin. Here the new recruits
of the O'Reillys turned upon the united hosts, and three times
drove them back. The main body of the hosts then came up,
but not till some of their people had been killed, and among
them Dermot O'Flannagan, and Mac 3faonaigh, and Coicle
CCoicU [Cokely O'Cokely], and many more.
"Both armies now marched to Alt~na-h-Filti, and to Doirin
Cranncha, between Ath-na-Beithighe and Bel an Bheallaigh,
and Coill Fassa, and Coill Airthir, upon Sliabh an larainn.
Here the O'Reillys turned firmly, ardently, furiously, wildly,
ungovernably, against the son of Feidhlim [O'Conor], and all
the men of Connacht who were with him, to avenge upon them
their wrongs and oppression. And each party then urged their
people against the other, that is the Ui Briuin and the Con-
nacht forces. Then arose the Connacht men on the one side of
the battle, bold, expert, precipitate, ever moving. And they
drew up in a bright-flaming, quick-handed phalanx, valiant,
firm, imited in their ranks, under the command of their brave,
strong-armed, youthful prince, Aedh [Hugh] the son of Feidh-
lim, son of Cathal the red-handed. And, certainly, the son of
the high king had in him the fury of an inflamed chief, the
valour of a champion, and the bravery of a hero upon that day.
" And a bloody, heroic, and triumphant battle then was
fought between them. Numbers were killed and wounded on
both sides. And Conor, the son of Tighernan (O'Ruairc),
King of Breifne, and Murchadh Finn OFerghaill [Murrogh
Finn O'Ferail], and Aedh [Hugh] O'Ferall, and Maolrua-
naidh [Maelroney] Mac Donnogh, with many more, were left
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 103
■wounded on the field. And some of tliese died of accumu- lect. v.
lated wounds in tlicir own houses ; amonsf whom were Morroo'h ^, ,
. ^ . ■ Of tilG
Finn O'Ferall ; and Flann Mac Oireachtaigh was killed in the annals op
deadly strife of the battle, with many others. And now what ^"^" ^'
those who had knowledge of this battle [who witnessed this
battle] say, is, that neither the warriors on either side, nor the
champions of the great battle themselves, could gaze at the face
of the chief king; for thca-e were two great royal, torch-like,
bi'oad eyes, flaming and rolling in his forehead ; and every one
feared to address him at that time, for he was beyond speaking
distance in advance of the hosts, going to attack the battalions
of the Ui Briuin. And he raised his battle-cry of a chief king
and his champion shout aloud in the middle of the great battle ;
and he halted not from his career until the force of the Ui
Briuin utterly gave Avay.
" There were killed on this spot Cathal O'Reilly, King of
the Muintir Maoilmoixlha, and of the clan of Aedh Finn, and
his two sons along with him, namely — Donnell Roe and Niall ;
and his brother CucJionnacht ; and Cathal Bubh O'Reilly's three
sons, Geoffiy, Fergal, and Donnell. And Annadh, the son of
Donnell O'Reilly, was killed by Conor, the son of Tighernan
(O'Ruairc), and the Blind O'Reilly, that is, Niall; and Tigher-
nan IMac Brady, and Gilla- Michael Mac Taichly, and Donogh
0' Bibsaigh, and Manus Mac Gilla-JDuibh, and over three score
of the best of then* _ people along with them. And there were
sixteen men of the O'Reilly family killed there also,
" This was the Battle o£ Magh Slecht, on the brink o£ Ath
Dearg [the Red Ford] at Alt na hElllti [the Hill of the Doe]
over Bealach na Beithighe [the Road of the Birch]".
The precision with which the scene of this domestic battle
(which took place in the modern county of Cavan) is laid down
in this article, is a matter of singular interest, indeed of singular
importance, to the Irish liistoriau. Magh Slecht [that is, the
Plain of Adoration, or Genuflexions], the situation and bearings
of which are so minutely set down here, was no other than that
same plain of Magli Slecht in which stood Crom Criiach (called
Ceann C^niach in the Tripartite Life), the great Idol of Milesian
pagan worship, the Delphos of our Gadelian ancestors, from the
time of their first coming into Erinn vmtil the destruction of the
idol by Saint Patrick, in the early part of his apostleship among
them. The precise situation of this historical locality has not
been hitherto authoritatively ascertained by any of our antiqua-
rian investigators ; but it is pretty clear, that, if any man fairly
acquainted with our ancient native documents, and practised in
the examination of the ruined monuments of antiquity, so thickly
7 *
104
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals op
Loch Ce.
scattered over the face of our country, — if, I say, such a man,
with this article in his hand, and an extract from the Life of St.
Patrick,^^^^ should go to any of the points here described in the
route of the belligerent forces, he will have but little difficulty
in reaching the actual scene of the battle, and will there stand,
with certainty, in the veritable Magh Slecht ; nay, even may,
perhaps, discover the identical Civm Cruach himself, with his
twelve biu'ied satellites, where they fell and were interred when
struck down by St. Patrick with his crozier, the Bachall losa, or
Sacred Staff of Jesus !
Of the
Annals of
connacht.
Much could be said on the value of these and of others of our
local and independent chronicles, concerning the vast amount
they contain of cumulative additions to what is recorded in
other books, and of minor details, such as could never be found
in any general compilation of national annals. Space will not,
however, in lectures such as these, permit us to dwell longer on
the subject at present, and we shall, therefore, pass on at once
from the Annals of Loch Ce to the consideration of those com-
monly called by the name of the Annals of Connacht.
The only copies of the chronicle which bears tliis title now
known to exist in Ireland are, a large folio paper copy, in two
volumes, in the library of T.C.D. [class H. 1. 1. and H. 1. 2.] ;
and a large quarto paper copy, in the library of the Royal Irish
Academy, No. 25.4; 25.5 ; both in the same handAvriting. The
writing is tolerably good, but the orthography is often inaccurate,
owing to the ignorance of the copyist, whose name appears at
the end of the second volimie in T.C.D., in the following entry :
" Written out of an ancient vellum book, and finished the
29th day of the month of October, in the year of the age of the
Lord 1764, by Maurice O'Gorman". — [See original in Appen-
dix, No. LV.]
This IVIaurice O'Gorman, a well-known though a very incom-
petent scribe, flourished in Dublin before and for some time after
this year of 1764. The Trinity College copy was made by
him for Dr. O'SuUivan, F.T.C.D., and Professor of Law in the
University ; the two volumes in the Royal Irish Academy, for
the Chevalier Thomas O'Gorman, of the county of Clare, in
the year 1783, in the house of the Venerable Charles O'Conor,
of Belanagare, in the county of Roscommon, as appears from a
notice in English prefixed to the first volume. The scribe's
name does not appear in this copy.
These annals in their present condition begin with the yeajr of
(39) The passage in the Life of St. Patrick M-ill be found, with translation, in
the Appendix, No. LIV.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 105
our Lord 1224, and end witli the year 1562; but tlie years lect. v.
1394, 1395, 1396, 1397, are missing; and this is the more to be ^^.^j^^
regretted as the same years are also missing from the Annals of annals of
Loch Ce. At what time, or by what authority this chronicle
received the name of the Annals of Connacht, it is now, perhaps,
impossible to ascertain. •
Usher quotes both from the Annals of Connacht, and from
those of Boyle (Primordia, pp. 895, 966) ; but it is to be feared
that Usher was his own authority, as Ave shall see presently.
Sir James Ware gives the name of Annals of Connacht to the
chronicle now known as the Annals of Boyle, in these words :
"An anonymous monk of the Coenobiiun Buelliensis, added an
index to the Annals of the affairs of Connacht up to the year
1253, at which time he lived. The MS. book exists in the Cot-
tonian Library, the gift of Oliver late Viscount Grandison, of
Limerick". [Ware's Irish Writers, 4to, 1639, p. 60]. And in
Ware's Catalogue of his own manuscripts (Dublin, 4to, 1648),
p. 14, No. 44, he says, " A copy of the Annals of Connacht, or
of the Coenobium Buelliensis, to the year 1253. The autograph
exists in the Cottonian Library of Westminster".
The book of which Ware makes mention in both these extracts,
under the names of an index to the Annals of Connacht, and as
the Annals of Connacht themselves, and the autograph of which,
he says, was then in the Cottonian Library of Westminster, is
certainly that now known as the Annals of Boyle. The auto-
graph which w^as then in Westminster is now in the British
Museum (under the library mark of Titus A. 25), and has been
published by the Rev. Charles O'Conor, in his Rerum Hiber-
nicarum Scriptores.
When alluding to these Annals of Boyle in a former Lecture,
I was reluctantly obliged to take the Rev. Charles O'Conor's
very unsatisfactory account of them from the Stowe Catalogue ;
but since that time, and during the summer of the last year
(1855), I had an opportunity of examining the original book
itself in the British Museum. As there is very much to correct
in Dr. O'Conor's account, I am tempted shortly to state here
the result of my own examination of the MS., but I shall do so
only in the briefest manner.
The book (the pages of which measure about eight inches in of the
length, by five and a-half in breadth) contains, as I find, about botl^''." ""
130 leaves, or 260 pages; and of these the Annals form the 34
first leaves, or 68 pages, of good, strong, but somewhat disco-
loured vellmn ; the remainder of the book is written in the En-
glish language on paper, and has no concern with Ireland. It
is written in a bold, but not elegant hand, chiefly in the old
106 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. V. black letter of (as I sliould tlimk) about tbe year 1300. The
capital letters at tlie commencements of years and articles, and
ansaIs op sometimes proper names, are generally of the Gaedhlic alphabet,
Boi-LE. ^^^ gQ gracefully formed that it appears to me unaccountable
how the same hand could have traced such chaste and graceful
» Gaedhlic and such rude and heavy black letters, in one and the
same word.
The annals commence fourteen years before the birth of
Lamech, the Father of Noah ; but those years are only marked
by the letters " KL", which stand for the kalends or first day of
January of the year. They then give the years from Adam to
Lamech as 974. These blank kalends contain the dates (almost
uninterruptedly) down to Noah ; then Abraham ; Isaac ; the In-
carnation of our Lord ; and so to the coming of St. Patrick on
his mission into Ireland, in the fourth year of the monarch
Laeghaii^e, a.d. 432. Even from this time down to their pre-
sent termination at the year 1257, the record of events is very
meagre, seldom exceeding a line or two, generally of Latin and
Irish mixed, until they reach the year 1100; indeed even from
that year down to the end of the annals, the entries are still very
poor, and without any attempt at description.
The years throughout, to near the end, are distinguished by
the initial kalends only, excepting at long intervals where the
year of our Lord and the corresponding year of the world are
inserted. In one instance the computation is from the Passion
of our Lord, thus: "From the beginning of the world to the
death of St. Martin, according to Dionisius, 5(511 years; from
the Passion of the true Lord, 415". The year of the world is
always given according to Dionisius, but in one instance the
Hebrew computation is followed, and this is where the chrono-
logy begins to agree with the common era ; as thus, at the year
939 : " Here begin the wars of Brian, the son of Kennedy, son
of Lorcan, the noble and great monarch of all Erinn, and they
extend as far as the year 1014 from the Incarnation of Jesus
Christ. From the beginning of the world, according to Dioni-
sius, 6000 years, but according to the Hebrew, 5218 years".
There is so much irregularity and confusion in the chronolo-
gical progress and arrangement of these annals (a confusion
which the Rev. Doctor O'Conor appears to me to have made
more confused), that it would have been hopeless to attempt to
reduce and correct them, without an expenditure of time, and a
facility of collation with other annals, which a visit to London
for other and weightier purposes would not admit of Nor
should I have deemed it necessary to revert to them a second
time in the course of these Lectures, but that I feel bound to cor-
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS- 107
rect, as far as I can, any small errors into which such distin- lect. v.
giiished scholars as Ussher, Ware, Nicholson, and O'Conor, may ^^ ^^^^
have fallen for want of a closer examination of these annals. axsals of
In the first place we have seen that Ussher, Sir James Ware,
his editor Walter Harris, Bishop Nicholson, and Doctor O'Co-
nor, call them the Annals of Boyle ; and it may, I think, be
beheved that Ussher was the father of the name, and that his
successors followed him implicitly.
As far as the annals themselves can show, there is nothing
whatever in them to indicate that they are annals of Boyle, ex-
cept the words 'Annales Monasterii in Buellio in Hibernia",
which are written on the original vellum fly-leaf at the begin-
ning of the book, in a line bold English hand, apparently of
the early part of the last century.
In a note by Doctor O'Conor on the death of Saint Maeclhog
of Ferns, at the year 600 of his published copy of these annals,
he says, it is evident that Ussher must have had another copy
of them in his possession, because he places the death of Saint
Masdhog at the year 632 on their authority. Now it is singular
enough that here the doctor is wrong and Ussher right, for the
year of our Lord 605 aj^pears distinctly in the original text
in correspondence with the year of the world 5805. The doc-
tor gives this annal 605, which is in Latin, coiTectly, but, in
accordance with his adopted system, places it under the year
573. The record runs thus: "In hoc anno Beatus Gregorius
quievit. Scilicet in DCVto anno Dominice Incarnationis, ut
Beda dicit in Historia sua. Beatus vero Gregorius XVI. annis, et
mensibus VI. et diebus X. rexit Ecclesiam, Anni ab initio mundi
VDCCCV". [i.e. " In this year the blessed Gregory rested.
That is to say, in the 605th year of the Incarnation of our Lord,
as Bede says in his History. Tndy the blessed Gregory ruled the
Church 16 years, 6 months, and 10 days — Five thousand eight
hundi'cd and five years from the beginning of the world".]
As I had occasion to fix the date of a particidar occurrence in
Irish history according to these annals, and as no other date ap-
pears in them from 605 down to the record of that event, I
wrote out the nvimber of blank kalends, with a few of their lead-
ing records down to the occurrence in which I was interested.
Among the items that I took dowm was the death of Saint Maed-
hog of Ferns, and by counting the number of kalends between
that event and the above date of 605, I find it to be 27 ; so that
both numbers when added make 632, the precise year at which
Ussher places it on the authority of these annals. This then, as
far as Dr. O'Conor's observation goes, is the book that Ussher
quotes from.
108
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals of
Boyle.
It is only at the year 1234 tliat the regular insertion of the
day of the week on which the kalends of January fell, and the
year of our Lord in full, begin to be inserted in the text, and these
Doctor O'Conor gives, down to 1238 ; after Avhich he passes with-
out observation to the year 1240, and concludes with 1245.
The learned doctor has fallen into a confusion of dates here,
as the event which he places at the year 1251, and the three
years that follow it in O'Conor, precede it in the original in re-
gular order.
The year 1251 is the last that can at present be read in these
annals, but there are six distinct but illegible years after that,
bringing down the records to the year 1257.
There is but one occurrence recorded under the year 1251,
and as it may be found, in connection with a few other facts, to
throw some probable light on the original locality and history
of the work, it may be well to give it in full. The record is
in Latin, and rmis as follows :
" Kl. enair for Domnach, m.cc.l°.i°.
"Clarus, Arcloidiaconus Elphinensis vir prudens et discretus
qui carnem suam jejimiis et orationibus macerabat, qui pauperes
orfanos defendebat, qui patientia^ coronara observabat, qui perse-
cutionem a multis propter justitiam patiebatur^ venerabilis fun-
dator locorum Fraternitatis sanctce Trinitatis per totam Hiber-
niam, et speciahter fundator monasterii sanctas Trinitatis apud
Loch Che ubi locum sibi sepulturi elegit. Ibidem in Christo
quievit Sabbato Dominice Pent, anno Domini M.CC.L°.I°.
Cujus animal propitietur Deus omnipotens in coelo cui ipse ser-
vivit in seculo. In cujus honorem Ecclesiam de Renduin et
Monasterium Sanctas Trinitatis apud Loch Uachtair, Ecclesiam
Sanctce Trinitatis apud Ath Mogi, Ecclesiam Sanctje Trinitatis
apud Kkllras editicavit, pro cujus anima quilibet Hbrum le-
gens, dicat Pater Noster".
[The Calends of January on Sunday, m.cc.l°.i°.
Clarus, Archdeacon of Elphin, a man prudent and discreet,
who kept his flesh attenuated by lirajov and fasting, who de-
fended the poor orphans, who waited for the crown of patience,
who suffered persecution from many for the sake of justice ; the
venerable founder of the places of the Confraternity of the Holy
Trinity throughout all Ireland, especially the founder of the
Monastery of the Holy Trinity of Loch Ce, where he selected
his place of sepulture ; there he rested in Christ, on the Saturday
before Pentecost Sunday, in the year of our Lord 1251. May
the Almighty God in Heaven be propitious to his soul, whom
he served in the world, in whose honour he built the Church of
Renduin and the Monastery of the Hol}^ Trinity at Loch Uacli-
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 109
tair (Upper Lake), also of tlie Holv Trinity at Cellrais, for lect. v.
whose soul let whoever reads tliis book say a Pater Noster.] ^^ ^^^
It is quite apparent from this honourable and feehng tribute annals op
paid to Clarus Mac Mailin, as he is called in the Annals of
the Four Masters, a.d. 1235, — but who was a member of the
learned family of O'Mulconry, — that the annalist, whoever he
may have been, had a high A^eneration, if not a personal friend-
ship, for him; and it is equally clear, or at least it is much
more than probable, that an annalist of the Abbey of Boyle,
with wliich he had no known coimexion whatever, would not
speak so warmly and affectionately of one who perhaps was
the light of a rival establishment.
It is certain that he was a dignitary of the ancient church of
Elfinn, which was founded by Saint Patrick, and the oldest foun-
dation in that district, situate on the southern borders of Mac
Dermot's country, though not in it ; that, among several others,
he founded the Monastery of the Holy Trinity on an Island in
Loch Ce; and that he was bru-ied in that monastery. It is evi-
dent that the annals in which these events and personal memo-
rials are so affectionately and religiously recorded, must have
belonged to the immediate locality. It is also clear that they
are not the annals of the Island of Saints in Loch Rihh [Ree],
because the annals of that island, as recorded by the Four
Masters, came down but to the year 1227, and because that
island did not belong to Mac Dermot's country. It is equally
clear, if we are to credit the venerable Charles O'Conor, of
Belanagar, that they cannot be the Annals of Connacht, com-
piled in the Cistercian Abbey of Boyle, since that chronicle
commenced with the year 1224, and ended with the year 1546.
We have no account of any annals of the Island of Saints in
Loch Gamhna, and even if we had, we could not, mthout posi-
tive evidence, believe that these could be they. Loch Gamhna be-
ing in the County of Longford, a different district and province.
Taking, then, all these circumstances into account, I cannot
avoid coming to the conclusion that this ancient and curious chro-.
nicle must have belonged to some church situated within Mac
Dermot's coimtry, and that probably it belonged to the Island of
Saints in Loch Ce, though we have no record of the time at
which the church of that island became ruined and abandoned.
I must confess that this idea would never probably have oc-
curred to me, if it had not been suggested by what I found in the
book itself; for at the lower margin of folio 14 b, I found this re-
cord, in a good hand, of the period to which it refers — 1594.
" Tomaltach, son of Owen, son of Hugh, son of Dermod, son of
Rory Caech (the blind), died in the last month of this year,
Boyle.
110 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. V. in Ills own liouse in Cluain FraoicK\ [See original in Ap-
r~ PENDix, No. LVI.]
Annals of Tliis is a remarkable entry to be found in this book. Cluain
Fraoich, near Strokestown, in tlie County of Roscommon, was
the name of the ancient palace of the O'Conor family, Kings of
Connacht down to the sixteenth century; but the name of the man
and the pedigree which are given in this obituary are not found
among the O'Conor pedigrees, as far as I have been able to dis-
cover, thousfh I have examined all the accessible old srenealo-
gical tables of authority of that family ; and as there is no such
Ime of pedigree as the present to be found among them, it na-
turally follows that this Tomaltach, the son of Owen, must have
been a member of some other important family situated in the
same country, and in a residence of the same name. And such
was the fact; for we find in Cucogry O'Clery's Book of Pe-
digrees (R. I. Academy) the following curious line of a branch
of the great Mac Dermot family, which must have struck off
from the parent chieftain tree in the person of Dermod, the
son of Rory Caech (or the blind) Mac Dermot, which Rory the
bhnd must have flourished about the middle of the fifteentli cen-
tury, as we find in the annals that his son Rory og, or junior,
Lord of Moylurg, died in the year 1486.
O'Clery says: "The Sliocht Diarmada are descended from
Dermot, the son of Rory Caech (the blind), son of Hugh,
etc., viz. — Tomaltach, the son of Owen, son of Hugh, son of
Dermot, son of Rory (the blind), son of Hugh, son of Conor",
etc. Now we find that the Tomaltach [or Thomas], the first,
or rather the last, link in this line of pedigree preserved by
O'Clery, is precisely the same Tomaltach whose death is so
circumstantially recorded, in a post insertion, in what have been
called the Annals of Boyle, at least since Ussher's time, that
is for nearly 250 years.
This record shows pretty clearly that at the time of making it.
the book was in the possession of the Mac Dermot family ; and
that it was so, there are still stronger proofs in the book itself to
show ; for in several parts of it — towards the end, biit particularly
at folios 10, 20, SO, 31, 33, — we find emendations and additions
in the handwriting of Brian Mac Dermot, who made the addi-
tions to the Annals of Loch Ce, which have already been no-
ticed in speaking of that important chronicle These insertions
are sufficient to show that the original book, now in the British
Musemn, and known as the Annals of Boyle, was at the close of
the sixteenth century in the possession of the chief, Brian Mao
Dermot, lord of the territory in which Boyle is situated ; and
this would and should be received as evidence enough for their
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. Ill
lieing tlie Annals of Boyle, if really any siicli annals had ever lect. v
existed. There is, however, in the lower margin of folio 30, „
oo IT • I'l Of the
page a, or oo, page b, — 1 am not certain at present wnich, — a annals of
memorandum, in a few words, which is incontestably fatal to the ^°^^^-
name of Annals of Boyle. The words, which are written in a
bad but old hand, run thus: "The historical book of the
Island of the Saints". — [See original in Appendix, No. LVII.]
And to connect them still further with some Island of the
Saints, we find the following words in a good hand of the lat-
ter part of the sixteenth century, in the lower margin of folio
13, b, of the book: " Four score years from the death of Saint
Patrick to the death of Dermot Mac Cerhhaill [monarch of
Erinn], according to the Martyrology of the Island of the
Saints". — [See original in Appendix, No. LVIIL]
It must be confessed that, although these words prove clearly
enough that this book of annals did not belong to the Abbey of
Boyle, still they do not show with equal clearness to what place
they really did belong, any more than that they must, according
to these evidences, have belonged to some place in or about Loch
Ce, in Mac Dermot's country.
That they belonged to some island is plain enough, and that
they are not the Annals of the Island of the Saints in Loch
Ree in the Shannon, is evident, as the Four Masters say of that
book of annals, that it came down but to the year 1227, whereas
these came down to 1257; and if we may rely on the word
of the venerable Charles O'Conor of Belanagar, they cannot
be the Annals of Connacht ; for in a list of Irish manuscripts
in his possession about the year 1774, and which list is in his
own hand^vi-iting, I find — " The Annals of Connacht, compiled
in the Cistercian Abbey of Boyle, beginning at the year 1224
and ending 1546". [M.S. in the Royal Irish Academy, No.
23.6; p. 126.]
By the aid of my learned and esteemed friend, Denis H.
Kelly, Esq., of Castle Kelly, in the county of Roscommon, I
find that there really is an Oilean na Naemh, or Saints' Island,
in Loch Ce, close to Mac Dermot's rock or castle, and about two
miles from Boyle ; and that the local tradition is, that the ruined
church which still remains on it, was founded by Saint Colum
Cille, about the same time, probably, that he founded the church
of Eas Mac nEirc, at the mouth of the river Boyle, in the same
neighbourhood, and the church on Oilean na Naemh, or Saints'
Island in Loch Gamhna, in the Comity of Longford. Tradition
also has it that the church was occupied by "Culdees", or Ceilide
De, down to the twelfth centmy.
That Saint Colum Cille founded a church on some island in
112
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals of
BOTLE.
Loch CS, some time about tlie year 550, will also clearly be
seen from tlie following extract from O'Donnell's remarkable
collection of ancient tracts, relating to the life and acts of that
eminent saint.
"On one occasion that Colum Cille was staying upon an is-
land in Loch Ce in Connacht, and a poet and man of science
came to visit him, and conversed with him for a while, and then
went away from him. And the monks wondered that Colum
Cille did not ask for a specimen of his composition from the
poet, as he was wont to ask from every man of science who
visited him. And they asked him why he had acted so. Co-
lum Cille answered them, and said, that it would not be proper
for him to ask for pleasant things from a man to whom sorrow
was near at hand ; and that it should not be long before they
should see a man coming unto him (Colum Cille) to tell him
that that man had been killed. Scarcely had this conversation
ended when they heard a shout at the port of that island (that
is, the landing place on the main land opposite to it), and
Colum Cille said that it was with an account of the killing of
the poet the man came who raised that shout. And all was
verified that Colmn Cille had said ; and the names of God and
of Colum Cille were magnified on that account". — [See original
in Appendix, No. LIX.]
From this notice, as well as from several other references that
could be adduced, it is certain that Saint Columba founded a
monastery on the island in Loch Ce, which is now called the
Island of the Saints.
The Annals of the Four Masters, in the Testimonium, and
again at the year 1005, mention and quote the Annals of the
Island of Saints in Loch Rlbh [Ree]. (Loch Ree is an expan-
sion of the river Shannon between Athlone and Lanesborough.)
And the second continuation after the year 1405 of the chronicle
now called the Annals of Tighernach, states in that work, that
Augustin Mac Grady (the continuator probably, from 1088
to 1405), was a canon of the Island of the Saints, but he does
not say where this island was situated. There can be no doubt,
however, that this Island of the Saints was the one situated in
Loch Hibh [Ree], to the north of Liis Clothrann, and belong-
ing to the County of Longford, — an island which still contains
venerable though riuned monuments of ancient Catholic piety
and taste.
It is stated by Colgan, Ware, and Doctor Lanigan, that Liis
Ainc/hin, an island situated in the Upper Shannon, above Ath-
lone, and belonging to Westmeath, was this Island of the
Saints. This, however, is not correct, as that island continued
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 113
to bear its original name down to a recent period, — as it does lect. y.
still with the Irish-speaking neighbours, though it is called ^^^^
Hare Island by English speakers. annals op
Archdall, in his Monasticon, says that the Island of the Saints
in Loch Gamhna in Longford, on which Saint Colum Cille
founded his church, was anciently called Inis AingJiin; but I
have shown in a former lectiu-e, from indispiitable authority,
that the church of Liis Ainghin, the ruins of which remain still,
was founded by the great Saint Ciaran, before the founding of
his celebrated ecclesiastical city of Clonmacnois.
To return to the Annals of Connacht. These annals, or of the
rather the existing fragment of them, extend from the year Q^^m
1224 to the year 1562.
It is unfortunate that neither the transcriber, nor the person
for whom they were transcribed, has left vis any notice of the
extent or history of the old vellum MS. from which they were
copied. There is reason, however, to beheve that they are a
fragment of the book of Annals of the O'Duio-enamis, of Kil-
ronan, in the coimty of Roscommon, mentioned, as we have
already said, by the Four Masters as having been used by them
in their great compilation, and which extended from the year
900 to tiie year 1563.
The original of this fragment, however, was in the late Stowe
collection, and passed, by pvirchase, into the hands of Lord
Ashbm-nham, an Enghsh nobleman, in whose custody they are
as safe from the rude gaze of historical in"\'estigators as they were
when in the hands of His Grace of Buckingham, who got pos-
session of them by accident, and sold them as part of the ducal
furniture, to the prejudice of the late Mathew O'Conor, Esq.,
of Dubhn, the true hereditary owner.
The following observations on this ancient vellum fragment
will be found in the Rev. Dr. O'Conor's catalogue of the Stowe
manuscripts, vol. I., no. 9, p. 73.
"Annals of Comiacht, folio, parchment. — The written pages
are 174, beginnmg with the year 1223, and ending with 1562.
Ireland produces no chronicle of the aiFairs of Connacht to be
compared with this. The narrative is in many instances cir-
cumstantial ; the occurrences of the different years in every part
of the province are noticed ; as are the foimdations of castles and
churches, and the chronology is every where minutely detailed.
"There is no history of the pro\dnce of Connacht; neither is
there of any town or district of that most populous part of
Ireland, except this mipublished chronicle.
8
Of the
114 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
"This clironicle is, therefore, invaluable. 'Many are the in-
ducements which it holds out to dwell upon some of its events ;
Annals of many the notices which would inform and instruct the people
CoNNACHT. ^^ -whose country they refer. But in the vast variety of matter
hitherto unjniblished, the difficulty of making a selection, and the
danger of exceeding the limits of a catalogue, forbid the attempt.
"Those who have been misled by elaborate discussions on the
antiquity of Irish castles and churches, will find the errors of
ponderous volmnes corrected in this MS. with a brevity which
leaves no room for doubt, and an accuracy which leaves none
for conjecture. The pride and dogmatism of learning must bow
before the 'barbarous' narrative which gives the following infor-
mation".
[Here follow the dates of the creation and destruction of cas-
tles and monasteries from the year 1232 to 1507, with some
particulars respecting them, after which the article concludes in
the following words :]
"It is to be lamented that the first part of the Annals of Con-
nacht are missing in this collection ; they are quoted by Ussher
in his Primordia, and confounded with the Annals of Boyle by
Nicholson". [Nicholson, p. 34.]
The same learned writer gives also the following extract,
original and translation, in illustration of his observations on
these annals, at page 76 of the above-mentioned volume :
"a.d. 1464, Tadhg 0' Conor died, and was buried in Ros-
common, the nobility of Connacht all witnessing that inter-
ment ; so that not one of the Connacht kings, down from the
reign of Cathal of the red hand, was more honourably interred ;
and no wonder, since he was the best of the kings of Connacht,
considering the gentleness of his reign. There was no king of
Connacht after him — they afterwards obtained the title of
O'Conor, and because they were not themselves steady to each
other, they were crushed by lawless power and the usurpations
of foreigners. May God forgive them their sins. Domine ne
status nobis hoc peccatum. This extract is taken from the
book of Kilronan, which has the approbation of the Four Mas-
ters annexed to it, by me Cathal O'Conor (of Belanagare), 2
August, 1728".
It is very plain from the style of this article, in the GaedhHc
of Mr. O'Conor of Belanagare, that it was an abstract of the ori-
ginal record of this event, made by himself, and this will a23pear
more decidedly from the following translation of the entire
article, made by me from the copy of the book which he had
then before him, which he calls the Annals of Kilronan, and
which we have now, under the name of the Annals of Connacht :
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 115
" A.D. 1464. Tadhg O'Conor, half-king of Connaght, mor- lect. v.
tuus est on tlie Saturday after first Lady Day in autumn, et
sepultus in Roscommon, so honourably and nobly by the Sil annals op
Muiredhaigh, such as no king before him, of the race of Cathal ^''^^^°^'^-
of the Red Hand, for a long time before had been. Where
their cavalry and gallowglasses were in full armour around the
corpse of the high king in the same state as if they were going
to battle ; where their green levies were in battle array, and the
men of learning and poetry, and the women of the Sil Miiired-
haigh were in countless flocks following him. And countless
were the alms of the church on that day for the [good of the]
corpse [soul] of the high king, of cows, and horses, and money.
And he had seen in a vision Michael [the Archangel] leading
him to judgment". [See original in Appendix, No. LX.]
The Annals of Loch Ce, which have been erroneously called
the Annals of Kilronan, dispose of this article in three lines, re-
cording merely the death, at this year, of " Tadhg the son of
Torlogh Roe O'Conor, half-king of Connaght, a man the most
intelligent and talented in Connaght, in his own time". [See
original in Appendix, No. LXI.]
It was from this man's mavisoleum that the stones with sculp-
tured gallowglasses were procured for the Antiquarian Depart-
ment of the late Great Irish Exhibition (1853). They have
been again very properly restored to their original place ; but
surely some individual or society ought to procure casts of them
for our pubHc museums.
And here, before Ave pass from this remarkable extract, can
we fail to be struck by the feeUng terms in which the venerable
Charles O'Conor sighs for the fallen fortimes of his house and
family, and sighs the more, as their unfaitlifulness to each other
was the cause of their decay and of their subjection, and that
of their country, to a comparatively contemptible foreign foe ?
This is a singular admission on the part of the best Irish his-
torian of his time, — but it is a fact capable of positive historical
demonstration, even from these very amials, — that the downfall
of the Irish monarchy and of Irish independence was owing
more to the barbarous selfishness of the house of O'Conor of
Connaght, and their treachery towards each other, with all the
disastrous consequences of that treachery to the country at large,
than to any other cause either within or without the kingdom
of Ireland.
It must appear very clear, from the extract we have quoted
from Mr. O'Conor, that the Annals of Kilronan, from which he
made it, — the very book mentioned by the Four Masters, — was
in existence in some condition, and in his possession, so late
8b
116 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. V. as the year 1728. And as Mr. O'Conor's books were not scat-
Of the tered during his own long life, nor until the cloief part of them
Annals of Were Carried to Stowe by his grandson, the late Rev. Charles
ON ACHT. Q'Qonor, it can scarcely admit of doubt that the vellum book,
which the latter writer describes as part of this collection in the
Stowe catalogue, must be the book of I^alronan from which the
former made the extract.
Those Annals, according to the Testimonium to the Annals
of the Four Masters, extended from the year 900 to the year
1563. How the first three hundred years of these annals could
have disappeared, we have now no means of ascertaining ; but
it is clear that tliey were missmg at the time that O'Gorman
made his transcript, else he would have copied them with the
remainder of the book.
The following notices, in English, appear in the copy of these
annals in the Royal Irish Academy, in the handwritmg, I think,
of Theophilus O'Flannagan.
On the fly-leaf of the first volume (there are two volumes),
we find this entry : — " The Annals of Connacht, transcribed
from the original in the possession of Charles O'Conor of Be-
lanagar, Esq., of the house of O'Conor Dmi, at the expense of
the Chevalier Thomas O'Gorman, Anno Domini 1783".
Of the year 1378 there remains but the date and one fine,
with the following notice, in the same English hand : " N.B. The
remainder of this Annal, together with the years 1379, 1380,
1381, 1382, 1383, 1384, are wanting to the Annals of Con-
nacht, all to the following fragment of the year 1384, but they
may be filled from the Four Masters, who have transcribed the
above Annals".
Again, at what appears to be the end of the year 1393, the
following notice is fomid in the same English hand: "N.B. The
years 1394, 1395, 1396, 1397, are wanting in the original, but
may be filled from the Four Masters".
And, again, at the end of the year 1544, we find this notice
in the same English hand : " N.B. Here end the Annals of Con-
nacht, the following annal (1562) has been inserted by a dif-
ferent hand".
The first of these notices is sufficient to show that this was the
same book from which Charles O'Conor made the extract at the
year 1464, and he says that that was the Book of Kih-onan, with
the approbation of the Four Masters appended to it ; and it ap-
pears from the third or last notice, that not only had the first
three hundred years disappeared from the book, but also the
years from 1544 to 1563, the last year in it, according to the
Four Masters.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 117
It may, however, be doubted wbetlier the Four Masters did lect. v.
not count the years in this book, from the first to the last, with- ^^ ^^^^
out pausing to notice any defect, or number of defects, in it, and asnals of
that the last year of it in their time was the year 1563. We
beheve that the Annals of Senait Mac Manus, now known as the
Amials of Ulster, had, when in their hands, two deficiencies,
one of them greater than the defect here between 1544 and 1562,
and that they take no notice whatever of it.
At what time local annals came to receive provincial names —
such as the Annals of Ulster, the Annals of Connacht, etc. —
I cannot discover. Such names, as far as I recollect, are only
found in the works of Ussher, Ware, and their followers ; the
Fom- INlasters do not cUstinguish by provincial names any of
the old chronicles from which they compiled, and indeed it
would be absurd if they had done so, as it might happen
that any or each of the provinces might have several books of
annals, none of which woidd be exclusively devoted to the re-
cords of provincial transactions. Finding tliis book, therefore,
kno-wn as the Annals of Connacht, is no evidence whatever of
its not being the Book of Kilronan, or any other of the old
chronicles mentioned by the Four Masters, with which it may
be found to agree in extent.
The following passage from the Rev. Dr. O'Conor's Stowe
catalogue will show, among a thousand others, how cautious we
ought to be in receiving, as facts, opinions and observations on
subjects of this difficult kind, written hurriedly, or without ex-
amination. In describing volume No. 3 of the Stowe collection
of Irish manuscripts, page 50 of the catalogue, the writer says :
"Folio 50. An Irish chronicle of the kings of Comiaught,
from the arrival of Saint Patrick, with marginal notes by Mr.
O'Conor of Belanagar, written in 1727. This chronicle begins
from the arrival of Saint Patrick, and ends with 1464. It was
transcribed from the ancient manuscript of the Church of Kil-
ronan, called ' The Book of Kilronan', to which the Four Mas-
ters affixed their approbation in their respective hands, as stated
in this copy, folio 28".
Now it is plain that the reverend doctor has added to the words
of his grandfather here, or that the latter, which is very impro-
bable, wrote what was not the fact, — namely, that he drew this
clironicle of Connacht kings, from the coming of Saint Patrick
to the year 1464, from the Book of Kilronan, since we have it
on the authority of the Four Masters, that this book, not of the
church of Kibonan, but of the O'Duigenanns of Kilronan, went
no further back than the year 900, or nearly 500 years after
the coming of Saint Patrick.
118
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals of
connacht.
To sum up, then, it would seem that this old manuscript in the
Stowe collection, must be a fragment of one of two books which
the Four Masters had in their possession, namely, the Book of
the O'Mulconrys, which came from the earliest times down to
the year 1505, and which was, probably, added to afterwards,
like the Annals of Ulster, down to its present conclusion; or
the Book of the O'Duigenanns, of Kilronan ; and if the elder
O'Conor was correctly informed, and that he is correctly re-
ported by his grandson, it was without any doubt the latter.
We must observe, however, that the elder O^onor, in his list of
his own MSS., where he calls this book the Annals of Connacht,
speaks of it as compiled in the Cistercian Abbey of Boyle.
It is remarkable too, that we find in this book, at the end of
the year 1410, the following entry: "Marianus filius Tathei
O'Beirne submersis est on the 14th of the kalends October.
Patin qui scripsit". Now there is little doubt that this "Patin"
was Padm [Padeen] O'Mulconry, the poet, who died in the
year 1506.
Again, we find the name of Nicholas O'Mulconry at the end
of the year 1544, in such a position as to induce the belief that
he was the writer of the preceding annal ; or at least, as in the
preceding case, of the concluding part of it. So that if the
elder O'Conor be correct in his own written words, this book
really consists of the Annals of Boyle, or else a fragment of the
Book of the O'Mulconrys : but that book came down but to the
year 1505. Had we the original manuscript to examine, it
could be easily seen whether these were strange insertions or not ;
and I only desire to piit these facts on record here from O'Gor-
man's transcript, hoping that they may be foimd hereafter useful
to some more favoiu'ed and accomplished investigator.
To some of my hearers, the minute examination I have thought
it necessary to make before them, of the identity and authority
of the several important manuscripts which have engaged our
attention, may, perhaps, have seemed tedious. Yet it is not
merely for the sake of thus recording in a permanent shape the
information which I have collected on these subjects, that I have
taken this course. It is chiefly because the earnest student in
this now almost untrodden path of historical inquiry (and I hope
there are many among my hearers who desire to become earnest
students of their couritry's history), will find in the examples I
am endeavouring to trace for him, of the mode in which alone
our subject must be mvestigated, the best introduction to a seri-
ous study of it. And it is only by such careful canvass of au-
thorities, by such jealous search into the materials which have
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 119
been handed down to ns, that we can ever hope to separate the lect. v.
true from the false, and to lay a truly sound and reliable founda- ^j^ ^^i^
tion for the superstructure of a complete History of Erinn. as materiuis
For the present, you \vill remember, I am occupied in giving ° "^ "^^'
you an account of the chief collections of annals or chronicles
in which the skeleton of the events of Gaedlihc History is pre-
served with greater or less completeness ; and that you. may vm-
derstand the value and extent of the rehable records of this kind
that remain to us, it is the more necessary that I should go into
some details, because there is no published account of, or guide
to, this immense mass of historical materials. But I shall not
neglect to point out to you also, how these dry records may be
nsed in the construction of a true history, as vivid in its pictures
of Hfe, as accurate and trustworthy in its records of action. And
before this short course terminates, I hope to satisfy you that
collateral materials exist also in rich abundance, for the illustra-
tion and completion of that history in a way fully as interest-
ing to the general Irish reader as to the mere philologist or
antiquarian.
LECTURE yi.
[Delivered June 23. 1856.]
Existing
The Annals (continued). 7. The Chronicum Scotorum of Duald Mac Firbis.
Of Mac Firbis, his life and death, and liis works. 8. The Annals of Lecain.
Of the Story of Queen Gormlaith. 9. The Annals of Clomnacnois.
If we followed exactly a chronological order, the next great
record which should claim our attention would be the Annals
of the Fovu' Masters ; but the importance and extent of that im-
mense work demand, at least, the space of an entire lectiu'e ; and
I shall, accordingly, devote the greater part of the present to
the consideration of an almost contemporary compilation, — the
last but one of those I have already named to you, — the Chroni-
cum Scotorum of the celebrated Duald Mac Firbis (Dublial-
tach Mac FirbhisigJi).
Of this chronicle there are three copies known to me to be in
Mss. oAiie existence. One, the autograph, in the library of Trinity College,
scoTOKUM. Dublin ; and two in the library of the Royal Irish Academy.
Of the latter, one is in the handwriting of Jolm Conroy, whose
name has been mentioned in a former lecture, in connection with
this tract and the Annals of Tighemach ; the second is a copy
lately made in Cork, by Paul O'Longan, from what source I am
not able to say with certainty, but I believe it to have been from
a copy made by his grandfather, IMichael O'Longan, in Dublin,
about the year 1780; and if I am correct in this opinion, there
are four copies in Ireland, besides any that the present O'Lon-
gans may have made and sold in England.
This chronicle has been aheady mentioned in our account of
the Annals of Tighernach, and as nothing of its history is known
to me but what can be gathered from the book itself, and the
hand in wliich the autograph (or Trinity College copy) is ^vritten,
I proceed without fmther delay to the consideration of that
manuscript.
The Trinity College MS. is written on paper of foolscap size,
like that upon wliich the Annals of Tighernach in the same vo-
lume are written, but apparently not so old. It is in the bold
and most accurate hand of Dubhaltach (sometimes called Duvald,
Duald, or Dudley) Mac Firbis, the last of a long line of histo-
rians and chroniclers of Lecain Mic Fhirhhisigh, in the barony
of Tir-Fhiacliradh, or Tireragh, in the county of Sligo.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 121
Duald ]Mac Firbis appears to have been intended for the he- lect. vi.
reditary profession of an antiquarian and historian, or for that ^^ ^
„ . " j-f- J , K ^ n T • / .Of Duald
oi the reneclias or ancient native laws or his coimtiy (now im- Mac Fiibis.
properly called the Brehon Laws). To qualify him for either
of these ancient and honoiu'able professions, and to improve and
perfect his education, yoimg Mac Firbis appears at an early age
to have passed into Mimster, and to have taken up his residence
in the School of law and history, then kept by the Mac jEgans,
of Lecain, in Ormond, in the present comity of Tipperary. He
studied also for some time, either before or after this, but I be-
hove after, in Burren, in the present county of Clare, at the not
less distinguished literary and legal school of the O'Davoreus ;
where we find him, with many other young Irish gentlemen,
about the year 1595, under the presidency of Donnell O'Davoren.
The next place in which we meet Mac Firbis is in the col-
lege of Saint Nicholas, in the ancient town of Galway ; where
he compiled his large and comprehensive volmne of Pedigrees
of ancient Irish and Anglo-Norman families, in the year 1650.
The autograph of this great compilation is now in the posses- xhe Book of
sion of the Earl of Roden, and a fac-simile copy of it was made ?i':'^!?!^i'5 °^
by me for the Royal Irish Academy in the year 1836. Of this
invaluable work, perhaps the best and shortest description that
I could present you with, will be the simple translation of the
Title prefixed to it by the author, which runs as follows [See
original in Appendix, No. LXII.] :
"The Branches of Relationship and the Genealogical Rami-
fications of every Colony that took possession of Erinn, traced
from this time up to Adam (excepting only those of the Fomo-
rians, Lochlanns, and Saxon-Galls, of whom we, however, treat,
as they have settled in oiu- cotmtry) ; together with a Sanctilo-
gium, and a Catalogue of the Monarchs of Erinn ; and finally,
an Index, which comprises, in alphabetical order, the surnames
and the remarkable places mentioned in this book, which was
compiled by Duhhaltacli Mac Firhhisigli of Lecain, 1650.
"Although the above is the customary way of giving titles to
books at the present time, we will not depart from the following
of our ancestors, the ancient summaiy custom, because it is the
plainest; thus:
"The place, time, author, and cause of writing this book,
are : — the place, the College of St. Nicholas, in Galway ; the
time, the time of the religious war between the Catholics of
Ireland and the Heretics of Ireland, Scotland, and England,
particularly the year 1650; the person or author, Duhhaltacli,
the son of Gilla Isa 3f6r Mac Firhhisigh, historian, etc., of
Lecain Mac Firbis, in Tireragh, on the Moy ; and the cause of
122 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. VI. writing tlie book is, to increase the glory of God, and for the in-
The Book of fo^i^^^tion of tlio peoplo in general".
Pedigrees of It was to Dr. Pctrio that the Council of the Royal Irish Aca-
demy entrusted the care of having the copy of this hook made,
which I have just alluded to ; and, afterwards, on the occasion
of laying that copy before them, he read an able paper, which
is published in the eighteenth volume of the Transactions of the
Academy, on the character and historic value of the work, and
on the little that was known of the learned author's Mstory.
Of the death In the com'sc of liis remarks, this accomphshed writer says :
Mac Rrbis. " ^o these meagre facts I can only add that of his death, which,
as we learn from Charles O'Conor, was tragical, — for this last of
the Mac Firbises was unfortunately murdered at Dunilin, in the
county of Sligo, in the year 1670. The circumstances connected
with this event were known to that gentleman, but a proper re-
spect for the feehngs of the descendents of the murderer, who
was a gentleman of the country, prevented him from detailing
them. They are, however, still remembered in the district in
which it occurred, but I will not depart from the example set
me, by exposing them to public hght".
It was quite becoming Dr. Petrie's characteristic dehcacy of
feeling to follow the cautious silence of Mr. O'Conor in rela-
tion to this fearful crime. Now, however, there can be no
offence or impropriety towards any living person, in putting on
record, in a few words, the brief and simple facts of the cause
and manner of this mm'der, as preserved in the living local
tradition of the country.
Mac Firbis was, at that time, under the ban of the penal laws,
and, consequently, a marked and almost defenceless man in the
eye of the law, whilst the friends of the miurderer enjoyed the
full protection of the constitution. He must have been then past
his eightieth year, and he was, it is believed, on his way to Dub-
lin, probably to visit Robert, the son of Sir James Ware. He
took up his lodgings for the night at a small house in the little
village of Dun Flin, in his native county. Wliile sitting and
resting himself in a little room off the shop, a young gentleman,
of the Crofton family, came in, and began to take some liberties
with a young woman who had care of the shop. She, to check
his freedom, told him that he would be seen by the old gentle-
man in the next room ; upon which, in a sudden rage, he snatched
up a knife from the counter, rushed furiously into the room, and
plunged it into the heart of Mac Firbis. Thus it was that, at
the hand of a wanton assassin, this great scholar closed his long
career, — the last of the regularly educated and most accom-
plished masters of the history, antiquities, and laws and lan-
guage of ancient Erinn.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 123
But to return lect. \^.
Besides his important genealogical work, Mac Firbis compiled ^^ ^^^^ ^,^
two others of even still greater value, which unfortunately are rious works
not now known to exist : namely, a Glossary of the Ancient MacTirWs.
Laws of Erinn ; and a Biographical Dictionary of her ancient
writers and most distinguished literary men. Of the former of
these, I have had the good fortune to discover a fragment in the
library of the Dublin University (class H. 5. 30) ; but of the
latter, I am not aware that any trace has been discovered.
There are fi-s'e other copies of ancient glossaries in Mac Firbis's
handwriting preserved in the Dublin University library (all
in H. 2. 15). Of these, one is a copy of Cormac's Glossary,
another a copy of his tutor Donnell O'Davoren's own Law Glos-
sary, compiled by him about the year 1595 ; besides which,
separate fragments of three Derivative Glossaries, as well as
a fragment of an ancient Law Tract, with the text, gloss, and
commentary properly arranged and explained. So that in all
there are six glossaries, or fragments of glossaries, in his hand-
■wi'iting in T.C.D. It is in the introduction to his great book
of Geneaologies that he states that he had written or compiled
a Dictionary of the "Brehon Laws", in which he had explained
them extensively; and also a catalogue of the wi'itings and
writers of ancient Erinn ; but, with the exception of the frag-
ments just referred to, these two important works are now un-
known. [And I may here mention, that I have copied out
these precious fragments of his own compilation in a more acces-
sible form, for the DubHn University.] Besides these MSS. at
home, I may mention that there is in the British Museum also
a small quarto book, containing a rather modern Martyrology, or
Litany of the Saints, in verse, chiefly in Mac Firbis's hand.
Mac Firbis does not seem to have neglected the poetic art
either, for I have in my own possession two poems, of no mean
pretensions, written by him on the O Seachnasaigli (O'Shaugh-
nessys) of Gort, about the year 1G50.
Of Mac Firbis's translations from the earher Annals we have
now no existing trace. That he did translate largely and gene-
rally we can well imiderstand, from the folloAving remarks of Har-
ris in his edition of Ware's Bishops, page 612, under the head
of Tuam : —
"One John was consecrated about the year 1441. [Sir
James Ware declares he could not discover when he died ; and
adds, that some called him John de Burgo, but that he could
not answer for the truth of that name.] But both these parti-
culars are cleared up, and his immediate successor, named by
Dudley Firbisse, an amanuensis, whom Sir James Ware em-
124
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. VI. ployed in his house, to translate and collect for him from the Irish
~~ ] MSS., one of whose pieces begins thus, viz.: 'This translation
nous works beginncd was by Dudley Firbisse, in the house of Sir James
jia^Hrbis. Ware, in Castle Street, Dublin, 6th of November, 1666', whi-ch
was twenty-four days before the death of the said knight. The
annals or translation which he left behind him, begin in the year
1443, and end in 1468. I suppose the death of his patron put
a stop to lais fiu'ther progress. Not knowing from whence he
translated these annals, wherever I have occasion to quote them,
I mention them mider the name of Dudley Firbisse".
Again under the head of Richard O'Fcrrall, bishop of Ar-
dagh, page 253, Harris writes:
"In MS. annals, intitled the Annals of Firbissy (not those of
Gelasy [Gilla Isa\ Mac Firbissy, who died in 1301, but the
collection or translation of one Dudley Firbissy), I find mention
made of Richard, bishop of Ardagh, and that he was son to the
Great Dean, Fitz Daniel Fitz John Golda O'Fergaill, and his
death placed there under the year 1444".
Of those Annals of Gilla Isa (or Gilhsa) Mac Firbis of
Lecan, who died in 1301, we have no trace now ; it is probable
that they were the Annals of Lecan mentioned by the Foiu'
Masters as having come into their hands when theii- compilation
from other sources was finished, and from which they added
considerably to their text.
Of Duald ]Mac Firbis's translation, extending from the year
1443 to 1468, there are three copies extant, one in the British
Museum, classed as "Clarendon 68", which is, I believe, in the
translator's own handwriting. The second copy is in the Hbrary
of Trinity College, Dublin [class F. 1. 18]. The third copy is in
Harris's collections in the library of the Royal Dublin Society ;
it is in Harris's own hand, and appears to have been copied from
the Trinity College copy, with corrections of some of the former
transcriber's inaccuracies.
The following memorandum, prefixed to a list of Irish bishops,
made for Sir James Ware, and now preserved in the manuscript
above referred to in the British Museum, will enable us to form
some idea of the sources, the only true ones, from which this list
has been drawn.
"The ensuing bishops' names are collected out of several Irish
ancient and modern manuscripts, viz. : of Gilla-isa Mac Fferbisy,
written before the year 1397 (it is he that wi'ote the greate Booke
of Lcackan Mac Fferbissy, now kept in DubHn), and out of
others the Mac Fferbisy Annals, out of saints' calendars and ge-
nealogies also, for the Right Worshipful and ever honoured Sir
James Ware, knight, and one of his Majesties Privie Council,
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 125
and Auditor General of the Kingdom of Ireland. This collec- i.ect. yi.
tion is made by Dudley Firbisse, 1655". — p. 17. oftueva-
These translated annals have been edited by Dr. John O'Do- rious works
novan, and published in the first volume of the Miscellany of Mac Fh-bis.
the Archaeological Society, in the year 1846.
Mac Firbis' was of no ordinary or ignoble race, being cer-
tainly descended from Dathi, the last pagan monarch of Erinn,
who was killed by lightning, at the foot of the Alps, in Anno
Domini 428. At what time the Mac Firbises became professi-
onal and hereditary historians, genealogists, and poets, to various
princes m the province of Connacht, we now know not ; but we
know that from some remote period down to the descent of
Oliver Cromwell upon this country, they held a handsome patri-
mony at Lecain Mac Firbis, on the banks of the River Muaidh,
or Moy, in the county of Sligo, on which a castle was built by
the brothers Ciothruadh, and James, and John oV/, their cousin,
in 1560. So early as the year 1279, the Annals of the Four
Masters record the death of Gilla Isa (or Gillisa) 3I6r Mac
Firbis, " chief historian of Tir-Fiachrach''' [in the present
county of Sligo.] Again, at the year 1376, they record the death
of Donogh Mac Firbis, "an historian". And agam, at the year
1379, they record the death of Firbis Mac Firbis, "a learned
historian".
The great Book of Lecain, now in the library of the Royal
Irish Academy, was compiled in the year 1416, by Gilla Isa [or
Gillisa] Mor, the direct ancestor of Duald Mac Firbis ; and the
latter quotes in his work (p. 6Q), not only the Annals of Mac
Firbis, but also the Leahhar GahJiala, or Book of Invasions of Ire-
land, of his grandfather, Duhhaltach [or Dudley], as an authority
for the Battle oi Magh Tuireadh [Moytnra], and the situation of
that place ; and at p. 248, the Dumb Book of James Mac Firbis
for the genealogy of liis own race. There is in the hbrary
of Trinity College, Dublin, a large and important volume of
fragments of various ancient manuscripts (classed H. 2, 16),
part of which professes to have been written by Donogh Mac
Firbis in the year 1391 ; and in another place, in a more modern
hand, it is written, that this is the Yellow Book of Lecain.
Duhhaltach Mac Firbis, in his introduction to his great gene-
alogical book, states that his family were poets, historians, and
genealogists to the great families of the following ancient Con-
nacht chieftaincies, viz. : Lower Connacht, Ui Fiachrach of the
Moy, Ui Amhalgaidh, Cera, Ui Fiachrach of Aidhne, and Facht-
gha, and to the Mac Donnells of Scotland.
126
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
of Duald
Mac Firbis.
LECT. VI. The Mac Firbis, in right of being the hereditary poet and
Of the vcL- liistorian of his native territory of Ui Fiachrach of the Moy (in
rious works the present county of Sligo), took an important part in the inau-
guration oi the U Dowda, the hereditary chiel or that country.
The following curious account of this ceremony will more clearly
show the position of the Mac Firbis on these great occasions ;
it is translated from a little tract in the Book of Lecan, in the
library of the Royal Irish Academy.
"The privilege of the first drink [at all assemblies] was given
to O'Caomhain by O'Dowda, and 0' Caomhain w&s not to drink
until he first presented it [the drink] to the poet, that is, to
Mac Firbis ; also the arms and battle steed of O'Dowda, after
his proclamation, were given to O'Caomhaiu, and the arms and
dress of O'Caomhain to Mac Firbis ; and it is not competent ever
to call him the O'Dowda until C Caomhain and Mac Firbis
have first called the name, and until Mac Firbis carries the
body of the wand over O'Dowda ; and every clergyman, and
every representative of a church, and every bishop, and every
chief of a territory present, all are to j)ronounce the name after
G' Caomhain and Mac Firbis. And there is one circumstance,
should O'Dowda happen to be in Tir Amhalghaidh [Tirawley],
he is to go to Amhalghaidlis Cam to be proclaimed, so as that
all the chiefs be abou.t him ; but should he happen to be at the
Cam of the Daughter of Brian, he is not to go over [to Amlial-
gaidfis Carn] to be proclaimed ; neither is he to come over from
AmhalgaidJis Carn, for it was Amhalgaidh, the son of Fiaclira
Ealgach, that raised that Carn for himself, in order that he him-
self, and all those who should attain to the chieftainsliip after
him, might be proclauned by the name of lord upon it. And it
is in this Carn that Amhalgaidh himself is buried, and it is from
him it is named. And every king of the race of Fiachra that
shall not be thiis proclaimed, shall have shortness of life, and
his seed and generation shall not be illustrious, and he shall never
see the kingdom of God". — [See original in Appendix, No.
LXIIL]
This curious little tract, with topographical illustrations, will
be found in the volume on the Tribes and Customs of Hy-Fi-
achrach, among the important publications of the Irish Arch»-
ological Society.
So much, then, for the compiler of the chronicle which I am
now about to describe, the value of which, as a historical docu-
ment, has only, of late years, come to be properly understood.
The Chronicum Scotorum, wliich, as I have already stated,
is written on paper, begins with the following title and short
preface, by the compiler. — [See original in Appendix, No.
LXIV]
Of the
Chronicum
scotordm.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS 127
" The Chronicle of the Scots (or Irish) begins here. — lect. vi.
" Understand, O reader, that it is for a certain reason, and, ^^ ^j^^
particularly, to avoid tediousness, that our intention is to make chkonicum
only a short abstract and compendium of the history of the
Scots in this book, omitting the lengthened details of the his-
torical books ; "wherefore it is that we beg of you not to criti-
cize us on that account, as we know that it is an exceedingly
great deficiency".
The compiler then passes rapidly over the three first ages of
the world, the earlier colonizations of Ireland, the death of the
Partholanian colonists at Tallaght (in this county of Dublin) ;
and the visit of Niul, the son of Fenius Farsaidh, to Egypt, to
teach the langviages after the confusion of Babel; giving the
years of the world according to the Hebrews and the Septuagint.
This sketch extends to near the end of the first column of
the third page, where the following curious note in the original
hand occurs: —
" Ye have heard from me, O readers, that I do not like to
have the laboiu' of vsrriting this copy, and it is therefore that I
beseech you, through true friendship, not to reproach me for it
(if you imderstand what it is that causes me to be so) ; for it is
certain that the Mac Firbises are not in fault". — [See original in
Appendix, No. LXV.]
What it was that caused Mac Firbis's reluctance to make
this abridged copy of the old book or books before him, at this
time, it is now difficult to imagine. The writing is identical
with that in his book of genealogies, which was made by him
in the year 1650; and this copy must have been made about
the same disastrous period of our history, when the relentless
rage of Oliver Cromwell spread ruin and desolation over all
that was noble, honom'able, and virtuous in our land. It is
very probable that it was about this time that Sir James Ware
conceived the idea of availing himself of Mac Firbis's exten-
sive and profomid antiquarian learning; and as that learned,
and, I must say, well intentioned writer, was then concerned
only with what related to the ecclesiastical liistory of Ireland,
this was probably the reason that Mac Firbis offers those warm ,^
apologies for having been compelled to p_assj3ver the " long and
tedious" account of the earlycoloiiizations of tKis^ country, and
pass at one step to our Christian era. (We know that Ware
quotes many of our old annals as sterling authorities in his
work. As these were all in the Gaedlilic language, and as
Ware had no acquaintance with that language, it follows clearly
enough, that he mvist have had some competent person to assist
him to read those annals, and whose business it was doubtless
128 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. VI. to select and translate for liim sucli parts of them as were
deemed by liim essential to liis design.) Excepting for some such
chronicum purpose as tliis, I can see no reason whatever why Mac Firbis
coTOEUM. gi-^Q^^^(j apply himself, and with such apparent reluctance, to
make tlais compendium from some ancient booh or books of
annals belonging to his family. It appears, indeed, from his
own words, that it was poverty or distress that caused him to
j2ass_over the record of what he deemed the ancient^glory of
his country, and to draw up a mere utilitarian abstract for some
~ "person to whose patronage he was compelled to look for sup-
port in his declining years ; and it is gratifying to observe the
care he takes to record that his difficulties were not caused
by any neglect on the part of his family, who were, as we
know, totally ruined and despoiled of their ancestral pro-
perty by the tide of robbers and murderers which the com-
monwealth of England poured over defenceless Erinn at this
period.
To return to the Chronicum. Continuing his abstract, the
compiler passes rapidly over the history of the early coloniza-
tion of Ireland to the year of our Lord 375, that being the
year in which St. Patrick was born. This date is written in
the back margin in the hand of Mr. Charles O'Conor of Bela-
nagar, and from that to the year 432 there is no date given.
The date 432 is written in Roman numerals (in Gaedlilic
characters, of course) in the original hand, and l^nder it the
arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland from Rome, on his apostolic
mission, by the direction of Pope Celestine. The arrival of
the great apostle is given precisely in the same words as in the
annals of Ulster.
From this to the year of our Lord 1022, no date appears in
the original hand, nor even after that, except occasionally the
year of the world. The latter is set down at the end of the
year of our Lord 1048, as 5,000 years, according to the Hebrew
computation.
The next dates that appear are 453, 454, 455, 456, 458, all
in the margin ; and all these are, I believe, as well as the re-
maining dates, all through to the end, in the handwriting of
Roderick O'Flaherty, the author of the Ogygia.
No date, however, is inserted from the year 458 to the year
605 ; but from this year forward the dates appear regularly in
the margin.
A large deficiency occurs at the year 722, where the com-
piler has written the following memorandum : —
" The breasts [or fronts] of two leaves of the old book, out
of which I write this, are wanting here, and I leave what is
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 129
before me of this page for tliem. I am Dubhaltach FirhisigK\ lect. vi.
— [See original in Appendix, No. LXVI.] p^ ^^^
Unfortunately, tliis defect occurs, by some unknown chance, chkonicum
not only to the extent of the loss here noticed, but as far as
from the year 722 to the year 805.
It is remarkable that the defect in the annals of Tighernach
should begin nearly with the same year (718) ; but it extends
much fm-ther, to the year 1068.
The order and arrangement of the events recorded, and the
events themselves, often, though not always, agree with the
annals of Tighernach. The details are brief and condensed,
but they so often convey scraps of rare additional information,
as to leave us reason to regret the unknown circumstances
wliich caused the writer to leave out, as he said he did, the
" tediousness" of the old historical books.
The Clu'onicum comes down, in its present form, only to the
year 1135; and, whether it was ever carried down with more
ample details to the year 1443, when the compiler's translations
for Ware commence, is a question which probably will never
be cleared up. Such as it is, however, and as far as it goes,
there can be no doubt of its being one of the most authentic
existing copies of, or compilations from, more ancient annals.
I have already stated that this manuscript is in the well-known
hand of its compiler, Duald Mac Firbis, and that it was wi'itten,
probably, about the year 1650 ; yet hear what the Rev. Charles
O'Conor says of it, in the Stowe catalogue :
" Some have confounded this chronicle with Tighernach's, be-
cause it is frequently called Chronicon Cluanense, and was writ-
ten in Tighernach's Monastery of Cluainmacnois". He then
continues : " The Stowe copy now before us was carefully trans-
cribed from the Dublin copy, by the compiler of this catalogue,
from that Dubhn MS., wliich is quite a modern transcript, being
the only copy he could find". — [Stowe Cat. vol. i. p. 201, No. 63.]
How clearly do these words show that the reverend writer,
though otherwise a sufficiently good scholar, was totally incom-
petent to pronounce a correct opinion on the age of any Gaedlilic
MS., from the character of the writing, or from an acquaintance
with the pecuhar hands of the different writers who preceded
him, excepting, indeed, that of liis own grandfather, Charles
O'Conor, of Belanagar. Yet there is no man more dogmatic
in liis decisions on the dates of manuscripts and compositions, —
his two most favourite periods being, we may observe in passing,
" the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries", and "the reign of James
the First". Indeed, I am obliged to say, that his readings and
renderings of text, as well as his translations of Irish, are as in-
9
130
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Chkonicum
scotoeum.
Of the
Annals of
Clonmac-
KOIS.
accurate, as liis historical deductions, and even positive state-
ments, are often unfounded, however arrogantly advanced.
In connexion with this fragment of the Lecain collection of
annals, I may mention that there is a short tract of annals pre-
served in the great Book of Lecain, now in the library of the
Royal Irish Academy, the compilation of which was finished
in the year 1416. These annals are without date, and some of the
items are out of chronological order. They begin with the bat-
tle of Uchbadh, which was fought in the year 733, at a place of
that name in the county of Kildare, between Aedh Allan, the
monarch of Ireland, and the kings and chiefs of Leinster,inwhich
the latter were completely overthrown, and their whole country
devastated and nearly depopulated.
These chronicles come down to the treacherous death of the
celebrated Tiernan O'Rourke, king o£ Breifne [Brefny], at the
hands of the Anglo-Normans, in the year 1172. The events
recorded, briefly of course, are the reigns, battles, and deaths of
the monarchs and provincial kings of Ireland; the accessions
and deaths of the bishops and abbots of Armagh ; and the more
imusual atmospheric phenomena, such as remarkable seasons
and other extraordinary occurrences, etc.
There are several Httle additions, among the items of informa-
tion recorded in these annals, which are not to be found in the
Annals of the Fom' Masters ; as, for instance, in recordhig the
death of the monarch MaelseacJdainn, or Malachy the Second
(who died Anno Domini 1022), they give a list of five-and-
twenty battles gained by him, of which the Fom' Masters men-
tion but fom\ In connection with these battles also, many
topographical names are preserved, not to be found in any of
the other existing books of annals. And I may remark in con-
clusion, that the annals contained in this short tract are, as regards
date of transcription, the oldest annals that we have in Ireland.
I shall close this lecture with some account of one other book
of annals, to which I have already shortly referred, and which,
though only remaining to us in the English language, is not
without its interest and value. I allude to the book tolerably
well known under the name of the Annals of Clonmacnois,
the only copy or version of which known to be extant is an
English translation made from the Irish in the year 1627, by
Connla Mac Echagan, of Lismoyne, in the county of West-
meath, for his friend and kinsman, Torlogh Mac Cochlan, Lord
of Delvin, m that county.
This translation is written in the quaint style of the Elizabe-
than period, but by a man who seems to have well understood
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 131
tlie value of tlie original Gaedlilic plii'aseology, and rendered it lect. vi.
every justice, as far as we can determine in the absence of the
original. It was believed, — and, indeed, there is reason still to anxals op
beheve it, — that the original book was preserved in the posses- Kofs!'^*'^'
sion of the family of the late Sir Richard Nagle, who was de-
scended from the translator by the mother's side ; however, on
the death of the worthy baronet, a few years ago, no trace of it
could be found among the family papers, though other ancient
memorials of the house of Mac Echagan were preserved among
them. It was rmnoured in the coimtry, that tliis old book con-
tained, or might possibly contain, some records of events that it
would be as well for the Mac Echagan family not to have
brought before the world ; and that for tliis reason, the female
representatives of the family had for some generations kept the
vohmie out of sight. I had the honom' of a slight acquaintance
with the late Sir Richard Nagle, which I improved so far as to
mention this tradition to him. He did not deny the correctness
of the rumoiu', as far as the keeping out of sight of the book went ;
but he had no knowledge of any particular reason, more than a
laudable care for what was looked upon as a remarkable national
record, and a witness to the respectabihty and identity of the fa-
mily. Indeed, the impression left on my mind by my conver-
sations on this subject with Sir Richard was, that the book had
been in the custody of liis mother, but that that respected lady
cherished so closely this rehc of her ancient name as to be re-
luctant even to show it, much less to part with it for any con-
sideration whatever.
There is nothing in tliis book (so far as we can judge in the
absence of the original) to show why it should be called the An-
nals of Clonmacnois. We have already seen, and we shall have
occasion to touch on the same fact again, that the Annals of
Clonmacnois used by the Four Masters, came down but to the
year 1227, whereas this book comes down to the year 1408.
The records contained in it are brief, but they sometimes pre-
serve details of singular interest, not to be found in any of our
other annals. As a specimen of these additions — the most in-
teresting of them, perhaps — let me take the following passage,
which occurs at the year 905, but which should be placed at the
year 913; I give it in the exact phraseology of the original: —
" Neal Ghmdviffe was king [of Ireland] three years, and was
married to the Lady Gormphley, daughter of King Flann, who
was a very fair, ^drtuous, and learned demosell ; was first married
to Cormacke Mac Coulenan, King of Mmister; secondly to
King Neal, by whom she had a son, called Prince Donnell, who
was drowned ; upon whose death she made many pitiful and
9b
132 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. VI. learned ditties in Irish ; and lastly, slie was married to Cearbliall
Mac Morgan, King of Leinster. After all wliicli royal mar-
riages, she begged from door to door, forsaken of all her friends
and allies, and glad to be reheved by her inferiors".
The story The Order of GormlaitJis marriages is not accurately given in
Goj-mfaith. tliis entry. Let ns correct the entry from another and more re-
Hable authority, that of the Book of Leinster.
It is true that Gormlaith was first married, or rather betrothed,
to the celebrated king, bishop, and scholar, Cormac Mac Cul-
lemian. King of Munster ; but that marriage was never consmn-
mated, as the young king changed his mind, and restored the
princess to her father, with all her fortune and dowry, while he
himself took holy orders. He (as you are aware) became subse-
quently Archbishop of Cashel, and was, as you may remember,
the author of the celebrated Saltair of Cashel, as well as of the
learned compilation since known as Cormac's Glossary.
After having been thus deserted by King Cormac, Gormlaith
was married against her will to Cearbhall, King of Leinster.
Shortly afterwards, in the year 908, — probably in reahty on
account of the repudiation of the princess by the King of
Mmister, though ostensibly to assert his right to the presenta-
tion to the ancient church of Mainister EihMn, now Monas-
tereven (in the present Queen's county), which down to this time
belonged to Mimster, — Flann Siona, the father of Gormlaith,
who was hereditary King of Meath, and then Monarch of Erinn,
proceeded to make war on the southern prince ; and, accom-
panied by his son-in-law, the King of Leinster, he marched with
their imited forces to Bealach Mughna (now Ballymoon, in the
south of the present county of Kildare), within two miles of the
present town of Carlow. Here they were met by King Cormac
at the head of the men of Munster, and a furious battle ensued
between them, in which the Mmistermen were defeated, and Cor-
mac, the king and bishop, killed and beheaded on the field.
Cearhhall, King of Leinster, and husband of the princess
Gormlaith, was badly wounded in the battle, and carried home
to his palace at Naas, where he was assiduously attended to by
liis queen, who was scarcely ever absent from his couch. It hap-
pened that one day, when he was convalescent, but still confined
to his bed, the battle oi Bealach Mughna hcca,m.e the subject of
their conversation. Cea7'hhall described the fight with anima-
tion, and dwelt with seemingly exuberant satisfaction on the de-
feat of Cormac, and the dismemberment of his body in his pre-
sence. The queen, however, who was sitting on the foot-rail of
the bed, said that it was a great pity that the body of the good
and holy bishop should have been unnecessarily mutilated and
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS 133
desecrated ; upon which the king, in a sudden fit of rage, struck lect. vi.
her so rude a blow with his foot, as threw her headlong on the ^^ ^^^^
floor, by which her clothes were thrown into disorder, in the pre- of Queeu
sence of all her ladies and attendants. Gormiait .
The queen felt highly mortified and insulted at the indignity
thus offered to her, and fled to her father for protection. Her
father, however, in the presence of a powerful Danish enemy in
Dubhn, did not choose to take any hostile steps to punish the
rudeness of King Cearhhall, but sent his daughter back again to
her husband. Not so her young kinsman, Niall Ghinduhli [" of
the Black Knee"], the son of the brave Aedh Finnliath, King of
Aileach [i.e. King of Ulster.] This brave prince, having heard of
the indignity which had been put upon his relative, raised all
the northern clans, and at their head marched to the borders of
Leinster, with the intention of avenging the insult, as well as of
taking the queen herself under the protection of the powerful
forces of the north. Queen Gorinlaith, however, objected to any
violent measures, and only insisted on a separation from her
husband, and the restoration of her dowry. She had four-and-
twenty residences given to her in Leinster by Cearhhall on her
marriage, and these he consented to confirm to her, and to re-
lease her legally from her vows as his wife. The queen being
thus once more freed from conjugal ties, returned to her father's
house for the third time.
After this Niall Glundubh, deeming that the gross conduct
of Cearhhall to his queen, and their final separation, had legally
as well as virtually dissolved their mariiage, proposed for her
hand to her father ; but boih father and daughter refused, and, for
the time, she continued to reside in the court of Flann.
In thecoiu'se of the following year (904), however, Cearhhall
was killed in battle by the Danes of Dublin, under their leader
Ulhh, and all impedhnents being now removed, Gormlaith be-
came the wife of Niall Glunduhh.
From this period to the year 917, we hear nothing more of
Queen Gormlaith. Her father died in the mean time, in the
year 914, and after liim the young Niall Glunduhh succeeded
to the supreme throne as Monarch of Erinn.
With the exception of the immortal Brian BoroimhS, no
monarch ever wielded the sceptre, which was the sword, of
Erinn with more vigour, than this tnily brave northern prince.
His battles with the fierce and cruel Danes were incessant and
bloody, and his victories many and glorious, and himself and
his brave father Aedh were the only monarchs who ever
attempted to relieve Munster of the presence of these cruel foes,
before Brian. Having, in fine, hemmed in so closely the
134
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
The story
of Queen
Gormlaith.
Danes of Meatli, Dublin, and all Lelnster, that tliey dared not
move from the immediate vicinity of Dublin, he determined at
last to attack them even there, in their very stronghold. With
this resolve, therefore, on Wednesday, the 17th day of October,
in the year 917, he marched on Dublin with a large force, and
attended by several of the chiefs and princes of Meath and
Oriell ; but the Danes went out and met him at Ciil Mosomog
(a place not yet identified), in the neighbourhood of the city,
and a furious battle ensued, in which, mrfortunately, the army
of Erinn was defeated, and Niall himself was killed, with most
of his attendant chiefs and an immense number of their men.
And thus was the unfortunate queen Gormlaith for the third
time left a widow. Her elder brother Conor was killed in
the battle, and her younger brother Donnchadh succeeded her
husband in the sovereignty, wliich he enjoyed till his death in
the year 942.
Of Queen GormlaitKs history, during the reign of her bro-
ther, we know nothing ; but, on his death, the sceptre passed
away from the houses of her father and of her husband;
and it is possible, or rather we may say probable, that it was
then that commenced that poverty and neglect, of which she
so feeHngly speaks in her poems, as well as in various stray
verses which have come do-wn to us. Her misfortimes conti-
nued during the remaining five years of her life — namely, from
the death of her brother, the monarch Doniichadh, in the year
942, to her own death in the year 947.
I should not, perhaps, have dwelt so long on the short but
eventful history of the unfortunate queen Gormlaith, but that
the translator of these annals of Clonmacnois, as they are
called, falls into several mistakes about her ; but, whether they
be part of his original text, or only traditionary notes of his
own, I cannot determine : I believe the latter to be the more
probable explanation. He says, at the year 936 (which should
be the year 943), that, after the death of Niall Glundubh, she
was married to Cearhhall, king of Leinster ; but I have taken
the proper order of her marriages, and the present sketch of her
history, from the Book of Leinster (a MS. of the middle of
the twelfth century), as well as from an ancient copy of a most
curious poem, written during her long last ilhiess by Gormlaith
herself, on her own life and misfortunes. In this poem she
details the death of her son, who was accidentally drowned in
the county Galway dming his fosterage, and the subsequent
death of her husband ; and in it is also preserved an interesting
account of her mode of living ; a sketch of the more fortunate
or happy part of her life ; a character of Niall, of Cearbhall,
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 135
and of Cormac ; a description of tlie place and mode of sepul- lect. vi.
tiu'e of Niall ; and, on the whole, a greater variety of references ~ 7^
to habits, customs, and manners, than I have found in any other of Queen
piece of its kind. I have, besides this, which is a long poem, ^''"'>"■^"■^"^■
collected a few of those stray verses which Gormlaith composed
under a variety of impulses and circumstances.
The folloAving short, but very curious, account of the im-
mediate cause of her death (the date of which is given by
Mac Echagan, at the year 943, by mistake for the year 948),
appears to have been taken from the poem just mentioned. I
quote again from the same translation of the annals of Clon-
macnois : —
" Gormphly, daughter of King Flann Mac Mayleseachlyn,
and queen of Ireland, died of a tedious and grievous wound,
which happened in this manner: she ch-eamed that she saw
King Niall Glimduife ; whereupon she got up and sate in her bed
to behold him ; whom he for anger would forsake, and leave the
chamber ; and as he was departing in that angry motion (as she
thought), she gave a snatch after hun, thinking to have taken
him by the mantle, to keep him with her, and fell upon the bed-
stick of her bed, that it pierced her breast, even to her very
heart, wliich received no cure until she died thereof".
The queen did not, however, immediately die of the injury
thus strangely received. Her last illness was long and tedious,
and it was diuing its continuance that she composed the curious
poems which are still preserved, in one of which she gives an
account of the manner of the womid which soon after caused
her death.
I cannot do better than close my remarks on this curious
volume by transcribing the translator's address and dedication
to Mac Coghlan, for whom he translated it. These documents
are, besides, not only very explanatory of the design and idea
of the work, but in themselves so quaint, so interesting, and so
suggestive, that I am persuaded you would be sorry to lose
them, and they have not hitherto been published.
" A book containing all the inhabitants of Ireland since the
creation of the world, vmtil the conquest of the English, wherein
is showed all the kings of Clana Neimed, Firbolg, Tuathy
De danan, and the sons of Miletius of Spain : translated out of
Irish into English, faithfully and well agreeing to the History
de Captionibus Hibernias, Historia Magna, and other authentic
authors. Partly discovering the year of the reigns of the said
kings, with the manner of their governments, and also the
deaths of divers saints of this kingdom, as died in those several
reigns, with the tyrannical rule "and government of the Danes
for 219 years.
Clonmac-
KUIS.
136 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. VI. "A brief catalogue of all tlie kings of tlie several races, after
the coming of Saint Patrick, imtil Donogli Mac Bryan carried
ANN.vls OF the crown to Rome, and of the kings that reigned after, until
the time of the conquest of the EngKsh, in the twentieth year
of the reign of Roiy O'Connor, monarch of Ireland.
"Also of certain things wliich happened in this kingdom after
the conquest of the Enghsh, until the sixth year of the reign of
King Henry the Fourth, in the year of our Lord God 1408.
" To the worthy and of great expectation yomig gentleman,
Mr. Terence Coghlan, his brother, Conell Ma; Geoghegan,
wisheth long health, with good success in all his affairs.
"Among all the worthy and memorable deeds of King Bryan
Borowe, sometime king of this kingdom, this is not of the least
account, that after that he had shaken off the intolerable yoke
and bondage wherewith this land was cruelly tortured and har-
ried by the Danes and Normans for the space of 219 years that
they bore sway, and received tribute of the inhabitants in gene-
ral,— and though they nor none of them ever had the name of
king or monarch of the land, yet they had that power, as they
executed what they pleased, and behaved themselves so cruel
and pagan-like, as well towards the ecclesiasticals as temporals
of the kingdom, that they broke down their churches, and razed
them to their very foundations, and burned their books of chron-
icles and prayers, to the end that there should be no memory left
to their posterities, and all learning should be quite forgotten, —
the said King Bryan seeing into what rudeness the kingdom
was fallen, after setting himself in the quiet government thereof,
and restored each one to his ancient patrimony, repaired their
churches and houses of religion ; he caused open schools to be
kept in the several parishes to instruct their youth, which by the
said long wars were grown rude and altogether ilhterate ; he assem-
bled together all the nobility of the kingdom, as well spiritual as
temporal, to Cashel, in Minister, and caused them to compose a
book containing all the inhabitants, events, and septs, that lived
in this land from the first peopling, inhabitation, and discovery
thereof, after the creation of the world, until that present, which
book they caused to be called by the name of the Saltair of Cashel,
signed it with his own hand, together with the hands of the kings
of the five provinces, and also with the hands of all the bishops
and prelates of the kingdom, caused several copies thereof to be
given to the kings of the pro\dnces, with straight charge that
there should be no credit given to any other chronicles thence-
forth, but should be held as false, disannulled, and quite forbid-
den for ever. Since which time there were many septs in the
Of the
NAL3 OP
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 137
kingdom tliat lived by it, and whose profession it was to cliron-
icle and keep in memory tlie state of the kingdom, as well for
the time past, present, and to come ; and now because they cannot an
enjoy that respect and gain by their said profession as heretofore Clonmac-
tliey and tlieir ancestors received, they set nought by the said
knowledge, neglect their books, and choose rather to put their
cliildren to learn English than their own native language, inso-
much that some of them suffer tailors to cut the leaves of the
said books (which their ancestors held in great accoimt), and
sew them in long pieces to make their measiu-es of, that the pos-
terities are like to fall into more ignorance of any things which
happened before their time. In the reign of the said King
Bryan, and before, Ireland was well stored with learned men
and schools, and that people came from all parts of Christendom
to learn therein, and among all other nations that came thither,
there was none so much made of nor respected with the Irish,
as were the English and Welshmen, to whom they gave several
colleges to dwell and learn in ; [such] as to the English a col-
lege in the town of Mayo, in Connacht, which to this day is
called Mayo of the English ; and to the Welshmen, the town of
Gallon, in the King's County, which is likewise called Gallon of
the Welshmen or Wales ; from whence the said two nations have
brought their characters, especially the English Saxons, as by
comparing the old Saxon characters to the Irish (which the
Irish never changed), you shall find little or no difference at all.
" The earnest desire I miderstand you have, to know these
things, made me to undertake the translation of the old Irish Book
for you, wliich, by long lying shut and unused, I could hardly
read, and left places that I could not read, because they were
altogether grown illegible and put out ; and if this my simple
labour shall any way pleasure you, I shall hold myself thoroughly
recompensed, and my pains well employed, which for your own
reading I have done, and not for the reading of any other curious
fellow that would rather carp at my phraze, than take any de-
light in the History ; and in the meantime I bid you heartily
farewell, from Leijevanchan, 20th April, Anno Domini 1627.
" Yom" very loving brother,
CONELL MaGeOGHEGAN".
The translator then gives the following list of his authorities,
to which I would ask your particrdar attention : —
" The names of the several authors whom I have taken for the
book : Saint Colum Kill ; St. Bohine ; Calvagh O'More, Esq. ;
Venerable Bedc; Eochye O'Flannagan, Archdean of Armagh
and Clonfiachna ; Gillcrnen Mac Conn-ne-mbocht, Archpriest of
Clonvickenos ; Keileachair Mac Con, alias Gorman; Eusebius;
138
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals 'of
Clonmac-
NOIS.
i^ECT. VI. Marcellinus ; Moylen O'Mulclioniye ; and Tanaye O'Mulclion-
rye ; two professed clironiclers".
It is not easy to see what Mac Ecliagan means, wlien lie says
tliat he had taken these authors for this book. We have only
to beheve that he took from Eusebius, Marcellinus, and Bede,
some items or additions, and some dates for the early part of his
translations, and that he took the various readings and additions,
to be found in it, from the Irish authorities to whom he refers.
But, whatever his meaning may be, this is a curious list of au-
thors to be consulted by an Irish comitry gentleman in the early
part of the seventeenth century.
Without going back to his very earher authorities, we may
show the antiquity of the second class.
Eochaidh OFlannagain, Archdean of Armagh and Clon-
fiachna, cHed in the year 1003. If this learned man's books
came down to Mac Echagan's times, he must have had a rich
treat in them indeed. These books are referred to in the fol-
lowing words, in the ancient book called Leabhar na h- Uidhre,
written at Clonmacnois before the year 1106. At the end of a
most curious and valuable tract on the ancient pagan cemeteries
of Ireland, the writer says that it was Flaun, the learned pro-
fessor of Monasterboice, who died in the year 1056, and Eoch-
aidh,th.e learned, 0'Kerin,that compiled this tract from the books
of Eochaidh O Flanyiagain at Armagh, and the books of Monas-
terboice, and other books at both places, which had disappeared
at the time of making this note.
Of the books of Gillananaemh mac Conn-na-mBocht, Arch-
priest of Clonmacnois, I have never heard anything more than
Mac Echagan's reference to them. Of Ceileachair Mac Conn
na-mBocht, I know nothing more than that the death of his son
is recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, at the year 1106,
in the following words : — " Maelmuire, son of the son of Conn-
na-7nBocht, was killed at Cluainmicnois by a party of plun-
derers". This Maelmuire was the compiler or transcriber of
the above mentioned Leabhar na h- Uidhre, in which he is set
down as Maelmuire, the son of Ceileachair, son of Conn-na-
vnBocht.
The two O'Mulconrys, of whom he speaks, belonged to the
fourteenth century, and were poets and historians of Connacht ;
but it is not easy to distinguish their works now from the com-
positions of other members of that talented family, of the same
Christian names, but of a later period.
It is much to be regretted that the original of the curious book
of which I am now speaking, and which certainly existed in the
early part of the last century, should be lost to us ; and, conse-
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS 139
quently, that we have no means of ascertaining to what extent lect. -^^.
Mac Echagan's translation is a faithful one. He appears to
have drawn a little on his imagination, in his address to Mac annals op
Cochlan, where he states that it was Brian BoroimJie that ordered noiT"'^*^'
the compilation of the Saltair of Cashel. This certainly cannot
be the truth, for we have the Saltair of Cashel repeatedly
quoted in the Books of Ballymote and Lecan, and its authorship
as repeatedly ascribed to the Holy King, Cormac Mac Cullennan,
who floiuished more than one hundred years before the time
ascribed to that work by Mac Echagan.
It is true that Brian Boroimhe, after the expulsion and sub-
jugation of the Danes, did rebuild and repair the churches and
other ecclesiastical edifices which had been ruined and desecrated
by the Danes ; that he restored the native princes, chiefs, and
peo23le, to their ancient inheritances; established schools and
colleges ; caused all the ancient books that had survived the de-
solation and desecration of the two preceding centuries to be
transcribed and multiplied ; and that he fixed and estabfished
permanent family names : but, although we have an account of
all tliis from various soiu'ces, some of them nearly contemporary
with himself, we have no mention whatever of his having di-
rected the writing of the Saltair of Cashel, or any work of its kind.
There are three copies of Mac Echagan's translation known
to me to be in existence : one in the library "of Trinity College,
Dublin (class F. 3, 19) ; one in the British Museum; and one in
Sir Thomas PliilHps's large collection, in Worcestershire. They
are all ^\aitten in the hand of Teige O'Daly, and they are dated
(the Dublin one at least) in the year 1684. O'Daly has pre-
fixed some strictures on the translator, charging him with parti-
ality for the Heremonian or northern race of Ireland, one of
whom he was himself, to the prejudice of the Heberian or
southern race. But O'Daly's remarks are couched in language
of such a character that I do not think it necessary to allude to
them farther here.
I have now completed for you a short examination of all the
principal collections of Annals which may be depended on as
forming the sohd foundation of Irish history, with the exception
of the last and greatest work of this kind, the Annals of the
Four Masters of the Monastery of Donegal. That magnificent
compilation shall form the subject of our next meeting, after
wliich I shall proceed to the consideration of the other classes of
historical authorities to which I have so frequently alluded in
the course of the lectures I have already addressed to you.
LECTURE VII.
[DeUvered July 3, 1856.]
The Annals (continued), 10. The Annals of the Four Masters. The " Con-
tention of the Bards". Of Michael O'Clery. Of the Chronology of the Four
Masters.
In tlie last lecture we examined the " Clironicum Scotorum", and
the Annals of Clonmacnois. The next on the list, in point of
compilation, and the most important of all in point of interest
and historic value, are the Annals of the Four Masters.
In whatever point of view we regard these annals, they must
awaken feelings of deep interest and I'espect ; not only as the
largest collection of national, civil, military, and family history
ever brought together in this or perhaps any other comitry, but
also as the final winding up of the affairs of a people who had
preserved their nationality and independence for a space of over
two thousand years, till their complete overthrow about the time
at which this work was compiled. It is no easy matter for an
Irishman to suj)press fcehngs of deep emotion when speaking of
the compilers of this great work ; and especially when he con-
siders the circumstances under which, and the objects for which,
it was undertaken.
It was no mercenary or ignoble sentiment that prompted one
of the last of Erinn's native princes, while the utter destruc-
tion of his property, the persecution and oppression of his creed
and race, and even the general ruin of his country, were not
only staring him in the face, but actually upon him, — those
were not, I say, any mean or mercenary motives that induced
this nobleman to determine, that, although liimself and his
country might sink for ever under the impending tempest, the
history of that country, at least, should not be altogether lost.
In a former lecture I have observed that, after the termination
of the Ehzabethan wars, all, or nearly all, the Irish nobles had
sunk into poverty and obscurity, had found untimely graves in
their native land, or had sought another home far over the seas.
It has been shown that, with the decHne of these nobles and
chiefs, our national literature had become paralysed, and even
all but totally dead. And this was absolutely the case during
more than the first quarter of the seventeenth century, and even
for some time afterwards ; for, although the Rev. Father Geof-
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 141
fry Keting compiled in the native language his History of lect. vn.
Erinn, his " Three Shafts of Death", and his " Key and Shield . ^
of the Mass", between 1628 and 1640, yet so far was he from tention
receiving countenance or patronage, that it was among the in- Bai-as".
accessible crags and caverns of the Gailte, or Galtee, mountains,
and among the fastnesses of his native county of Tipperary, that
he wrote these works, while in close concealment to escape the
wanton vengeance of a local tyrant.
Still, though the fostering care of the chief or the noble had
disappeared, the native bardic spirit did not altogether die out ;
and about the year 1604 (apparently by some preconcerted
arrangement), a discussion sprang up between Tadhg Mac Brody,
a distinguished Irish scholar and bard of the county of Clare,
and the no less distinguished poet and scholar, Lughaidli O'Clery
of Donegall, of whom mention was made in a former lecture.
The subject of this discussion, which was carried on in verse,
was the relative merits and importance of the two great clan-
divisions of Erinn, as represented by the Heberians in the
south (that is, the O'Briens and Mac Carthys, and the other in-
dependent chiefs of Munster, the descendants of Eber), and the
Heremonians of Ulster, Connacht, and Leinster (embracing the
O'Neills, O'Donnells, O'Conors, Mac Murachs, etc.), who were
descended from Eremon.
It is quite evident that the real object of this discussion was
simply to rouse and keep alive the national feehng and family
pride of such of the native nobility and gentry as still continued
to hold any station of rank or fortune in the country ; and, as
the war of words progressed, several auxiliaries came up on
both sides, and took an active part in the controversy, which
thus assumed considerable importance.
This discussion, which is popularly called "The Contention
of the Bards", brought into prominent review all the great events
and heroic characters of Irish history from the remotest ages,
and inspired the livihest interest at the time. Indeed one of the
northern auxiliaries in the controversy, Annluan Mac ^gan,
seriously charges O'Clery with treachery, and with allowing
himself to be worsted in the contest by Mac Brody, from par-
tiahty to the south, where he had received his education.
The scheme of the "Contention", hoAvever, seems to have pro-
duced httle effect on the native gentry; for shortly after we
find Mac Brody coming out with a very curious poem, addressed
to the southern chiefs, demanding from them remuneration,
according to ancient usage, for his defence of their claims to
superior dignity and rank.
Wliether this controversy had the desired effect of stimulat-
142 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LKCT. Yii. Ing to any extent tlie liberality of the remaining native Irish
Of the chiefs or not, is an inquiiy beyond tlie scope of our present pur-
O'cierys. posc ; btit that it tended greatly to the renewed study of our
native literature, may be fairly inferred from the important Irish
works which soon followed it, such as those of Keting and the
O'Clerys, and of Mac Firbis.
Of Keting we shall again have to speak, and we shall now
turn to a cotemporary of his, who, like himself, found the deep
study of the language and liistory of his native land quite con-
sistent with the strict observance and efficient discharge of the
onerous duties of a Catholic priest. I allude to the celebrated
friar, Michael O'Clery, the chief of the Four Masters, and the pro-
jector of the great national literary work which bears their name.
Michael O'Clery appears to have been born in Kilbarron,
near Ballyshannon, in the county of Donegall, some time abovit
the year 1580. He was descended of a family of hereditary
scholars, lay and ecclesiastical, and received, we may presume,
the rudiments of his education at the place of his birth.
It appears from various circumstances that in the latter part
of the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth century, the
south of Ireland afforded a higher order of education, and
greater facilities for its attainment, than the north; and we
learn, therefore (from Michael O'Clery's Gaedlilic Glossary,
published by him in Louvain in 1643), that he, as well as his
cousin, Lvghaidh O'Clery, already mentioned, had received, if
not their classical, at least their Gaedhhg education, in the south,
from Baothghalach Ruadh Mac ^Egan.
Of the early Hfe of Michael O'Clery, or at what time he
entered the Franciscan order, we know, unfortunately, nothing ;
but in the year 1627 we find hmi engaged in visiting the va-
rious monasteries of his order in Ireland, as well as other eccle-
siastical and lay repositories of ancient Irish Manuscrij)ts, and
laboriously transcribing from them with his OTvai most accurate
hand all that they contained of the history of the Irish Catholic
Church and the lives of the Irish Saints, as well as important
tracts relating to the civil liistory of the coimtry. Among the
latter is the detailed history of the great Danish invasion and
occupation of Ireland, now in the Burgundian Library at Brus-
sels. [I may add that this valuable book was lately borrowed
by the Rev. Dr. Todd, for whom I made an accm-ate copy of it.]
O'Clery's ecclesiastical collection was intended for the use of
Father Aedli Mac a7i Bhaird (commonly called in English,
Hugh Ward), a native of Donegal, a Franciscan friar, and, at this
time, guardian of Saint Anthony's in Louvain, who contem-
plated the pubhcation of the Lives of the Irish Saints ; but hav-
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 143
ing died before lie had entered fully upon tliis great work, the lect. vii.
materials supplied by O'Clery -were taken up by anotlier equally '^^^^
competent Franciscan, Father John Colgan. Tliis distinguished ccierys.
writer accordingly produced, in 1645, two noble volumes in the
Latin language. One of these, called the Trias Thaumaturgus,
is devoted exclusively to the Lives of Saint Patrick, Saint
Bridget, and Saint Colum Cillo, or Columba; the other vo-
Imne contains as many as could be found of the Lives of the
Irish Saints whose festival days occur from the 1st of January
to the 3 1st of March, where the work stops. Whether it was
the death of Father Michael O'Clery (who must have been the
translator of the Irish Lives), which happened about this time,
1643, that discouraged or incapacitated Father Colgan from
proceeding with his work, we do not know ; but although he
pubhshed other works relating to Ireland after this time, he
never resumed the publication of the lives of her saints. The
collection made by the noble-hearted Father O'Clery at that
time, is that wliich is now divided between the Burgundian
Library at Brussels, and the Library of the College of St.
Isidore at Rome.
Father John Colgan, in the preface to his Acta Sanctorum
Hibernice, published at Louvain in 1645, after speaking of the
labom-s of Fathers Fleming and Ward, in collecting and eluci-
dating the Lives of the Irish Saints, and their subsequent mar-
tyrdom in 1632, writes as follows of their religious Brother
Michael O'Clery.
" That those whose pious piu-suits he imitated, our third asso-
ciate. Brother Michael O'Clery, also followed to the rewards of
their merits, having died a few months ago, a man eminently
versed in the antiquities of his country, to whose pious labours,
through many years, both this and the other works which we
labom' at are in a great measure owing. For, when he Avas a
layman, he was by profession an Antiquarian, and in that faculty
esteemed amongst the first of his time ; after he embraced our
Seraphic Order, in this convent of Louvain, he was employed
as coadjutor, and to this end, by obedience and with the per-
mission of the superiors, he was sent back to his country to
search out and obtain the lives of the saints and other sacred an-
tiqviities of his country, which are, for the greater part, written
in the language of his country, and very ancient.
"But, in the province entrusted to him, he labom'ed with in-
defatigable industry about fifteen years ; and in the meantime
he copied many Hves of saints from many very ancient docu-
ments in the language of the country, genealogies, three or four
diiferent and ancient martyrologies, and many other monuments
144 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. vn. of great antiqixitj, wliicli, copied anew, lie transmitted liither to
Of Friar ^- hardens. At length, bytlie charge of the superiors, deputed
Michael to tliis, he dovotod his mind to clearing and arranging, in a
'^^^' better method and order, the other sacred as well as j)rofane his-
tories of his country, from which, with the assistance of three
other distinguished antiquarians (whom, from the opportunity of
the time and place, he employed as colleagues, as seeming more
fit to that duty), he compiled, or, \vith more truth, since they
had been composed by ancient authors, he cleared up, digested,
and composed, three tracts of remote antiquity, by comparing
many ancient documents. The first is of the Kings of Erinn,
succinctly recording the kind of death of each, the years of their
reign, the order of succession, the genealogy, and the year of
the world, or of Christ, in which each departed, which tract, on
account of its brevity, ought more properly to be called a cata-
logue of those kings, than a history. The second, of the Genea-
logy of the Saints of Erinn, which he has divided into thirty-
seven classes or chapters, bringing back each saint, in a long
series, to the first author and progenitor of the family from
which he descends, which, therefore, some have been pleased to
call Sanctilogium Genealogictim (the genealogies of the saints),
and others Sancto- Genesis. The third treats of the first Inhabi-
tants of Erinn, of their successive conquests from the Flood,
tlirough the diiFerent races, of their battles, of the kings reign-
ing amongst them, of the wars and battles arising between those,
and the other notable accidents and events of the island, from
the year 278 after the Flood, up to the year of Christ 1171.
"Also, when in the same college, to which subsequently, at
one time, he added two other works from the more ancient and
approved chronicles and annals of the country, and particularly
from those of Cluane, Insula, and Senat, he collected the sacred
and profane Annals of Ireland, a work thoroughly noble, useful,
and honourable to the country, and far surpassing in import-
ance its own proper extent, by the fruitful variety of ancient
affairs and the minute relation of them. For, he places before
his eyes, not only the state of society and the various changes
during upwards of three thousand years, for which that most
ancient kingdom stood, by recording the exploits, the dissen-
sions, conflicts, battles, and the year of the death of each of the
kings, princes, and heroes ; but also (what is more pleasing and
desirable for pious minds) the condition of Catholicity and eccle-
siastical affairs, from the first introduction of the faith, twelve
hundred years before, up to modern times, most flourishing at
many periods, distm-bed at others, and subsequently mournful,
wliilst hardly any year occurs, in the mean time, in which he
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 145
does not record the death of one or many saints, bishops, abbots, lect. vn.
and other men, iUustrious through piety and learning ; and also ^^^ p^,,^^.
the building of churches, and their burnings, pillage, and de- Mu-haei
vastation, in great part committed by the pagans, and after-
wards by the heretical soldiers. His colleagues were pious men.
As in the three before mentioned, so also in this fourth work,
which far surpasses the others, three are eminently to be
praised, namely, Ferfessius O" Maelchonaire, Peregrine (Cu-
cogry) O'Clery, and Peregrine (Cucogry) ODuhhghennain,
men of consummate learning in the antiquities of the country,
and of approved faith. And to these subsequently was added
the cooperation of other distinguished antiquarians. Maiu'itius
G'Maelclionaire, who, for one month, as Conary Clery during
many months, laboured in its promotion. But, since those an-
nals which we in tliis volume, and in others following, very
frequently quote, have been collected and compiled by the as-
sistance and separate study of so many authors, neither the
desire of brevity would permit us always to cite them indivi-
dually by expressing the name, nor would justice allow us to
attribute the labour of many to one ; hence, it sometimes seemed
proper that those were called from the place the Annals of
Donegal, for they were commenced and completed in our con-
vent of Donegal. But, afterwards, on account of other reasons,
chiefly from the compilers themselves, who were four most emi-
nent masters in antiquarian lore, we have been led to call them
the Annals of the Four Masters. Yet it is also said even
now that more than four assisted in their preparation ; however,
as their meeting was irregular, and but two of them, during a
short time, laboured in the miimportant and latter part of the
work, but the other four were engaged in the entire production,
at least, up to the year 1267 (from which the first, and most im-
portant and necessary part for us is closed), hence we quote it
under their name ; since, hardly ever, or very rarely, anything
which happened after that year comes to be related by us".
We know not whether it was while engaged in collecting Of the
the materials for the publication of the Lives of the Irish Saints, the vovr
that Father O'Clery conceived the idea of collecting, digest- i^i^teks.
ing, and compiling the Annals of the ancient Kingdom of
Erinn ; and what fruitless essays for a patron he may have made
among the broken-spirited representatives of the old native
chiefs, we are not in a condition to say ; but that he succeeded
in obtaining distinguished patronage from Fearghal [Ferral]
O'Gara, hereditary Lord of Magh Ui Gadhra (Magh O'Gara),
and Cull O-hh-Finn (Cuil O'Finn, or " Coolavin") (better known
as the Prince of Coolovinn, in the County of Sligo), is testified
10
146
OF THE ANCIKNT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals of
THE Four
Masters.
LECT. VTT. in Father O'Clcry's simple and beautiful Dedication of the
work to that nobleman, of which address the follo^ving is a
literal translation [see original in Appendix, No. LXVII.] : —
" I beseech God to bestow every happiness that may conduce
to the welfare of his body and soul upon Fearghal 0' Gadhra,
Lord of 3fagh Ui-Gadlira, and Cuil-0-hh-Finn, one of the two
knights of Parliament who were elected (and sent) from the
County of Sliijeach [Shgo] to Aili-cliath [Dublin], this year of
the age of Christ 1634.
" It is a thing general and plain throughout the whole world,
in every place where nobihty or honour has prevailed, in each
successive period, that nothing is more glorious, more respect-
able, or more honourable (for many reasons), than to bring to
light the knowledge of the antiquity of ancient authors, and a
knowledge of the chieftains and nobles that existed in former
times, in order that each successive generation might know how
their ancestors spent their time and their hves, how long they
lived in succession in the lordship of their countries, in dignity
or in honour, and what sort of death they met.
" I, Michael OClerigli, a poor friar of the Order of St.
Francis (after having been for ten years transcribing every old
material which I found concerning the saints of Ireland, observ-
ing obedience to each provincial that was in Ireland succes-
sively), have come before you, O noble Fearghal O'Gara. I have
calculated on your honour that it seemed to you a cause of pity
and regret, grief and sorrow (for the glory of God and the ho-
nour of Ireland), how much the race of Gaedhil the son of Niul
have passed under a cloud and darkness, without a knowledge
or record of the death or obit of saint or virgin, archbishop,
bishop, abbot, or other noble dignitary of the Chm'ch, of king
or of prince, of lord or of chieftain, [or] of the synchronism or
connexion of the one with the other. I explained to you that
I thought I could get the assistance of the chroniclers for whom
I had most esteem, in writing a book of Annals in which these
matters might be put on record ; and that, should the writing
of them be neglected at present, they would not again be found
to be put on record or commemorated, even to the end of the
world. There were collected by me all the best and most co-
pious books of annals that I could find throughout all Ireland
(though it was difficult for me to collect them to one place), to
write this book in your name, and to your honour, for it was
you that gave the reward of their laboiu* to the chroniclers, by
whom it was written ; and it was the friars of the convent of
Donegal that supplied them with food and attendance, in like
manner. For every good that will result from this book, in
\
!
t
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 147
giving liglit to all in. general, it is to you tliat tlianks should be lect. vii.
given, and tliere should exist jio wonder or surprise, jealousy or ^^ ^^^
envy, at [any] good that yoi do; for you are of the race of annals op
Eiher Mac Mileadh [Heber the son of jNIilesius] , from whom >lSteiw"
descended thirty of the kings 6f Ireland, and sixty-one saints ;
and to Teadgh mac Cein mic QiliUa Oluiin, from whom eigh-
teen of these saints are sprung, you can be traced, generation
by generation. The descendants of this Tadhg [Teige] branched
out, and inhabited various parts tlu'oughout Ireland, namely :
the race of Cormac Gaileng in huighne Connacht, from whom
ye, the Muintir-Gadhra, the two Ui Eaghra in Connacht,
and Oli-Eaghra of the Ruta, O'Carroll of Ely, GMeachair in
Ui-Camn, and O'Conor o^ Cianachta-Glinne-Geimhin.
" As a proof of your coming from this noble blood we have
mentioned, here is your pedigree :
[Here follows the pedigree of O'Gara].
" On the twenty-second day of the month of January, a.d.
1632, this book was commenced in the convent of Dun-na-ngall,
and it was finished in the same convent on the tenth day of
August, 1636, the eleventh year of the reign of our king Charles
over England, France, Alba, and over EirS.
" Your affectionate friend,
" Brother Michael O'Clery".
Wliat a simple unostentatious address and dedication to so
important a work ! -
O'Clery having thus collected his materials, and having fomid
a patron willing both to identify himself with the undertaking,
and to defray its expenses, he betook himself to the quiet solitude
of the monastery of Donegall, then presided over by his bro-
ther, Father Bemardine O'Clery, where he arranged his collec-
tion of ancient books, and gathered about him such assistants as
he had known by experience to be well qualified to carry out
his intentions in the selection and treatment of his vast materials.
The result of his exertions, and the nature of the great work
thus to be produced, will perhaps appear in the most charac-
teristic as well as complete form if I here quote the Testvmordum
signed by the fathers of the monastery of Donegall, and inserted
in the copy of the work presented to Fergal O'Gara. The
following, then, is a literal translation of it [Appendix, No.
LXVIIL]
[Testimonium] .
" The fathers of the Franciscan Order who shall put their
hands on this, do bear witness that it was Fearghal O'Gadhra
that prevailed on Brother Michael GClerigh to bring together
10 B
148
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals op
THE Four
Masters.
LECT. VII. tlie clironiclers and learned men, by wliom were transcribed the
books of history and Annals of Ireland (as much of them as it
was possible to find to be transcribed), and that it was the same
Fearghal OGara that gave them a reward for their writing.
" The book is divided into two parts. The place at which
it was transcribed from begiiming to end, was the convent of the
friars of Dun-na-ngall, they supplying food and attendance.
" The first book was begun and transcribed in the same con-
vent this year, 1632, when Father Bernardine O'Clery was a
guardian.
" The chroniclers and learned men who were engaged in ex-
tracting and transcribing this book from various books were,
Brother Michael OClerigh ; Maurice, the son of Torna O'Mael-
chonaire, for one month; Ferfeasa, the son o£ Lochlaimi OMael-
chonaire, both of the County of Roscommon ; Cucoigcriche (Cu-
cogry) O'Clerigh, of the County of Donegall ; Cucoigcriclie (Cu-
cogry) O'Duiblighennain, of the County of Leitrim; and
ConairS O'CIerigh, of the County of Donegall.
" These are the old books they had: the book o£ Cluain mac
Nois [a church], blessed by Saint Ciaran, son of the carpenter;
the book of the Island of Saints, in Loch Mibh; the book of
Seanadh Mic 3Iaghmisa, in Loch Erne ; the book of Clann Ua
Maelchonaire ; the book of the O'Duigenans, of Kilronan ; the
historical book of Lecan Mic Firbisigh, -which vras procured for
them after the transcription of the greater part of the [work],
and from which they transcribed all the important matter they
found which they deemed necessary, and which was not in the
first books they had ; for neither the book of Cluain nor the book
of the Island were [carried] beyond the year of the age of our
Lord 1227.
" The second, which begins with the year 1208, was com-
menced this year of the age of Christ 1635, in which Father
Christopher Ulltach [O'Donlevy] was guardian.
" These are the books from which was transcribed the greatest
part of this work ; — the same book of the O'Mulconrys, as far as
the year 1505, and this was the last year which it contained;
the book of the O'Duigenans, of which we have sjaoken, from
[the year] 900 to 1563; the book of Seanadh Mic Maghnusa,
which extended to 1532 ; a portion of the book of Cucogry,
the son of Dermot, son of Tadhg Cam OClerigh, from the year
1281 to 1537; the book of Mac Bruaideadha (Maoilin dg),
from the year 1588 to 1602.
" We have seen all these books with the learned men of whom
we have spoken before, and other historical books besides them.
In proof of everything which has been written above, the fol-
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 149
lowing persons put their hands to this in the convent of Donegal, lect. vii.
the tenth day of August, the age of Christ being one thousand
six hundred and thirty-six. annals of
" Brother Bernardine O'Clery, m^tee's!'
" Guardian of Donegal.
" Brother Maurice Ulltach.
" Brother Maurice Ulltach.
" Brother Bonaventura O'Donnell,
" Jubilate Lector",
You will have noticed that the last signature to this testi-
monium is that of Brother Bonaventura O'Donnell. Up to the
year 1843, this signature was read as " O'Donnell" only, and
it is curioiis that the learned and acute Charles O'Conor of
Belanagar, should not only have so read it, but also written
that this was the counter-signature of the O'Donnell, Prince of
Donegall. The Rev. Charles O'Conor followed his grand-
father in reading it the same way in 1825.
It was Dr. Petrie that first identified (and purchased, at the
sale of the library of Mr. Austin Cooper), the original volume
of the second part of these Annals, which contains this testi-
monium, and placed it in the libraiy of the Royal Irish Aca-
demy. He immediately afterwards wrote a paper, which was
read before the Academy on the 16th of March, 1831, entitled
" Remarks on the History and Authenticity of the Autograph
original of the Annals of the Four Masters, now deposited in
the Library of the Royal Irish Academy".
This profomid and accomplished antiquary followed the
O'Conors unsuspectingly, in reading these signatures, and his
and their reading was received and adopted by all the Irish
scholars in Dublin at the tmie, and for some seventeen years
after. However, in the year 1843, the Royal Irish Academy
did me the honour to employ me to draw up a descriptive cata-
logue of their fine collection of Irish manuscripts. For some
considerable time before this I had entertained a suspicion that
O'Donnell, Prince of Donegall, was a false reading of the sig-
nature, for this, among other reasons, that there was no " O'Don-
nell", Prince of Donegall, in existence at the time, namely, in
the year 1636, nor for more than sixteen years before that pe-
riod, those titles having become extinct when Hugh Roe O'Don-
nell, and after him, his brother Rory, had received and adopted
the English title of Earl of Tirconnell at the beginning of that
century. The first of these brothers having died in Spain in
1602, and the second having fled from Ireland in 1607, and
died in Rome in 1608, and no chief having been lawfully
elected in his place, consequently there was no man living in
150
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Annals of
THE Four
Mastkes.
LECT.vii. 1636 wlio could with propriety sign tlie name " O'Donnell" to
tliis testimonium. And, even if there had been, it would be an
act totally unbecoming his name and house to extend the dig-
nity of his name only to a great national hterary work, which had
been compiled within his own ancient principality, yet at the
expense of one of the chiefs of a different race and province.
Satisfied with this argument, and seeing that there was room
for a Christian name before the surname, when I came to de-
scribe this volume in my catalogue I applied to the Council of
the Academy, through the then secretary, the Rev, Dr. Todd
(now President of the Academy), for Hberty to apply a proper
preparation to the part of the vellmn which appeared blank
before the name O'Donnell, and between it and the margin of
the page. The academy complied with my request. I took the
necessary means of reviving the ink, and in a little time I was
rewarded by the plain and clear reappearance of what had not
been before dieamt of There, surely enough, were the name
and the title of " Bonaventura O'Donnell", with the words
added, "Jubilate Lector".
Mr. Owen Connellan was ignorant of this reading when his
translation of this volume of the Annals was published in the
year 1846. Dr. O'Donovan, the able editor of the more elabo-
I'ute, learned, and perfect edition of this volume, in the introduc-
tion published by him to that work in 1848, acknowledged
with satisfaction the discovery I had made, justly important as
it seemed to him at the time. In the recast of his introduction
to the first division of the work, as corrected for publication in
1851, he has, however, only retained the reading, omitting to
refer to what I had done, and thus leaving it uncertain at what
time, under what circumstances, and by whom, the true read-
ing was discovered, and these circumstances I have thought
it but fair to myself here again to place on record.
In making use of the rich materials thus collected, O'Clery,
as might be expected from his education and position, took
special care to collect from every available source, and to put
on imperishable record, among the gi'eat monuments of the
nation, not only the succession and obits of all the monarchs,
provincial kings, chiefs, and heads or distinguished members of
famihes, but also, as far as he could find them, the succession
and deaths of the bishops, abbots, superiors, superioresses, and
other distinguished ecclesiastics and religious of the countless
churches, abbeys, and convents of Ireland, from the first founding
of its civil and of its religious systems, down to the year 1611.
The work of selection and compilation having been finished,
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 151
as we have seen, in the year 1636, Father O'Clery, to stamp lect. vii.
on it a character of truthfuhiess and importance, carried it for
inspection to two of the most distinguished Irish scholars then annals op
living, whose written approbation and signature he obtained masters!'
for it ; these were Flann Mao Aedhagan of Bally Mac Aedh-
again, in the County of Tipperary, and Conor Mac Bruaideadlia
(or Brody) of Cill-Chaidhe and Leitir Maelain in the Coimty of
Clare. And, along with these, he procured for his work the
approbations and signatures of Malachy O'Kelly, Archbishop
of Tuam; Baothghalach or Boetius Mac Aegan, Bishop of
Elfinn ; Thomas Fleming, Archbishop of DubHn, Primate of
Ireland; and Fr. Roche, Bishop of Kildare; and thus forti-
fied with the only approbation which he deemed necessary
to give general currency and a permanent character to his
work, he committed it (in manuscript only) to the care of time
and to the affection and veneration of his countrymen.
Upon the chronology of the Annals Dr. O'Conor has made
the following remarks in his Catalogue of the Stowe MSS.
(among Avhich is one of the original copies of this work),
" This volimie begins, hke most chronicles of the middle
ages, from the Deluge, which it dates with the Septuagint,
Anno ]\Iundi 2242 ; and ends with the Anglo Norman inva-
sion of Ireland, a.d. 1171. * * * * * *
" Notwithstanding these approbations, there are some glaring
faults in these annals, which no partiality can disguise. The
first, and greatest of all faults, relates to their system of chrono-
logy. We quarrel not with their preferring the chronology of
the Septuagint to that of the Hebrew text : great men have
adopted the same system ; making the first year of om' era agree
with the year of the world 5199. But in applying it to chrono-
logy, they commit two faults. Dating by the Christian era,
they generally place the events four years, and sometimes five,
before the proper year of that era, down to the year 800, when
they approach nearer to the true time; tliis is their greatest
fault; and it is evident, from the eclipses and corresponding
events occasionally mentioned by themselves. From the year
800 to 1000, they differ sometimes by three years, sometimes by
two. From the year 1000, their chronology is perfectly accu-
rate. Their second fault is more excusable, because it is com-
mon to all the annalists of the middle ages ; they advance the
antiquities of their coimtry several centuries higher than their
own successions of kings and generations by eldest sons will
permit.
" Following the technical chronology of Coeman, they ought
LECT. VII
Of the
152 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
to have stated, in notes, the chronology of Flann, who preceded
Coeman, and given the Christian era accurately, as it agrees
Annals of with the ycars of the Julian period, and of the Roman Consvils
mTsteks.' and Emperors, whom they synchronise. This is Bede's method,
and has been that of all the best chronologers, who, by adliering
to it, have successfully determined the chronology of Europe.
" ' We see no reason for denjang to Ireland a series of kings
older than any in Europe', says Mr. Pinkerton.
" The oldest Greek writers mention Albion and lerne as in-
habited ; and Pliny says, no doubt from the Pha?nician annals,
which are quoted by Festus, that the Phoenicians traded with
those islands in the days of Midacritus, a thousand years before
the Christian era. But to begin the pagan history of Ireland
nearly 3000 years before that era, is absurd ; and to make the
events of the Christian period diiFer, by four years, from the re-
gular course of that reckoning, is not excusable. This difference,
hovv'ever, is easily adjusted, because it is uniform down to the
year 900, except in a very few instances, which are corrected
and restored to their true places in the notes.
" The grand object of the Four Masters is to give chronological
dates, and, with the exceptions above, nothing can be more ac-
curate. The years of foundations and destructions of churches
and castles, the obituaries of remarkable persons, the inaugura-
tions of kings, the battles of chiefs, the contests of clans, the ages
of bards, abbots, bishops, etc., are given with a meagre fidelity,
which leaves nothing to be wished for but some details of man-
ners, which are the grand desideratum in the Chronicles of the
British Islands" [p. 133].
With all that Doctor O'Conor has so judiciously said here, I
fully agree. A book, consisting of 1100 quarto pages, begin-
ning with the year of the world 2242, and ending with the year
of our Lord's Incarnation 1616, thus covering the immense space
of 4500 years of a nation's history, must be dry and meagre of de-
tails in some, if not in all, parts of it. And although the learned
compilers had at their disposal, or within their reach, an immense
mass of historic details, still the circumstances rmder which
they wrote were so unfavourable, that they appear to have exer-
cised a sound discretion, and one consistent with the economy of
tune and of their resources, when they left the details of our very
early history in the. safe keeping of such ancient original records
as from remote ages preserved them, and collected as much as
they could make room for of the events of more modern times,
and particularly of the eventful times in which they lived them-
selves. This was natural ; and it must have appeared to them
that the national history, as written of old, and then still amply
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 153
preserved, was in less danger of being quite lost or questioned lect. vii.
than that more modern history wliicli approached more nearly
to their own era, till at last it became conversant with facts of annals of
which they were themselves witnesses, and many of the actors MrsTEi^s!'
in which were personally known to them ; and so they thickened
the records as much, I believe, as they possibly could, in the
twelfth, thirteenth, foiu^teenth, and fifteenth, and particularly in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
This last part of the Annals was evidently intended to be a
history ; but it is clear that the first, perhaps for the reason I
have just stated, was not intended to be anything more than a
skeleton, to be at some future time clothed with flesh and blood
from the large stock of materials which might still remain, and
which in fact has remained to the successors of the Four Mas-
ters ; and the exact value of these materials in reference to a
complete history will be seen when, in a future lecture, we come
to deal with the historical tales and other detailed compositions
containing the minute occurrences of life, and the lesser and
more unimportant but still most interesting facts of history in
the early ages of the coimtry.
You have already heard, in the quotations from Dr. O'Conor,
the opinions of the learned but sceptical Pinkerton on the an-
tiquity of our monarchy and the general authenticity of our
history ; let me now read for you the opinion of another Scotch-
man, in no way inferior to him in general literary knowledge,
profound research, and accurate discrimination. I mean Sir
James Mackintosh, who, having become acquainted with the
character of these Annals from Dr. O'Conor s very inaccurate
Latin translation of the early part of them down to 1170, ac-
cords his favourable opinion of them in the following words : —
" The Chronicles of Ireland, written in the Irish language,
from the second century to the landing of Henry Plantagenet,
have been recently published with the fullest evidence of their
genuineness. The Irish nation, thoixgh they are robbed of
their legends by this authentic publication, are yet by it enabled
to boast that they possess genuine history several centuries
more ancient than any other European nation possesses in its
present spoken language. They have exchanged their legen-
dary antiquity for historical fame. Indeed no other nation
possesses any monument of literature in its present spoken lan-
guage, which goes back within several centuries of these chi'o-
nicles". — History of England, vol. i., chap. 2.
Moore, who was less profound as an historian, and, conse-
quently, more sceptical, remarks on this passage: "With the
exception of the mistake into which Sir James Mackintosh lias
154 \ OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
\
LECT. VII. liere, rather unaccountably, been led, in supposing tbat, among
Q^ ^,^ tlie written Irish chronicles which have come down to us, there
Annals of are any so early as the second century, the tribute paid by him
mj^ters!' to the authenticity and historical importance of these docu-
ments appears to me in the highest degree deserved, and
comes with more authority from a writer, whose command over
the wide domain of history enabled him fully to appreciate any
genuine addition to it". — History of Ireland, vol. i., p. 168.
The poet, however, lived to doubt his own competence to
offer such a criticism on the chronicles of his native country.
The first volume of his history was published in the year 1835,
and in the year 1839, dm'ing one of his last visits to the land of
his birth, he, in company with his old and attached friend, Dr.
Petrie, favoured me with quite an unexpected visit at the Royal
Irish Academy, then in Grafton Street. I was at that period
employed on the ordnance survey of Ireland ; and, at the time
of his visit, happened to have before me, on my desk, the
Books of Ballymote and Lecain, the Leabhar Breac, the An-
nals of the Four Masters, and many other ancient books, for his-
torical research and reference, I had never before seen Moore,
and after a brief introduction and explanation of the nature of
my occupation by Dr. Petrie, and seeing the formidable array
of so many dark and time-worn volumes by which I was sur-
rounded, he looked a little disconcerted, but after a while
plucked up courage to open the Book of Ballymote, and ask
what it was. Dr. Petrie and myself then entered into a short
explanation of the history and character of the books then pre-
sent, as well as of ancient Gaedlilic documents in general. Moore
listened with great attention, alternately scanning the books and
myself; and then asked me, in a serious tone, if I understood
'' them, and how I had learned to do so. Having satisfied him
upon these points, he turned to Dr. Petrie, and said: " Petrie,
these huge tomes could not have been written by fools or for
any foolish purpose. I never knew anything about them before,
and I had no right to have undertaken the History of Ireland".
Three volumes of his history had been before this time pub-
lished, and it is quite possible that it was the new light which
appeared to have broken in upon hun on this occasion, that
deterred him from putting his fourth and last volume to press
until after several years ; it is believed he was only compelled
to do so at last by his publishers in 1846.
I may be permitted here to observe, that what Sir James
Mackintosh and other great writers speak of so lightly, as the " le-
gendary" history of Ireland, is capable of authentic elucidation
to an extent so far beyond what they believed or supposed them
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 155
to be, as would both please and satisfy tluit distingixislied lect. vii.
writer and philosopher himself, as well as all other candid ^^.^^^^^
investigators. annals of
° THE FoUU
JLVSTEKS.
Of the Annals of the Four Masters, no perfect copy of
the autograph is now known to exist, though the parts of them,
so strangely scattered in difierent localities throughout Europe,
would make one perfect copy, and another nearly perfect.
To begin at home, the Royal Irish Academy holds, among its
other treasures of ancient Irish hteratvu*e, a perfect original — I
might say, the original — autograph copy of the Second Part of
these Annals, from the year 1170, imperfect, to the year 1(516.
The Ubrary of Trinity College, Dublin, also contains a part
of an autograph copy, beginning with the year 1335, and end-
ing with the year 1603.
Of the part preceding the year 1171, there are also two difFe-
Tent copies in existence, but unfortunately beyond the reach
of collation or useful examination. Of these, one — which, a
few years ago, and for some years previously, belonged to the
great library of the Duke of Buckingham at Stowe — has passed
by sale into the collection of Lord Ashburnham, where, with the
other Irish manuscripts that accompanied it, it is very safely
preserved from examination, lest an actual acquaintance with
their contents should, in the opinion of the very noble-minded
owner, decrease their value as mere matters of cmiosity at some
future transfer or sale.
How unfortunate and fatal that this vohmie, as well as the
other Irish manuscripts v.hich accompany it, and the most part
of which were but lent to the Stowe library, should have passed
from the inaccessible shelves of that once princely establishment
into another asylum equally secure and unapproachable to any
sdiolar of the " mere Irish" !
At the time of the advertised sale of the Stowe hbrary, in
1849, the British Museum made every effort to become the pur-
chasers, with the consent and support of the Treasury, through
Sir Robert Peel ; but the trustees delayed so long in determining
on what should be done, that the sale took place privately, and
the whole collection was carried off and incarcerated in a man-
sion some seventy miles from London.
The late Sir Robert Inglis and Lord Brougham were, I be-
lieve, most anxious to have this great collection deposited in the
British Museum ; but Mr. (now Lord) jMacaulay, the Essayist,
having been among the Museum Trustees who examined it, de-
clared that he saw nothing in the whole worth purchasing for
the Museum, but the correspondence of Lord Melville, a Scotch
nobleman, on the American war !
156
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. VII.
Of the
Anmals of
THE Four
Masteks.
Tlie second original copy of this first part is, but owing only to
its distance from us, as inaccessible as tlie one in Asbburnliam
House. It is in tlie Irisli College of St. Isidore in Rome. The
discovery of this volmne there, and of the important collection
of manuscripts, Gaedlilic and Latin, of which it forms a part, was
made by the late learned and lamented Dean Lyons, of Bel-
mullet, in the County of Mayo, in the years 1842 and 1843.
This learned priest, having occasion to spend some considerable
part of those years in Rome, was requested at his departure, by
some friends of Irish literatiue in Dublin, to examine, should time
permit him, the great literary repositories of the Eternal City,
and to bring, or send home, tracings of any ancient Gaedhhc ma-
nuscripts wliich he might have the good fortune to light upon.
He accordingly, on the 1st of Jmie, 1842, wrote home a letter
to the Rev Dr. Todd and to Dr. O'Donovan, apprising them
that he had discovered, in the College of St. Isidore, several an-
cient Gaedlilic and Latin manuscripts, which formerly belonged
to Ireland and to Irishmen ; and on the 1st of July in the ensuing
year of 1843, he addressed another letter to the same parties on
the same subject. These letters contained accurate descriptions
of the condition and extent of the Gaedhhc ]\ISS., together with
tracings from their contents, sufficient to enable me to identify
the chief part of them.
Among these JNISS. at St. Isidore's, there was found an auto-
graph of the first part of the Annals of the Four Masters, com-
ing doAvn to the year 1169, with the "Approbations" and all the
prefatory matter. This is the only autograph of the first part now
known, save that formerly at Stowe ; and both being inaccessible
at the time of the publication of the whole work a few years ago,
the learned and able editor, Dr. O'Donovan, was obhged to use
Dr. O'Conor's inaccurate version, only correcting it by modern
copies here, as may be seen in his introduction.
The novel and important discovery of this collection excited
so great a degree of interest in Dublin at the time, that a sub-
scription for their purchase, should it be found practicable, was
freely and warmly talked of
Upon the return of Dr. Lyons to Ireland, Dr. Todd opened
a correspondence with him as to his views of the possibility of
the authorities in Rome consenting to the sale of these MSS.
Dr. Lyons's answer was encouraging, and in order to prepare
him for bringing the matter before the proper parties, he re-
quested that I should di'aw up a short paper upon their contents,
the importance of having them here at home, and the intrinsic
value of the whole according to the rate at which Gaedlilic ma-
nuscripts were estimated and sold in Dubhn at the time.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 157
This paper, or letter, was transmitted to Rome at the time by lect. yii.
Of the
Dr. Lyons ; but his own lamented death occurring shortly afte
the correspondence through that channel was interrupted, and annals o^
the famine having set in about the same time, the spirit of the m^tei"'
country was checked, objects of more immediate importance
pressed themselves on the minds of men, and the subject was
forgotten for a time. There are, however, in Dublin a few spi-
rited men, who, within the last two years, have offered a hand-
some sum of money from their private purses for those manu-
scripts for public pm'poses ; but they seem not to have been able
to convey their proposal through an eligible channel, and so no
satisfactory result has followed their laudable endeavours.
I may perhaps be pardoned for adding here, that the short ca-
talogue of the St. Isidore manuscripts which I di'ew up for Dean
Lyons, and Avhich he transmitted to Rome, was subsequently
pubHshed without acknowledgment, by the Rev. J. Donovan,
in the third volume of his "Ancient and Modern Rome".
To resume. It will be remembered that in Michael O'Clery's
address to Fergal O'Gara he pays him, along with many others,
the following compliment : —
" For every good that will result from this book, in giving
light to the people in general, it is to you that thanks should
be given, and there should exist no wonder or surprise, jealousy,
or envy at any good that you do, for you are of the race of
Ebe7' Mac Mileadli]\ etc., etc.
On this passage the editor, Dr. Donovan, comments some-
what unnecessarily, I think, in the following words : —
" If O'Donnell were iu the country at the time, he ought to
have felt great envy and jealousy that the Four Masters should
have committed this work, which treats of the O'Donnells more
than of any other family, to the world under the name and
patronage of any of the rival race of Oilioll Ohiim, much less
to so petty a chieftain of that race as O'Gara. This ■will appear
ob^aous from the Contention of the Bards".
Nothing, however, appears more obvious from the Conten-
tion of the Bards, than (as I have already shown and as is
proved by Annluan Mac jEgan's acknowledgment) that the
northern Bards were worsted in the contest ; and notliing has
been put forward to show O'Donnell's superior claims to the
patronage of a historical work, but that his own family figures
more conspicuously in it than any other of the nation. This
argument, however, on inquiry, will scarcely be foimd to hold
good, and before I pass on it may perhaps be worth while to
answer it at once by referring to some few statistics of family
names occurrinof in these Annals.
158
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
LECT. VII.
Of the
Annals nr
THE Four
Masters.
The name of O'Donnell of Donegall, I find, appears Avith
Christian names 210 times, and under the general name of
O'Donnell only 78 times, making an aggregate of 288 times.
Now the O'Briens (the rival race of Oilioll Oluini), appear
with Cliristian names 233 times, and under the general name
of O'Briens 21 times, making an aggregate of 254 times in
every way; so that, even as the annals stand, there is no great
diiference in this respect. And it is certain that if the O'Clerys
had swelled their Annals with entries from Mac Grath's Wars
of Thomond, from the year 1272 to the year 1320, as they
have filled them, from the local history, with the achievements
of the O'Donnells from the year 1472 to the year 1600, the
names of the O'Briens would be found far to outnumber those
of the O'Donnells. Besides this, the O'Donnells had no pre-
tension to extreme jealousy with the race of Oilioll Oluim, as the
former only became known as chiefs of Tirconnell, on the de-
cay or extinction of the more direct lines of Conall Gulban in
they year 1200, whereas the Mac Carthys represented the line
of Eoghan Mor, the eldest son of Oilioll Olicim, from the year
1043 ; and the O'Briens represented Cormac Cas, the second
son of Oilioll Oluim, from the battle of Clontarf, in the year
1014. But what is somewhat singular, in reference to Dr.
O'Donovan's remark, and as shown by these statistics, is, that
the O'Gara represents Cian, another son of Oilioll Oluim, in
their ancient principality of Luigline or Leyney, in Shgo, from
a period so far back as the year 932 ; that is, the name of the
O'Gara is older even than that of Mac Carthy by more than
100 years ; than that of O'Brien by about 80 years ; and than
that of O'Donnell by about 300 years.
As a small tribute of respect, then, fairly, I think, due to the
O'Gara family as the patrons of the splendid work of the
O'Clerys, it may be permitted me to insert here from these
Annals the succession of their chiefs, from the year 932 to the
year 1495, after which (and it is rather singular), they dis-
appear from the work. [See Appendix, No. LXIX.]
I have devoted the entire of the present lecture to a very
summary accoimt of the greatest body of Annals in existence
relating to Irish History. The immense extent of the work
would indeed render it impossible for me to include in one
lecture, or even in two or three lectures, anything like an ade-
quate analysis of the vast mass and comprehensive scope of the
history contained in it. I have, therefore, confined myself to
some explanation of the nature and plan of the labours of the
Four Masters, that you may understand at least what it was
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 159
they undertook to do, and that you may know wliy it is that lect. vii.
this magnificent compilation has ever since been regarded by
true scholars, and doubtless will ever be looked up to, as of the axnals of
most certain and unimpeachable authority, and as affording a MTsTEiis"
safe and soHd foundation for the labours of future historians. It
is fortunate, however, that the Annals of the Four Masters are
no longer like the other Annals, of which I have given you
some account, preserved only in the almost inaccessible recesses
of a few libraries of MSS. It is fortunate that you can now
consult for yourselves (in the pages of a beautifully printed
edition), those invaluable records, whose importance it has been
my object in this lecture shortly to explain to you, and which,
if you would acquire an accurate acquaintance with your
country's history, you must diligently study again and again.
Portions of these Annals had been published before the ap-
pearance of the great volumes to which I allude.
The Rev. Charles O'Conor, librarian to the late Duke of
Buckingham, printed, in 1826, an edition of what is called the
First Part of those Annals (that part, namely, which ends at
the year 1171, or about the period of the Norman Invasion). It
occupies the whole of the third volume of his Renim Hiheryii-
carum Sa'iptores, a large quarto of 840 pages. It is printed
from the autograph text in the Stowc Hbrary, and the editor
has given the Irish text (but in Latin characters), as well as a
translation and copious notes in the Latin language. This edi-
tion is certainly valuable, but it is very inaccurate. I need not,
however, occupy your time with any detailed account of it, not
only because it has been since superseded by a work of real au-
thority, bi^t because I have already discussed (and shall have
reason again to observe at some little length on) the literary ca-
pabihty and the historical knowledge of the reverend editor.
A translation of the Second Part of the Annals, that is,
from A.D. 1171 to the end of the work at a.d. 1616, was pub-
lished in Dublin in 1846, by the late B. Geraghty, of Anglesca
Street. The original Irish is not given in this edition, but
the translation was made by ]Mr. Owen Connellan from a copy
transcribed some years before by him from the autograph in the
library of the Royal Irish Academy. This volume, though con-
taining only the translation, extends to 720 pp., large 4to, closely
printed in double columns, with notes by Dr. JNlac Dermott.
I have mentioned both these publications only because it
would be improper to omit noticing the fact that such attempts
had been made to place the substance of the Annals in the hands
of the reading public at large. But I need not enter into any
criticism upon the labours of Mr. Connellan any more than those
160
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS.
Of the
Anxals of
THE Four
Masters.
LECT. VII. of Dr. O'Gonor. For tlae Annals of the Foiu' Masters are now
at last accessible to all, in a form the most perfect as regards
typography, and the most copious and correct as regards
translation and annotation, that the anxious student of our
history can desire. I allude, of coiu'se, to the magnificent work
to which I have abeady more than once referred, edited by
Dr. John O'Donovan, and published to the world, in 1851,
by Mr. George Smith, of Grafton Street. It is to this edition
that in future every student must apply himself, if he desires to
acquire only reliable information ; it is, in the present state of
om* knowledge, the standard edition of that work, which must
form the basis of all fruitful study of the history of Ireland ; and it
is in consequence of this, its peculiar character, that I feel bound
to lay so strong an emphasis upon my recommendation of Dr.
O'Donovan's Annals to yoiu" special, if not exclusive, attention.
Dr. O'Donovan's work is in seven large quarto volumes ; and
the immense extent of the O'Clerys' labours may be imagined
by those of my hearers who have not yet opened these splendid
books, when I inform them that the seven volumes contain no
less than 4,215 pages of closely printed matter. The text is
given in the Irish character, and is printed in the beautiful type
employed in the printing ofiice of Trinity College, and the
forms of which were carefully drawn from the earhest authori-
ties by the accurate and elegant hand of my respected friend.
Dr. Petrie. The translation is executed with extreme care.
The immense mass of notes contains a vast amount of informa-
tion, embracing every variety of topic — historical, topographical,
and genealogical — upon which the text requires elucidation,
addition, or correction ; and I may add, that of the accuracy
of the researches which have borne fruit in that information, I
can myself, in almost every instance, bear personal testimony.
There is but one thing to be regretted in resjject of Dr. O'Don-
ovan's text, and that is the circumstance to which I have
abeady called jour attention. In the absence of both of the
autograph INISS. of the First Part of the work (that is, before
A.D. 1171), one of which is kept safe from the eye of every
Irish scholar in the Stowe collection, now in the possession of
Lord Ashburnham, while the other still remains in the Library
of St. Isidore's, in Rome, the editor was obliged to take Dr.
O'Conor's inaccurate text, correcting it, as best he could, by
collation with two good copies which exist in Dublin. The
second part of the annals is printed from the autograph MS. in
the Royal Irish Academy, compared with another autograph
copy in Trinity College. The text of this part is, therefore,
absolutely free from errors.
OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 161
This noble work, extending to so great a length, and occu- lect. vn.
pied (notes as well as text) with so many thousands of subjects, ^^ ^^^^
personal and historical, had need of an Index as copious as anxai.s op
itself to complete its practical importance as a book of reference. mIIteks!'
Tliis great labour has been included in the plan of Dr. O'Do-
novan's publication, and the student will find appended to it
hvo complete Indexes, one to all the names of persons, the other
to all the names of places referred to throughout the entire.
So that, in the form in which the work appears, as well as in
the substantial contents of these splendid volmnes, there is
absolutely nothing left to be desired.
Upon the learning and well earned reputation of the editor,
Dr. O'Donovan, it would ill become me, for so many years his
intimate fellow labourer in the long untrodden path of Irish
historical inquiry, to enlarge. But I cannot pass from the
subject of this lecture without recording the grateful sense
wdiich I am sure all of you (when yovi examine the magnificent
volmnes of which I have been speaking) must feel, as I do, of
the singular public spirit of Mr. George Smith, at whose sole
risk and expense this vast publication was undertaken and com-
pleted. There is no instance that I know of, in any country,
of a work so vast being undertaken, much less of any com-
pleted in a style so perfect and so beautiful, by the enterprise
of a private publisher. Mr. Smith's edition of the Annals was
brought out in a way worthy of a great national work, — nay,
worthy of it, had it been undertaken at the public cost of a
great, rich, and powerful peoj^le, as alone such works have
been imdertaken in other countries. And the example of so
much spirit in an Irish pubHsher — the printing of such a book
in a city like Dublin, so long shorn of metropolitan wealth as
well as honoiu's — cannot fail to redound abroad to the credit of
the whole country, as well as to that of om- enterprising fellow-
citizen. As, then, the memory of the Four Masters themselves
will probably be long connected ■with the labours and name of
their annotator, Dr. O'Donovan, so also I wovild not have any of
you forget what is due to the pubHsher of the first complete edi-
tion of the Annals when you open it, as I hope every student of
this national University ■v\'ill often and anxiously do, to ^pply
yourselves to study the gTcat events of your country's history in
the time-honoured records collected by the O'Clerys.
11
LECTURE VIII.
[Delivered July 7, 185fi.]
Of the other Works of the Four Masters. The " Succession of the Kings".
The " Book of Invasions". O'Clcry's Glossary.
In my last lecture I concluded tlie subject of tlie various
regular Annals wliicli liave come down to us. In connection
with tlie subject of the last and greatest of these invaluable
compilations, the Annals of the Four Masters, it became my
duty, in explaining how that noble work was midertaken, to
offer you some short accomit of the O'Clerys, its principal
authors, and their learned associates. Before I pass, then, to
an examination of the various other soiu'ces from which tlie
student will have to draw the materials of the yet imwritten
History of Erinn, it will perhaps be convenient that I should
here conclude what I have to say to you upon the other histo-
rical works handed down to us by the Foiu- Masters. These
works (alluded to in that preface of Colgan's which you heard
quoted at such length in the last lecture) are all to a great
extent parallel with that which last engaged our attention.
Their plan is not the same ; and, though a great number of
facts are recorded in all the several series of the O'Clerys'
writings, the details are rarely repeated; and each of these
books, contemporaneous in execution as they were, must be
studied as the necessary complement of the others of them. It
is much to be regretted, that none of them, as yet, has met
with the good fortune of the Annals, in being published in any
form to the world; and I am sm-e, when you have become
aware of their extent and value, you wiU join with me in the
hope that the present generation may see these works also of
our great annalists brought out in a style worthy of the splendid
volumes edited by Dr. O'Donovan.
The SuocEs The first of the historical books of the O'Clerys, referred to
sioN' OF THE \)y Qolgau, to wliicli I sliall direct yom' attention, is that called
the Rehn Rioghxddhe [pron : nearly, " Rem Ree-riah"], or Suc-
cession OF THE Kings. And, as you are now acquainted with
the manner in which the masters approach their subjects, in
these serious histoi-ical compositions, perhaps the best course
OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 163
I can take to-day is to open at once the autlior's Preface to lect. yiii.
the Reim Rioghraidhe, of which the following may be taken as ^^^^ ^^^^ct^^.
a sufficiently accurate translation [see original in Appendix sign of the
No. LXX.]:— '"''*''■
" In nomine Dei. Amen.
" On the third day of the month of September, Anno
Christi 1644, tliis book was commenced to be written, in the
house of Conall, son of Niall, son of Rossa Mageoghegan, oi' Lios
3faighnS, in Cenel Fhiachach (in Westmeath), one by whom are
prized and preserved the ancient monuments of our ancestors ;
one who is the industrious collecting Bee of everything that be-
longs to the honour and history of the descendants of IMilesius
and of Licgaidh, son of Ith, both ky and ecclesiastical, as far as
he coidd find them. And what is written in this book is,
the Reim Rioghraidhe (the Succession of the Kings), and the
history of the Saints of Erinn, which are now corrected and
amended by these persons following — viz., the Friar Michael
O'Clery, Ferfeasa O'Mulconry, and Cucoigcriche O'Duigenan,
all of them persons learned in the Irish language. And it is
taken from the principal ancient Books of Erinn, in the Con-
vent of Athlone, as v/e have before stated [it does not appear
where] ; as well as from the historical poem, written by Gilla
Caomhain CCuirnin, which begins (Eire 6g mis na naomJi)
(Virgin Eire, Island of Saints), and another poem, written by
Aengus Mac an Ghohhann (Aengus Ceile De., or the Culdee),
which begina, ^ JVaomhsheanchiis naomh Inse FdiV (the sacred
history of the saints of Inis Fail), and another poem, which
begins ' Athair chdigh chuimsigh nimhe^ (Father of all, Ruler of
Heaven).
" This book contains also the Book of Rights, which was
originally ordered by Saint Benean, and is copied from a book
which was written by the aforesaid Conall [IMageoghegan] on
the 4tli of August, 1636, from the Book of Lecain,wdiich had been
lent to him by the Protestant Primate [Ussher], which Book of
Lecain was written a long time before that, by Adam J/or O'Cuir-
nin for Gilla Isa Mor Mac Firbis, Ollamh of Ui-Fhiachrach,
Anno Domini 1418; and Morroch Riahhach GCoinlisg wrote
more of it, in the house of Rory O'Dowda, King of Hy-
Fiachrach of the jMoy. The present book contains, besides,
the history of the cause why the Boromean tribute Avas imposed
on the Lagenians, and the person by whom it was imposed ;
and the history of the coming of the Delvians (Mac Cochlan)
into ' Conn's Half of Erinn, out of Munster. It contains, also,
the history of the cause why Feyiius Farsaidh went to learn
11b
164 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS.
I.KCT. VIII. poetry to the Tower of Nimrod, in preference to any other
™ o place ; and the names of the various lano^uaofes that were known
The SuccES- r ' . i • i i ^ ^i i- i
sioNOFTHE at that time, and irom wnicn the (jraedhhc language was
brought away by Gaedliel, the son of Etlteor, from whom it
derives its name. And it contains an account of the death of
Conn of the himdred battles. It also contains the seven fatali-
ties of the monarchs of Erinn, and the fatalities of the pro-
vincial kings in like manner; and the poem wliicli begins
Roileag laoch leithe Cidnn (the burial place of the heroes of
Conn's Half) [of Erinn], which was completed, and finished,
and put into this book, on the 25th day of September of that
same year before mentioned (1644), by the Friar Paul OColla,
of the order of Saint Francis, in the house of the aforesaid
Conall [Mageoghegan]. It Hkewise contains the pedigrees of
the monarchs of Erinn, and the length of time that each
reigned ; and it contains the genealogies of the Irish saints as
they have been collected from the books of the old writers, set
down according to their descent, in alphabetical order ; [all] to
the glory of God, and the honour of the saints and of the
kingdom ; and to diffuse the knowledge and iiitelligence of the
things aforesaid, and of the authors who preserved the history
of Erinn, before and after the introduction of Christianity.
Finished in the Observantine Convent of Athlone, in the
Bishopric of Clonmacnois, 1630".
[It is observable that the authors profess to include, in a single
book, not only the succession of the kmgs, but also the gene-
alogy of such of the saints of Erinn as descended from them,
and which Colgan treats as a separate work.]
The following is O'Clery's Dedication [see original in Appen-
dix, No. LXXL] :—
" To Torloch Mac Cochlain".
" After I, the poor Friar Michael O'Clery, had been four
years, at the command of my superior, engaged in collecting
and bringing together all that I could find of the history of the
saints of Ireland, and of the kings to whom their pedigrees are
carried uj), it occurred to me that it would not be judicious to
put that collection into other lanciuatjes,'-^^^ without the authority,
proof, and inspection of other historians. I also considered
that the aforesaid work could not be finished without expense.
But such was the poverty of the order to which I belong, on
account of their vow and the oppressions of the time, that I
was obliged to complain of it to gentlemen who were not bound
(■lo^ It is to be remembered tliat I am not transcribing from tlie autograph
OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 105
to poverty by vow. And, among tliose to whom I made my lect. vm.
complaint, 1 found no one to relieve my anxiety towards _ 4
bringing this work to completion, but one person who was sionof the
willing to assist me, to the promotion of the glory of God, the ^''"^*'
honour of the saints and the kingdom, and the good of his own
soul. And that one person is Torloch Mac Cochlain. [Here
follows the pedigree of Mac Cochlain.] And it was this Tor-
loch Mac Cochlain that forwarded this work, and that kept
together the company that were engaged in completing it, along
with the private assistance given by the aforesaid convent every
day. On the 4th day of October, therefore, this book was com-
menced, and on the 4th day of November, it was finished, in
the convent of the friars before mentioned, in the fifth year of
the king Charles of England, 1630".
It is remarkable that we have not the a\itograph original of
any part of these two books, or rather this one book, now in
Ireland.
After this Dedication, or notice, follows, in the original, an
Address to the reader [see original in Appendix, No. LXXIL],
much of which is so characteristic of the simple enthusiasm of
the writer, and so pathetic in the appeal it contains to the ten-
derness of Gaedhhc patriotism, that I cannot omit to lay it
before you. " Strangers", says Michael O'Clery, " have taken
the principal books of Erinn into strange countries and among
unknown people". . You have heard of many new instances
of this hard fate of our most ancient books since O'Clery 's
time, and of the difficulties and annoyances which the humble
followers of our great liistorians have met with in their re-
searches, even in oiir own days, from the same cause. It is
remarkable enough, that of the three books of the O'Clerys
which Colgan spoke of, we do not possess, to-day, the original
of any one in this country.
" Address to the reader.
" What true children are there that would not feel pity and
distress, at seeing, or hearing of, their excellent mother and
nurse being placed in a condition of indignity and contcinpt,
of dishonour and contumely, without making a visit to her to
bring her solace and happiness, and to give her assistance and
relief?
" Upon its having been observed by certain parties of the
natural order of Saint Francis, that the holiness and righteous-
ness of their mother and nurse — Erinn — had perceptibly dimi-
nished, for not having the lives, wonders, and miracles of her
saints disseminated within her, nor yet made known in other
166 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS.
LKCT. VIII. kingdoms ; the counsel tliey adopted was, to send from tliem
The succEs- ^^^^ Erinn a poor Friar Minor of their own, tlie Observantine
sioN OF THE Order, Michael O'Cleiy (a chronicler by descent and education),
^^^'^^' in order to collect and bring to one place all the books of
authority in which he could discover anything that related to
the sanctity of her saints, with their pedigrees and genealogies.
" Upon the arrival of the aforesaid friar, he sought and
searched through every part of Erinn in which he had heard
there was a good or even a bad book [i.e. Gaedhlic MS.] ; so
that he spent fovir full years in transcribing and procuring the
matters that related to the saints of Erinn. However, though
great his laboiu' and his hardships, he was able to find but a
few out of the many of them, because strangers had carried off
the principal books of Erinn into remote and unknown foreign
countries and nations, so that they have left her but an insigni-
ficant part of her books.
"And, after what the aforesaid fiiar could find had been
collected to one place, what he thought of and decided to do
was this — viz., to bring together and assemble in one place,
three persons whom he should consider most befitting and most
suitable to finish the work which he had undertaken (with the
consent of his superiors), for the purpose of examining all the
collections that he had made. These were — Ferfema O'Mul-
conry, from Bally Mulconry, in the County of Roscommon;
CncoigcricM O'Clcry, from Bally Clery, in the County of
Donegal; and Ciicoigcriche O'Duigenann from Baile-Coille-
foghair [now Castlefbre], in the County of Leitrim. These
persons, then, came to one place ; and, having come, the four
of them decided to write the Roll of the monarchs of Erinn at
the beginning of the book. They determined on this for two
reasons. The first reason, because the pedigrees of the saints
could not have been brought to their origin, -wathout having the
pedigrees of the early kings placed before them, because it was
from them they descended. The second reason, in order that,
the duty and devotion of the noble people to their saints, their
successors, and their chiu-ches, should be the greater, by their
having a knowledge of their relationship and friendship with
their blessed patrons, and of the descent of the saints from the
stem from which each branch of them sprung, and the number
of the saints of the same branch.
" And there is, indeed, a considerable section of the saints
of Erinn whose names may be found already entered in proper
order in old genealogical books, without intermixtm'e of descent,
the one with the other of them, as they branch off and separate
from their original stems.
OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS 167
" Whoever tliou art, then, O reader! we leave it to thySelf lect. vm.
to perceive that thou wilt find profit, sense, knowledo-e, and „, ^
1 • • 1 • 1 T-i 1 • • r ^1 ^ • The Slici:s-
brevity m tins work. J^or the entire succession oi the kings, sionokths
wdtli their pedigrees to their origin, will be found in it, in the
order in which they obtained the sovereignty in succession ;
together with the number of their years, the age of the world
at the end of the reign of each king of them, and the age of our
Lord Jesus from His Incarnation to the death of each, down to
the death of Malachy the Great [in a.d. 1022]. And the
saints are given according to their alpliabetical order, and their
orio'in, as we have already said. Glory be unto God.
" Your loving friends.
Brother Michael O'Clery.
Ferfeasa O'Mulconry.
Cucoigcriche O'Clery.
CucoigcrichS O'Diiigenan".
The autograph of this valuable work is in the College of
St. Isidore at Rome. There is, however, a copy of it in the
library of Trmity College, Dublin, made by Maurice O'Gorman,
about the year 1760 ; and another copy in the Royal Irish Aca-
demy, made by Richard Tipper, in the year 1716 ; but neither
of them contains the Book of Rights, spoken of above. The
list of saints is confined to the saints mentioned in tlie poem
before referred to, which begins " The Sacred History of the
Saints of Inisfail" ; . and is different from the Maityrology of
Donegall, comj)iled by the same pious and learned friar and his
associates.
The plan of this book, as you will have already seen, was,
first, to give the succession of the Monarchs of Erinn, from
the remotest times down to the death of Turlogh O'Conor, in
A,D. 1156, under their respective years of the age of the world
and of our Lord, according to the chronology of the Septua-
gint. And, second, to carry back to, and connect with, the
kings of this long line the generations of such of the primiti^^e
and chief saints of Ireland as descended from them, down to
the eighth century.
This list of pedigrees of the saints extends only to the names of
those found in the poem already mentioned, which begins, "The
Sacred History of the Saints of Inis FdiF. Nor are these given
promiscuously, but in classes ; such as all the saints that descend
from Conall Gulhan, in one class ; all the saints that descend
from Eoglian-i his brother, in another class ; all the saints that
descend from CoUa Uais, in another class ; all the saints that
descend from Oilioll Oluvn. in another class ; all the saints that
descend from Catliair M6r, King of Leinster, in another class ;
168 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS^
LECT. vin, and so on, tliroughout tlie four provinces. Festival days, and
^, „ a few historical notes, are added to some of them.
1 llG SUCCES- • . •
sioNOFTHE The poem from which this list of saints has been drawn is
^'^'^^' ascribed, in the preface, to Aengus Ceile DS (or the Culdee) ;
but this must be a mistake, as the composition of this poem is
totally inferior in style, vigour, and purity of diction, to any
other piece or fragment of the metrical compositions of that
remarkable man that has come down to our time. It is remark-
able, however, that although Michael O'Clery in the preface
ascribes this poem to Aengus, yet, when we come to where it
commences in the book, we find Eochaidh C Cleircein set
down as the author of it. This writer flourished in a.d. 1000,
or two hundred years later than Aengus. The poem certainly
belongs to this period, and appears to have been founded on
Aengus's prose tract on the pedigrees of the Irish saints ; and
whether O'Clery fell into a mistake in ascribing it to Aengus,
or whether Maiu'ice O'Gorman, the transcriber of the present
copy, committed a blunder, we have here now no means of
ascertaining.
The book in Trinity College, DubHn, is a small octavo, of
370 pages, in two volumes, and would make about 200 pages
of O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters.
The Book OP The Leahkav Gahhdla, or " Book of Invasions" (or " Con-
i.NVAsioNs. quests"), — the third of those alluded to by Colgan, — is perhaps
the most important of the three. It contains an ample record
of those traditions of the successive early colonizations of Ire-
land, which, in the most ancient times, appear to have been re-
garded as true history, but which were not inserted at length in
the Annals of Donegall. Upon the authenticity of these tradi-
tions, or ancient records (if, indeed, they have come down to us
in the form in which they really were believed two tliousand
years ago), this is not the place to enter into any discussion.
The object of the O'Clerys appears, however, to have been
simply to collect and put in order the statements they found in
the ancient books; and, as before, I shall let the Preface and
Address of the author of the " Book of Invasions" explain that
object in his own words.
The following is the Dedication, prefixed to his Leabhar
Gahhdla [see original in Appendix, No. LXXIIL] : —
" I, the friar Michael O'Clery, have, by permission of my
superiors, undertaken to purge of error, rectify, and transcribe
this old Chronicle called Leahhar Gahhdla, that it may be to
the glory of God, to the honour of the saints and the kingdom
OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 169
of Erinn, and to the welfare of my own soul. This under- lect. vm.
taking I could not accomplish without the assistance of other
chroniclers at some fixed abode. Upon communicating my in- ik^vasi"«s.°^
tention to thee, O ! Brien Roe Maguire, Lord of Enniskillen
\_Inis Cethlionn'] , the first of the race of Odhar who received
that title (which thou didst from his Majesty Charles, King of
England, France, Scotland, and Ireland, on the 21st of January,
in the year of our Lord Christ 1627, and the third year of the
king's reign), thou didst take in hand to assist me to commence
and conclude my undertaking, because thou didst deem it a pity
to leave in oblivion and unencouraged a work which would exalt
the honour of thine own ancestors, as well as of the saints, nobles,
and history of Erinn in general. After having, then, received
thine assistance, I myself, and the chroniclers whom, by the
permission of the Church, I selected as assistants, viz., Fearfeasa
O'Mulconry, Cucoigry O'Clcry, CucoigryO'Duigenan, and thine
own chief chronicler, Gillapatrick OLuirdn, went, a fortnight
before AlUiallow-tide, to the convent of Lisgoole, in the diocese
of Clogher, in Fermanagh, and we remained there together until
the following Christmas, by which time we had succeeded in
completing our imdertaking, under thy assistance, Lord Maguire.
" On the 22nd day of October, the corrections and comple-
tion of this Book of Invasions were commenced, and on the
22nd of December the transcription was completed in the con-
vent of the friars aforesaid, in the sixth year of the reign of
King Charles over England, France, Scotland, and Ireland, and
in the year of our Lord 1631.
" Thine affectionate friend. Brother Michael O'Clery".
The Preface, or Address to the Reader, follows [see original
in Appendix No. LXXIV.] : —
" It appeared to certain of the people, and to me, the poor
simple friar Michael O'Clery from Tirconnell, one of the native
friars of the convent of Donegall, whose inheritance it is from
my ancestors to be a chronicler, that it would be a charity for
some one of the men of Erinn to purify, compile, and re-write
the ancient honoured Chronicle which is called the Book of In-
vasions, for these reasons. The first reason : My superiors hav-
ing charged me to collect the Lives and Genealogies of the
Saints of Erinn from all places in which I could find them
throughout Erinn, after having done this, I selected associate
chroniclers to adjust, purify, and wi-ite as much as I could find
of tlris history of the saints, as well as the succession of the mo-
narchs of Erinn, to whom the pedigrees of the saints are carried
up, as may be seen in the book in which they are written. After
that, it occuri'ed to me that the work of wliicli I have spoken
170 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS.
LECT. VIII. was incomplete ■without correcting and writing tlie Book of In-
^ „ vasions already mentioned, becaixsc it is tire orioinal fountain of
TliG Book of *^ • • , o
iNv.vsio.N3, the history of the saints and kings of Erinn, of her nobles and
her people.
" Another reason too : I was aware that men, learned in Latin
and in English, had commenced to translate tliis Chronicle of
Erinn from the GaedhHc into these languages that we have
spoken of, and that they had not so profound a knowledge of the
Gaedhlic as that they could put the hard and the soft parts of
the said book together without ignorance or error ; and I felt
that the translation which they would make must (for want of a
knowledge of the Gaedhlic) become an eternal reproach and
disgrace to all Erinn, and particularly so to her chroniclers. It
was for these reasons that I iindertook, with the permission of
my superiors, to purify and compile this book, and to collect for
it, from other books, all that was wanting to it in history and in
other learning, as much as we could, according to the space of
time which we had to write it.
" The chroniclers who were with us for this pui'pose, and for
purifying the book, were, Fearfeasa O'Mulconry, from the
County of Roscommon ; Cucoigry O'Clery, from Bally Clery, in
the County of Doncgall ; Cucoigry O'Duigcnann, from Bally-
Coilltifo(/Jiair, in the County of Leitrim ; and Giollapatrick
OLuinin, from Ard Ui Liiinm, in the Coimty of Fermanagh.
" It is right that you should know that it was ancient writers
of remote times, and commemorating elders of great age, that
preserved the history of Erinn in chronicles and books in suc-
cession, from the period of the Deluge to the time of St. Patrick,
who came in the fourth year of the reign of Laeghaire mac JVeill,
monarch of Erinn, to plant religion and devotion in her ; when
he blessed Erinn, men and boys, women and girls, and built
numerous churches and towns throughout the land.
" Saint Patrick, after all this, invited unto him the most
illustrious authors of Erinn at that period, to jJreserve the chroni-
cles, synchronisms, and genealogies of every colony that had
taken possession of Erinn, down to that period. Those that
he invited unto him, at that time, were Ros ; Duhhthach, the
son of Ua Lughair; Ferghus, etc. These were the sustaining
pillars of the History of Erinn, in the time of Saint Patrick.
" St. Cohmi Cille, St. Finnen of Cluain lor ard [Clonard],
and St. Comgall, of Beannclmir [Bangor, in the County Down],
and the other saints of Erinn, induced the authors of their time
to perpetuate and amj^lify the history and synchronisms exist-
ing in their day. It was so done at their request. The authors
of the period of these saints, as is manifest in the latter part of
OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 171
Eochaidh OTlinn's poem, were, Fiontain, tlie son of Bochna; lect. a^hi.
Tiian^\\\Q son o^ C air ell, son oi Muiredhach Afuinderg, of the Dal ^^^
Fiatach; and Dalian Forgaill, the iUustrious author and saint. invasions.
" The histories and S3aichronisins of Erinn were written and
tested in the presence of these illustrious saints, as is manifest in
the great books which were named after the saints themselves,
and from their great churches ; for there was not an illustrious
church in Erinn that had not a great book of history named
from it, or from the saint who sanctified it. It would be. easy,
too, to know, from the books which the saints wrote, and the
songs of praise which they composed in GaedhHc, that they them-
selves, and their churches, were the centres of the true know-
ledge, and the archives and homes of the manuscripts of the
authors of Erinn, in the olden times.
" Sad evil ! short was the time imtil dispersion and decay
overtook the churches of the saints, their relics, and their books ;
for there is not to be found of them now, but a small remnant,
that has not been carried away into distant countries and foreign
nations ; carried away so that their fate is not known from that
time hither.
" The Books of Invasions which were present [_i.e., wdiich
we had by us], at the writing of these Conquests of Erinn,
were, the Book of Bally JMulconry, which Maurice, the son
of Paidin O'Mulconry, transcribed out of the Leahhar-na-
h- Uidhre, which was Aviitten at Cluainmicnois in Saint Ciaran's
time ; the Book of Bally Clery, which was wi'itten in the time
of Melsheachlainn 3I6r, the son of Domnall [king of Ireland,
who began his reign in the year 979] ; the Book of the O'Dui-
genanns, from Seanchua in Tirerill, and which is called the
Book of Glenn-da-locha ; and the Book of the Ua Chonghail;
together with other Books of Invasions and history, beside them.
" The sum of the matters to be found in the following book
is the taking of Erinn by [the Lady] Ceasair; the taking by
Partholan; the taking by Nemedh; the taking by the Firbolgs ;
the taking by the Tiiatha De Danann; the taking by the sons
of Miledh [or INliletius] ; and their succession down to the mo-
narch MelsheacJilairw, or Malachy the Great [who died in 1022] .
" We have declined to speak of the Creator's first order, of
the created things, the heavens, the angels, time, and the great
uncreated mass out of which the four elements were formed, by
the Divine will alone, in the six days work, \\ath all the animals
that inhabit the laud, the water, and the air ; because it is to
divines that it belongs to speak of these things, and because we
have not deemed any of these things to be necessary to our work,
with God's help. It is with men and time only that we deem
172 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS.
LECT. VIII, it proper to begin oiir work'^^'^ tliat is to say, from tlie creation
^, „ of the first man, Adam, whose descendants, our ancestors, we
The Book OF ,1,^11 . ^ ,. ' ,. . ' . '
Invasions, shall lollow m the cUrect line, generation alter generation, to
the conchision of this undertaking, with the end of the reign
of Malachy the Great, son of Domnall, who was the last undis-
puted king of Erinn within herself; and we have proceeded,
in this work, upon the authority of the Gaedhlic chroniclers who
have preceded us ; and we have adopted the rule of computation
of tha ages, as they have been found in the well- attested faithful
archives of the Church of Christ. For it is founded upon the
authority and faithfulness of the Holy Scriptures ; and we shall
show below how Hnk by link this rule of computation fixes the
course of ages, in point and in perfection, from Adam to the
birth of Christ down, and down again to the departiu'e of the
sovereignty from our nobles, as it was willed by God. We
give the computation of the Septuagint for the first four ages
of the world, together wHth the computation which the intelli-
gent and learned men who followed them applied to the ages
from tlie creation of the world till the birth of Christ, which
they divided into five parts — namely, from Adam to the Deluge,
2,242 years; from the Deluge to Abraham, 942 years; from
Abraham to David, 940 years ; from David to the Captivity, 485
years ; and from the Bondage to the Birth of Christ, 590 years.
" The reason that we have followed tlie authorities who
follow the Septuagint is, because they add the fifth age to their
ages, and, by so doing, they fill iip tlie period of 5,199 years,
from the creation of Adam to the birth of Christ. Among the
authors who follow the Septuagint, in the first four ages, are,
Eusebius, who, in his chronicle, computes from the creation of
Adam to the birth of Christ to be 5,199 years. Orosius, in
the first chapter of his first book, says, that there are from
Adam to Abraham 3,184 years; from Abraham to the birth of
Christ, 2,015 years, which make up the same number. These
were two illustrious and wise Christian historians. Saint
Jerome said also, in his Epistle to Titus, that 6,000 years of
the w^orlds age had not been then completed. Saint Augustine,
in the tenth epistle of his twelfth book of the City of God, says,
that the time from the creation of man to that time counts six
thousand years. Both these are said to agree with the prece-
ding authorities in the same enumeration of 5,199 years from
Adam to the birth of Christ. Another authority for the same
fact is the Roman Martyrology, which asserts that the full
(ii) The custom of the compilers of the older Books of Invasions was always
to commence with tlie Mosaic account of the creation. It is to this that
O'Clery alludes, in explaining his departure from this ancient usage of his
profession.
OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 173
•amount of tlie ages from tlie creation of the world to the bu-th lect. vin.
of Christ was 5,199 years". ITZ
' J The Book of
Ikvasio.ns.
The Preface ends here, and is followed by the certificates of
the assistant compilers of the work, with the approbations,
respectively, of Father Francis Mac Craith, Guardian of the
Convent of Lisgoole, where the work was compiled (dated the
22nd day of December, 1631), and of Carbry Mac ^gan, of
Bally Mac ^gan, in the County of Tipperary (the 31st of
August, 1631).
The original of this valuable book is now in the collection of
Lord Ashburnham, and there is a good copy of it in Trinity
College Library [H. 1. 12.]. There is a fine paper copy of it
in the Royal Irish Academy, made by Cucoigry O'Clery, evi-
dently for himself, but it wants the "whole prefatory matter
[No. 33. 4.]. This book is a small quarto of 245 pages, closely
and beautifully written, and equal to about 400 pages of O'Dono-
vau's Annals of the Four IMasters.
Of the ancient " Books of Invasions", mentioned by O'Clery
as having been used in the compilation of this book, we know
of none at present existing but L,eahhar-7ia-h-Uidhre, which
contains now but a small fragment of the Book of Invasions.
There are, however, copies of the tract preserved in the Books
of Leinster and Lecain, and a slightly imperfect copy in the
Book of Ballymote. '
The other Irish works compiled or transcribed by Brother tj,^ oj,,gp
Michael O'Clery, and of the existence of wliich we are aware, }y.°'"^*?^
are the following, now in the Burgundian Library at Brussels : O'Ciery.
1. A volume of Lives of Irish Saints, compiled and written
bj him in the year 1628.
2. Another large vohune of the Lives of the Irish Saints,
compiled and written in the year 1629.
3. A volume of Poems on the O'Donnells of Donegall. [These
three books I have never seen.]*^*-^
4. A volume containing many ancient and rare Irish Histo-
rical Poems, together with the unportant Tract known as the
Wars with the Danes. This volume was borrowed (with the Hbe-
ral sanction of the Belgian Government), a few years ago, by the
Rev. Dr. Todd, S.F.T.C.D., for whom I made a perfect copy of it.
5. The Skeleton Martyrology of Donegall [which I have
seen].
(42) Since the delivery of this lecture, the Brehon Law Commissioners borrowed
these three books, in the summer of 185G ; and I have read, and had several
extracts made from them.
174 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS.
LECT. Yiii. 6. The Perfect Martjrology of Donegall, full of important
The other ^^^tes aiicl aclditious. This volume was also borrowed by Dr.
Works of Todd, and of this too I made for him a perfect copy.
b'ciery. 7. A large volume containing, firstly, a collection of very cu-
rious and important ancient forms of prayer, and several religious
poems. It contains also a good copy of the Felive, or Festology
of Aengus Ceile De (or the Culdee), as well as copies of the
Martyrologies of Tamhlacht [Tallaght] and of Marianus Gorman.
With the exception of the Festology or Martyrology of Aengus,
no part of the contents of this most important book was to be
found in Ireland, until this also was obtained for a short time
from the Belgian Government by the same distinguished gentle-
man, and I have made a copy of it for him.
And here, while on the one hand I feel bound to express the
strong and grateful sense every Irish archseologist and historian
must feel of the enlightened liberality thus exhibited by the
Belgian Government (affording so very marked a contrast to
the conduct of the English pubhc authorities in such cases, as
well as to that of English private owners of manuscript works
of this kind), let me not omit to remark upon the example
which Dr. Todd's conduct suggests to all Irishmen, and parti-
cularly to those who are Catholics. For in this instance, as in-
deed m others too in which Dr. Todd was concerned, you have
an example of a Protestant gentleman, a clergyman of the Pro-
testant Church, and a Fellow of the Protestant University of
Dublin, casting away from him all the unworthy prejudices of
creed, caste, and position, with which, unfortunately, too many
of his class are filled to overflowing, and, like a true scholar and
a man of enlarged mind and understanding, endeavouring to
recover for his native country as much of her long-lost and
widely dispersed ancient Hterary remains as he can ; and this
too, I may add, at an exj)ense of time and money which few, if
any, in these very utiHtarian times, are found disposed to incur.
To my excellent friend, Mr. Lam'ence Waldi'on, IM.P., of
Ballybrack, in the County of Dublin, is dvie the first discovery
of the important collection of Irish MSS. at Brussels, about the
year 1844. He was the first that examined (at my request) the
Burgundian Library, and he brought me home tracings and de-
scriptions of great accuracy and of deep interest. These tracings
I placed in the hands of Dr. Todd, with a request that he would
take an opportunity to make a more minute examination of the
MSS. Mr. Samuel Bindon, however, having heard of their
existence, and ha^^dng occasion to spend some time at Brussels
in the year 1846, made an examination of them, and afterwards
compiled a short catalogue of them, which he published on his
OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 175
return liome, and which was read by the Rev. Dr. Todd before lect. yiit.
a meethig of the Royal Irish Academy on the 10th of May, 1847. ^^^j^^
Dr. Todd himself, and the Rev. Dr. Graves, F.T.C.D., both o-cieryMss.
visited Brussels shortly afterwards, and each of them brought "^ ^ ^^^^^
home yet more ample and accurate reports of those newly-dis-
covered literary treasm-es. Still, however, no competent person
has had time enough to make a detailed analysis of the collec-
tion. May I hope that it is reserved for the Catholic University
to accomplish an object so desirable and so pecuUarly congenial
to a yomig institution which aims to be a truly national one ?
To return from this digression. Besides the above important of Michael
compilations of the learned and tridy patriotic friar Michael ';!Ciery;s
O'Clery, he compned m the Insh college m Louvain, and pub-
lished in that city in the year 1643, a glossary of ancient and
almost obsolete Irish words of great interest and value, not only
at that period, but even still. And, as no description of mine
could be as accurate or satisfactory as that of the author himself,
I shall, as before, give you a literal translation of the title page,
and the valuable prefatory address to the Bishop of Elphinn,
who belonged himself, it appears, to the same Franciscan Order.
The work is entitled:
" A new Vocabulary or Glossary, in wliich are explained some
part of the difficult words of the Gaedhlic, written in alphabe-
tical order, by the poor rude friar Michael O'Clery, of the Order
of Saint Francis, in the College of the Irish friars at Louvain,
and printed by authority in the year 1643". [See original in
Appendix No. LXXV.j
The Dedication is as follows [see same App.] : —
" To my houovired lord and friend, Baothglialach [Latinized
Boetius] Mac -^gan, Bishop oi Ailjinn [Elphinn].
" Here is presented to you, my lord, a small gleaning of the
hard words of our native tongue, collected out of many of the
ancient books of our country, and explained according to the
understanding and glosses of the chief authors of our country
ill the latter times, to whom the explanation of the ancient
Gaedhilg peculiarly belonged.
" I know not in our country many to whom this gleaning
should be first offered before yourself And it is not alone be-
cause that our [conventual] habit is the same (areason which would
otlieri;\'ise be sufficient to point our attention to you above all
others), that has moved us to make you the patron of this book, but
along with that, and especially because of yoiu' own excellence,
and the hereditary attachment of youi- family to this profession.
And fiu'ther that a man of your name and surname, Baothglialach
176
OF THK WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS.
LECT. VIII
Of Michael
O'Clury's
Glossaries.
. RnadJi [Boetius the Red] Mac JE^gon, is one of tlie chief autho-
rities whom we follow in the explanation of the words which
are treated of in this book.
" We have not, however, desired more than to give a little
knowledge to those who are not well versed in their mother
tongue, and to excite the more learned to supply such another
work as this, but on a better and larger scale".
After this Dedication follows the Preface, or Address to the
reader [Appendix, No. LXXVI.] : —
" Let the reader who desires to read this little work, know
four things : the first is, that we have not set down any word
of explanation or gloss of the hard words of om* mother tongue,
but the words which we foinid with other persons, as explained
by the most competent and learned masters in the knowledge
of the difficult words of the Gaedlilic in our own days. Among
these, more particularly, were Boetius Roe [Ruadli] Mac ^Egan,
Torna O'Mulconry, Lugliaidh OClery^ and Maelseachlainn 'the
moody' O'Mulconry. And though each of these was an accom-
plished adept, it is Boetius Roe that we have followed the most,
because it was from him we ourselves received, and we have
found written with others the explanations of the words of
which we treat. And, besides, because he was an ilhistrious
and accomplished scholar in tliis [the antiquarian] profession,
as is manifest in the character which the other scholar before
mentioned, Lugliaidh O'Clery, gave of him after his death, as
may be found in these verses : —
" Athairne, the father of learning,
Dalian Forgaill^ the prime scholar,
To compare with him in intelligence would be unjust.
Nor NeidS, the j)i"ofound in just laws.
" Obscure history, the laws of the ancients.
The occult language of the poets ;
He, in a word, to our knowledge,
Had the power to explain and analyze, etc.
" We have known able professors of this science, and even m
the latter times, such as the late John O'Mulconry \o£ Av'dchoill,
ill the County of Clare] , the chief teacher in history of those we
have already named, and indeed of all the men of Erinn Hke-
wise in his own time ; and Flann, the son of Cairbrey Mac
JEgan [of Lower Ormond in Tipperary] , who still lives ; and
many more that we do not enumerate. But because we do not
happen to have at this side of the sea, where we are in exile,
OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR WASTERS. 177
the ancient books which they glossed, except a few, we could lect. vm.
not follow their explanation but to a small extent. ofMiohaei
" In the second place, be it known to you, O reader ! that [^'^^""'y? ■
, Trr- 1 • 1 1 I'll- 1 Glos^iiiies
the diincult ancient books, to which the ancient authors put
glosses, and from wliicli we have taken the following words,
with the farther explanation of the parties mentioned above,
who taught in these latter times, were : the Amlira, [or Elegy] on
the death of Saint Colum Cille ; the Agallamh, or Dialogue of
the two Sages ; the Felire, or Festology of the Saints ; the Mar •
tyrology of Marianus O'Gorman; the Liber Hymnorum, or
Book of Hymns ; the Glossary of the (Tripartite) Life of Saint
Patrick ; an ancient Scripture on vellum ; and a certain old paper
book, in which many hard words were found, with their expla-
nations; the glossary called jFbrz^s iN9ca27 (or, 'The True Know-
ledge of Words') ; and the other glossary, called DeirbsJdur don
Eagna an Eigse (or, ' Poetry is the Sister of Wisdom'). And,
for the greater part of the book from that out, we received the
explanation from the before-mentioned Boetius.
" Be it known to the reader, thirdly, that we have only de-
sii'ed, when proposing to write this little work, to give but a
Httle hght to the young and the ignorant, and to stimulate and
excite the professors and men of knowledge to produce a work
similar to this, but on a better and larger scale. And the reason
why we have not followed at length many of the various mean-
ings which poets and professors give to many of these words, is,
because that it is to the professors themselves it more particu-
larly belongs, and the people in general are not in as great need
of it, as they are in need of assistance to read and miderstand
the ancient books.
" Fourthly. Be it known to the young people, and to the
ignorant, who desire to read the old books (which is not
difficult to be learned of our country), that they [the old
writers] seldom care to write ' the slender with the broad, and
the broad with the slender' [as required by an ancient ortho-
grapliical rule] ; and that they very rarely put the aspirate /*
upon the consonants, as in the cases of h, c, d^ f, etc., and also
that they seldom put the long dash [or accent] over the words
[or vowels]. Some of the consonants, too, are often written the
one for the other, such as c for g, and t for d. The following
are a few specimens of words by which this will be understood :
clog is the same as cloc; agad is the same as agat; heag is the
same as heac; codlad is the same as cotlad; ard is the same as
art^ etc. Very often, too, ae is put for ao; ai for aoi; and oi
for aoi. As an example of this : aedh is often written for aodh;
and cael is the same as caoU and haoi and hoi are the same as
12
178 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS.
LECT. VIII. hai. E is often written for a in the old books, sucli as die,
whicli is the same as c/za, and cia the same as cie\
This vahiable preface closes with a fcAv examples of con-
tractions, which are intelligible only to the eye [see Appendix,
No. LXXVIL]
These are all the works I know of by Michael O'Clery.
Of the writings of Conaire O'Clery, brother of Fathers Ber-
of the^ nardine and Michael, and who transcribed the chief part of the
conairi&nd. fair copy of the Annals of the Fonr Masters now in the Royal
o'Ctoy.^ Irish Academy, I have not been so fortunate as to discover any
trace beyond his part in that work.
In the beautiful handwriting of Cucoigcriche (Cucoigry or
Peregrine) O'Clery, we have, besides his part of the Annals of
the Four Masters, a few specimens preserved in the library of
the Royal Irish Academy. We have : —
1. A copy (evidently made for his own use) of the Leabhar
Gabhdla, or Book of Conquests, already mentioned.
2. A copy of the topographical poems of O'Dugan and
OHuidlirin, together with some other ancient historical poems.
3. A book of the genealogies and pedigrees of the great Irish
races, as also of the Geraldines, Butlers, etc.
In the volume in which these pieces are preserved, the last
article is the Last Will and Testament of Cucoigry O'Clery
himself, written in Gaedhlic, in his usual beautiful hand, on a
small quarto page of paper, and dated at Cuirr-na-Heillte, in
the county of Mayo, the 8th of February, 16(M, which must
have been, I should think, some five or six years before his death.
The will begins in the usual way: "In the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" ; and after or-
dering that his body should be bm-ied in the Monastery of
Buirgheis Umhaill, or in whatever other consecrated church his
friends might choose, he proceeds to bequeath the property
most dear to him of all that he had acquired in this world,
namely, his books, to his two sons, Dermait and John, to be
used by them as their necessities should require. And he di-
rected that the books should be equally at the service of the
children of his brother Cairbre, with a charge that his sons and
liis nephews should instruct their childi'en in the acquaintance
and use of these books. [See the original of this will in the
Appendix, No. LXXVIII.]
He appears to have had very little property besides to leave
his sons, and they do not seem to have much increased it. The
last recognized member of his descendants, the late John O'Clery,
died quite a young man in Dublin about four years ago. This
OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 179
John was the son of John O'Clery, who was many years gate- lect. vni.
clerk at the gas works in Great Brunswick Street in this city. ^^ ^^^
To him the books that we have been speaking of did actually writings of
come down by la-wfvd descent ; and, having brought them to o'cTery.^
DubHn about the year 1817, they subsequently passed from
his hands into those of the late Edward O'Reilly, at the sale of
whose books they Avere fortimately purchased for the Library
of the Royal Irish Academy by Dr. Petrie.
With his other literary accomplishments, hereditary and ac-
quired, Cucoigry O'Clery appears to have been no mean adept
in the poetic art of his country. I have in my own possession
two poems written by him a short time before his death for some
members of the great house of his ancient patrons, the O'Domiells
of Donegall. [See original in Appendix No. LXXIX.]
The first of these is a poem of forty quatrains, addressed to
Torloch, the son of Cathbharj' [pron: " Caftar"] O'Donnell. It
is a philosophical and reHgious address on the vanities and the
fleeting dignities and interests of the world. He condoles with
O'Donnell upon the fallen fortmies of his house, and the dispersion
of his family and people. He compliments him as having, after
the plantation of Ulster, collected about him a body of his own
people, and having visited at their head (during the Cromwellian
wars) all parts of Ireland, gaining honour and emolument with
them wherever they went, during the space of foiu'teen years ;
and that then only he permitted them, when all hope of success
was past, to submit themselves to the English law, and so dis-
banded them at Port-Erne, on the borders of their own ancient
territory. He exhorts the figed chieftain and warrior, that as he
had been granted such a long life (being, at tliis time, over
seventy years of age), he should now dismiss from his mind
ambitious aspirations, and should rather turn it to devotion and
to penance for his sins. He says, that he himself will be the
first of the two to be called before the Heavenly throne, and
that this is his last literary effort and gift bestowed upon him at
the close of his life.
The second poem is a poem of thirty-four quatrains, in
answer to one addressed to him by Calbhacli Ruadli [Roe]
O'Donnell. O'Donnell's poem appears to have contained a
request to O'Clery to take up the history and genealogies of
the Tirconnell race, as he was bound to do, he being the last
of their hereditary Seanchaidhe. O'Donnell comj^lains, too, of
his having been driven by the foreigners out of Mayo, where
his family had taken refuge, and forced to seek for a new home
in the neighbourhood of Cncachain, in the County Roscommon.
In O'Clery's poem the poet recommends his voung friend
180 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS.
LECT. vrri. O'Donnell to the attention of his o^vn learned tutors, the O'Mul-
Of tfjg conrjs and the O'Higginses of the county Roscommon, who
o'cierys. will, he assurcs him, extend to him the literary homage due to
his own worth and to the well earned fame of his family.
Whatever may be the poetical value of these pieces of Cuco-
gry O'Clery, they certainly are not wanting in a clear apprecia-
tion of the shifting of the scenes in this imcertain world, and
the firmest religious conviction of the interference of an All-
guiding hand in their direction. As specimens of the writing
of one of our last Hterary scholars, they cannot fail to be in-
teresting.
I have now closed what I had prepared to say to you about the
O'Clerys. If any apology were necessary for my having dwelt
so long upon their labours and themselves, remember that I
have done so on the ground of theirs being the last and greatest
school of Irish historians, and not on account of the pecuhar
authority which, of itself, every record and assertion of such
careful and critical scholars has ever since been held to bear,
and must ever continue to bear with it.
LECTURE IX.
CDelivered July 10, 1956.]
Of the chief existing Ancient Books. The Leabhar na h- Uidhre. The " Book
of Leinster". The " Book of Ballymote". The MS. commonly called
the Leabhar Sreac. The "Yellow Book oi Lecain". The "Book of LecaM\
Of the other Books and ancient MSS. in the Libraries of Trinity College,
DubUn ; the Royal Irish Academy ; and elsewhere. The " Book of Lis-
more". The MSS. called the Brehon Law MSS.
We have now disposed of tlie chief national Annals, and we
have noticed the other historical works of the last and greatest
of the annahsts. But, thovigh in some respects, undoubtedly,
the most important, the compositions we have been considering
form, after all, but a small portion of the immense mass of mate-
rials which exist in Irish manuscripts for the elucidation of our
history.
In the course of the present series of Lectures, it will be my
duty to describe to you, — not indeed in the same detail with
which I have thought it right to deal with the annalists, but so
as to make you understand, generally at least, their nature,
value, and extent, — the vast collections of Historic Tracts
which our gTeat MS. hbraries fortunately possess ; and I
shall also have to bring under your notice some of the more
important of those pieces which have come down to us in the
form of systematic liistorical compositions, such as the "Wars of
the Danes", the "Boromean Tribute", etc.
But, before I do this, I desire to complete, in the first place,
that part of my design, in this preparatory course, which con-
sists of laying before you, at one view, the larger features of ova
existing stock of materials for the elucidation of early Irish
history. Accordingly, it is my intention, before passing to the
consideration of the interesting pieces which record for us the
special details of local and personal history, to present to you
the outlines of the nature and contents of the great books them-
selves in wlaich not only all these Tracts are preserved, but also the
immense number of Genealogies in which the names and tribes
of our people are recorded from the earhest ages ; books, many
of wliich are themselves the sources from which the O'Clerys,
and otlier annalists before them, drew all their knowledge.
Fortunately, of these great books we have, as in the first
182 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS.
i.ECT. IX. Lecture yovi have been sliortly informed, many still remaining
Of the old *^ ^'^' ^^ perfect preservation. And there is not one of you to
Mss. still whom the originals themselves, notwithstanding the wear and
xis mg. ^^^^ ^|. ggj^^-ypjgg^ may not easily become intelligible — so beau-
tifully was the scribe's work performed in early days in Ireland
— whenever you shall be disposed to devote but half the time
to the study of the noble old language of Erinn, which you
devote to that of the great classic tongues of other ancient
people. A visit to the Library of the Royal Irish Academy,
or of Trinity College, will, however, little serve to make you
aware of the vast extent of the treasures which lie in the dark-
written musty-looking old books you are shown there as curi-
osities, unless you shall provide yourselves with the key which
some acquaintance with their characters and language alone will
afford. In the short account, therefore, which I am about to
lay before you, of the great vellum books and MSS. in Dublin,
I shall add, in every case, some approximate calculation of their
length, by reference to the niunber of pages each book would
fill, if printed (the Irish text alone) in large quarto volumes,
such as those of O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters. And
when you have heard of what matter the contents of these books
consist, and reflect upon the length to which, if printed in full,
they would extend, I think you will agree with me that all that
I have said upon the value of our MS. treasures will, on better ^
acquaintance with them, be found to fall far short of the reality.
The Lea- The first of thcsc ancient books that merits notice, because it
h"lTdhee. '^^ ^^^^ oldest, is that which is known by the name of Leabhab
NA H-UiDHRE, or the Book of the Dun Cow, to which I have
already shortly alluded in a former lecture. Of this book, so
often referred to in Michael O'Clery's Prefaces, we have now, un-
fortunately, but a fragment remaining — afragment which consists,
however, of 138 folio pages, and is written on very old vellum.
The name and period of writing the book of which it is a
fragment, might, perhaps, be now lost for ever, if the curious
history of the book itself had not led to, and in some degree in-
deed necessitated, their preservation. All that we know about
it is found in two entries, written at different periods, in a blank
part of the second column of the first page of folio 35. Of the
first of these curious entries, the following is a literal translation
[See original in Appendix, No. LXXX.] : —
" Pray for Maelnmir^, the son of Ceilechair, that is, the son of
the son of Conn-na-m-Bocht, who wrote and collected this book
from various books. Pray for Donnell, the son of Murtoch, son
of Donnell, son of Tadhg [orTeig], son of Brian, son of An-
OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 183
dreas, son of Brian Luighneacli^ son of Turloch Mor [or the lect. ix
Great] O'Conor. It was this Donnell that directed the renewal ^
of the name of the person who wrote this beautiful book, by bhIe na
Sigraidh CyCuirnin; and is it not as well for us to leave cm- ^-uidhke.
blessing with the o^Niier of this book, as to send it to him by the
mouth of any other person ? And it is a week from this day to
Easter Saturday, and a week from yesterday to the Friday of
the Crucifixion; and [there will be] two Golden Fridays on
that Friday, that is, the Friday of the festival of the Blessed
Virgin Mary and the Friday of the Crucifixion, and this is
greatly wondered at by some learned persons".
The following is the translation of the second entry, — same
page and column [see same App.] : —
" A prayer here for Aedh Ruadh [Hugh the Red-haired], the
son of Niall Garhh O'Donnell, who forcibly recovered this
book from the people of Connacht, and the Leahhar Gearr [or
Short Book] along with it, after they had been away from us
from the time of Catlial 6g O'Conor to the time of Rory son of
Brian [O'Conor] ; and ten lords ruled over Carbury [or Sligo]
between them. And it was in the time of Conor, the son of
Hugh O'Donnell, that they were taken to the west, and this is
the way in which they were so taken: The Short Book, in
ransom for O'Doherty, and Leabhar na h- Uidhre [that is, the
present book] in ransom of the son of O'Donnell's chief family
liistorian, who was captured by Cathal, and carried away as a
pledge ; and thus they [the books] were away from the Cenel
Conaill [or O'Dounells] from the time of Conor [O'Donnell] to
the [present] time of Hugh"',
There is some mistake in this last memorandum. Conor, the
son of Hugh O'Donnell, in whose time the books are stated here
to have been carried into Connaught, was slain by his brother
Niall in the year 1342, according to the Annals of the Four
Masters; and the capture of John O'Doherty by Cathal 6g
O'Conor, at the battle of Ballyshannon, took place in the year
1351). The proper reading would, therefore, seem to be, that
Leahhar na h- Uidhre passed into Connacht first, before Conor
O'Donnell's death in 1342, and that the Leabhar Gearr, or
Short Book, was given in ransom for O'Doherty in 1359 ; Conor
O'Donnell's reign covering both periods, as the writer does not
seem to recognize the reign of the fratricide Niall.
The following passage from the Annals of the Four Masters
will make this last entry more intelligible, and show that it was
made in Donegall in the year 1470 [see original in Appendix,
No. LXXXL] :—
" A.D. 1470. The Castle of Sligo was taken, after a long
H-UlL>HKli.
184 OK THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS.
i>ECT. IX. siege, by O'Donnell, tliat is, Hngli tlie Red-haired, from Don-
^, . nell, the son of Eoghan O'Conor. On tliis occasion he obtained
Tilt! JjEA- ^
BUAu NA all that he demanded by way of reparation, besides receiving
tokens of submission and tribute from Lower Connacht. It was
on this occasion too that he recovered the book called Leabhar
Gearr [or the Short Book], and another, Leahhar na h-Uidhre,
as well as the chairs of Donnell og [O'Donnell], which had been
carried thither in the time of John, the son of Conor, son of
Hugh, son of Donnell 6g O'Donnell".
In reference to the first entry, it must have been made while
the book was in Connacht, and by Sigraidh O'Cuirmn, who
was, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, a learned
poet of Briefney, and died in the year 1347 ; and he must have
made the entry in the year 1345, as that was the only year at
this particular period in which Good Friday happened to fall
on the festival of the Annunciation, or the 25th of March. This
fact is further borne out by an entry in the Annals of the Four
Masters, which records that Conor O'Donnell, chief of Tircon-
nell, died in the year 1342, after a reign of nine years; and we
have seen from the entry, that it was in his time that this book
must have been carried into Connacht. According to the same
Annals, Donnell, the son of Murtach O'Conor, died in the
year 1437, by whose direction OCuirnin renewed the name of
the original writer, — which, even at this early period, seems to
have disappeared, several leaves of the book, and amongst others
that which contained this entry, having even then been lost.
Of the original compiler and writer of the Leabhar na
li-UidhrS, I have been able to learn nothing more than the fol-
lowing brief and melancholy notice of his death in the Annals
of the Four Masters, at the year 1106 [see original in Appendix,
No. LXXXII.] :—
" Maelmuiri, son of the son of Conn na m-BocJd, was killed
in the middle of the great stone church of Cluainmacnois, by a
party of robbers".
A memorandum, in the original hand, at the top of foHo 45,
clearly identifies the writer of the book with the person whose
death is recorded in the passage jvist quoted from the Annals ;
it is partly in Latin and partly in GaedliHc, as follows : —
" This is a trial of his pen here, by Afaelmuh'i, son of the
son of Conn" [see original in Appendix, No. LXXXIIL]
This Conn na m-Bocht, or " Conn of the Poor", as he was
called from his devotion to their relief and care, was a lay reli-
gious of Clonmacnois, and the father and founder of a distin-
guished family of scholars, lay and ecclesiastical. He appears
to liave been the founder and superior of a conununity of poor
OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 185
lay monks, of the Ceile De (or "Culdce") order, in connexion lect. ix.
with that o-reat estabhshmcnt : and he died in the year 1059. _, .
ri^l 1^ 1 -uro 1 1 r ■ ^ TheLE\-
Ine contents oi the Mb., as they stand now, are ol a mixed bhakna
character, liistorical and romantic, andrelate to the ante-Christian, "'
as well as the Christian period. The book begins with a fragment
of the Book of Genesis, part of which was always prefixed to
the Book of Invasions (or ancient Colonizations) of Erinn, for
genealogical purposes ; (and there is good reason to believe,
that a full tract on this subject was contained in the book so
late as the year 1631, as Father Michael O'Clery quotes it in
his new compilation of the Book of Invasions made in that
year for Brian MacGuire).
This is followed by a fragment of the history of the Britons,
by Nennius, translated into Gaedhlic by Gilla CaomhaiJi, the
poet and chronologist, who died a.d. 1072. (This tract was
published by the Irish Archeeological Society in 1848.)
The next important piece is the very ancient elegy, written
by the ^oai Dalian Forgaill, on the death of Saint Colum Cille,
in the year 592. It is remarkable that even at the early period
of the compilation of the Leabhar na h- Uidhre, this celebrated
poem should have required a gloss to make it intelligible. The
gloss, which is as visual interhned, is not very copious, but it is
most important, both in a philological and historical point of
view, because of the many more ancient compositions quoted in
it for the explanation of words ; which comjoositions, therefore,
must then have been still in existence.
The elegy is followed by fragments of the ancient historic
tale of the Mesca Uladk, [or Inebriety of the Ultonians,] who,
in a fit of excitement, after a great feast at the royal palace of
Emania, made a sudden and furiovis march into Munster, where
they burned the palace of Teamhair Luachra, in Kerry, then
the residence of Curoi Mac Daire, king of West Munster.
This tract abounds in curious notices of topography, as well as
in allusions to and descriptions of social habits and manners.
Next come fragments of Tain Bo Dartadha, and the Tain
BoFlidais ; both Cattle Spoils, arising out of the celebrated Cattle
Spoil of Cuailgne. Next comes the story of the wanderings of
Maelduin's ship in the Atlantic, for three years and seven
months, in the eighth century. These are followed by imper-
fect copies of: the Tain Bo Chiiailgne, or great cattle spoil of
Cuailgne; the Briiighean Da Dearga, and death of the monarch
Conaire Mur; a history of the great pagan cemeteries of
Erinn, and of the various old books from which this and other
pieces were compiled ; poems by Flann of Monasterboice and
others; together with various other pieces of history and his-
186 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS.
LEci". IX. toric romance, cliiefly referring to the ante-Cliristian period, and
especially tliat of the Tuatlia De Danann. This most vahiable
MS. belongs to the Royal Irish Academy. If printed at length,
the text of it would make about 500 pages of the Annals of the
Four Masters.
The Book of The iioxt anciciit book which I shall treat of is that at
LEiNSTiiR. pi-esent known under the name of the Book of Leinster.
It can be shown, from various internal evidences, that this
volume was either compiled or transcribed in the first half of
the twelfth century, by Finn Mac Gorman, Bishop of Kildare,
who died in the year 1160; and that it was compiled by order
of Aodh Mac Crimhthamn, the tutor of the notorious Dermod
Mac Murroch — that king of Leinster who first invited Earl
Strongbow and the Anglo-Normans into Ireland, in the year
1169. The book was evidently compiled for Dermod, under
the superintendence of his tutor, by Mac Gorman, who had prob-
ably been a fellow-pupil of the king. In support of this asser-
tion, I need only transcribe the following entry, which occurs,
in the original hand, at the end of folio 202, page b. of the book
[see original in Appendix, No. LXXXIV.] : —
" Benediction and health from Finn, the Bishop of Kildare,
to Aedh [Hugh] Mac Crimhthainn, the tutor of the chief king of
Leth Mogha Nuaclat [or of Leinster and Munster], successor of
Colum, the son of CrimJuhann, and chief historian of Leinster
in wisdom, intelligence, and the cultivation of books, know-
ledge, and learning. And I write the conclusion of this little
tale for thee, O acute A edh I [Hugh] thou possessor of the spark-
ling intellect. May it be long before we are without thee. It is
my desire that thou shouldst be always with us. Let Mac
Lonan's book of poems be given to me, that I may understand
the sense of the poems that are in it ; and farewell in Christ" ;
etc.
This note must be received as sufficient evidence to bring the
date of this valuable manuscript within the period of a man's
life, whose death, as a CathoHc bishop, happened in the year
1160, and who was, I believe, consecrated to the ancient see of
Kildare in the year 1148, long before which period, of coiu'se,
he must have been employed to write out this book. Of the
Aedh Mac Crvmhthainn for whom he wrote it, I have not been
able to ascertain anything more than what appears above ; but
he must have flourished early in the twelfth century to be the
tutor of Dermod Mac Murroch, who, in concert with O'Brien,
had led the men of Leinster against the Danes of Waterford,
so far back as the year 1137.
OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS- 187
That this book belonged either to Derinod Mac Murroch lect. ix.
himself, or to some person who had him warmlj at heart, will ^i r • .
appear plainly from the following memorandum, which is Leinsteb.
wntten in a strange bnt ancient hand, in the top margin of
folio 200, page a. [see original in Appendix, No. LXXXV.] : —
" O Virgin Mary ! it is a great deed that has been done in
Eiinn this day, the kalends of August — viz., Dermod, the son
of Donnoch Mac Murroch, king of Leinster, and of the Danes
[of Dublin], to have been banished over the sea eastwards by
the men of Erinn. Uch, uch, O Lord ! what shall I do?"
The book consists, at present, of over four hundred pages of
large folio vellum ; but there are many leaves of the old pagin-
ation missing.
To give anything like a satisfactory analysis of this book,
would take at least one whole lecture. I cannot, therefore,
within my present limited space do more than glance at its
general character, and point, by name only, to a few of the
many important pieces preserved in it.
It begins as usual with a Book of Invasions of Erinn, but
without the Book of Genesis ; after which the succession of the
monarchs to the year 1169 ; and the su^ccession and obituary of
the provincial and other minor kings, etc. Then follow speci-
mens of ancient versification, — poem.s on Tara, and an ancient
plan and explanation of the Teach Midhchuarta, or Banqueting
Hall of that ancient royal city. (These poems and plan have
been published by Dr. Petrie, in his paper on the history of
Tara, printed in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy
for 1839, vol. xviii.) After these come poems on the wars of the
Leinstermen, the Ulstermen, and the Mimstermen, in great
numbers, many of them of the highest historic interest and
value ; and some prose pieces and small poems on Leinster, of
great antiquity — some of them, as I believe, certainly written
by Duhhthach, the great antiquarian and poet, who was Saint
Patrick's first convert at Tara. After these a fine copy of the
history of the celebrated Battle of Ross na Righ, on the Boyne,
fought between the men of Leinster and Ulster at the begin-
ning of the Christian era. A copy of the Mesca Uladh, or In-
ebriety of the Ultonians, imperfect at the end, but which can be
made perfect by the fragment of it already mentioned in Leab-
Jiar na h-Uidhre. A fine copy of the Origin of the Boromean
Tribute, and the battles that ensued down to its remission. A
fragment of the " Battle of Cennahraf, in Munster, with the de-
feat of Mac Con by Oilioll Oluirn, Mac Con's flight into Scotland,
his return afterwards with a large force of Scottish and British
188 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS.
LECT. IX. adventurers, his landing in the bay of Galway, and the ensuing
rr.^ „ battle of Maqh MucruimhS, fought between him and his mater
The Book of i/ \ ot^ ' • i-ii ill
LEiNSTtK. nal uncle, Art, the monarch oi Jl.rinn, m which battle the latter
was defeated and killed, as well as the seven sons of Oilioll
Oluim. A variety of curious and important short tracts re-
lating to Munster, are also to be found in the Book of Leinster,
besides this last one, up to the middle of the eighth centviry.
This volume likewise contains a small fragment of Cormac's
Glossary, copied, perhaps with many more of these pieces, from
the veritable Saltair of Cashel itself; also, a fragment, unfor-
tunately a very small one, (the first folio only), of the Wars of
the Danes and the Gaedhils (^'. e. the Irish) ; a copy of the
Di7insenchns, a celebrated ancient topographical tract, which
Avas compiled at Tara about the year 550; several ancient
poems on universal geography, chronology, history, and soforth ;
pedigrees and genealogies of the great Milesian tribes and fami-
lies, particvdarly those of Leinster; and lastly, an ample hst
of the early saints of Erinn, with their pedigrees and affinities,
and with copious references to the situations of their churches.
This is but an imperfect sketch of this invaluable MS., and
I think I may say with sorrow, that there is not in all Europe
any nation but this of ours that would not long since have made
a national literary fortune out of such a volume, had any other
country in Europe been fortunate enough to possess such an
heir-loom of history.
The volume forms, at present, part of the rich store of ancient
Irish literatvire preserved in the library of Trinity College, Dub-
lin ; and if printed at length, the Gaedhlic text of it would make
2000 pages of the Annals of the Four Masters.
The Book OP Tlic ucxt book in ordcT of antiquity, of which I shall treat,
IS the well known Book of Ballymote.
This noble volume, though defective in a few places, still con-
sists of 251 leaves, or 502 pages of the largest folio vellum,
equal to about 2500 pages of the printed Annals of the Four
Masters.
It was written by different persons, but chiefly by Solomon
O'Droma and Manus O'Duigenann; and we find it stated at
folio 62.b., that it was written at Ballymote (in the county of
Sligo) in the house of Tomaltach og Mac Donogh, Lord of Co-
rann in that county, at the time that Torlogh 6g, the son of
Hugh O'Conor, was king of Connacht ; and Charles O'Conor
of Belanagar has written in it the date 1391, as the precise
year in which this part of the book was written. This book,
like all our old books still existing, is but a compilation collected
OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 189
from various sources, and must, like tliem, be held to represent lect. ix.
to a oToat extent several older compilations. ^^ „
It begms with an impertect copy oi the ancient L,eabnar hallymote.
Gahhdla, or Book of Invasions of Erinn, differing in a few de-
tails from other copies of the same tract. This is followed by
a series of ancient chronological, historical, and genealogical
pieces in prose and verse. Then follow the pedigrees of Irish
saints ; the history and pedigrees of all the great families of the
Milesian race, with the various minor tribes and families which
have branched off from them in the succession of ages ; so that
there scarcely exists an O' or a Mac at the present day who
may not find in this book the name of the particular remote
ancestor whose name he bears as a surname, as well as the time
at which he lived, what he was, and from what more ancient line
he again was descended. These genealogies may appear unim-
portant to ordinary readers ; but those who have essayed to illus-
trate any branch of the ancient history of this country, and who
could have availed themselves of them, have found in them the
most authentic, accurate, and important auxiliaries: in fact, a
history which has remained so long unwritten as that of ancient
Erinn, could never be satisfactorily compiled at all without them.
Of these genealogies I shall have more to say in a subsequent
lecture. [See post, Lect. X.]
These family histories are followed, in the Book of Ballymote,
by some accounts of Conor Mac Nessa, king of Ulster ; of
Aithirne the Satirist; the tragical death of the beautiful lady
Luaidet; the story of the adventures of the monarch Cormac
Mac Art in fairy -land ; some ciuious and valuable sketches of the
death of the monarch Crimlitliann Mor; a tract on the accession
of Niall of the Nine Hostages to the monarchy, his wars, and the
death of his brother Fiachra, at Forraidh (in the present county
of Westmeath), on his return, mortally wounded, from the battle
of Caenraighe (Kenry, in the present county of Limerick).
Some of these pieces are, doubtless, mixed up with mytholo-
gical fable ; but as the main facts, as well as all the actors, are
real, and as to these mythological fables may be traced up many
of the characteristic popular customs and superstitions still re-
maining among us, these pieces maist be looked upon as materials
of no ordinary value by the historical and antiquarian investi-
gator. After these follow tracts, in prose and verse, on the
names, parentage, and husbands of the most remarkable women
in Irish history, down to the twefth century ; a tract on the
mothers of the Irish saints ; a tract on the origin of the names
and surnames of the most remarkable men in ancient Irish his-
tory ; and an ancient law tract on the rights, privileges, rewards,
190 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS.
LECT. IX. and soforth, of the learned classes, such as the ecclesiastical or-
ders, the orders of poets, teachers, judges, etc. After this we have
balltmote. the ancient translation into the Gaedhlic of the history of the
Britons by Nennius, before alluded to as having been published
a few years ago by the Irish Archreological Society ; an ancient
Grammar and Prosody, richly illustrated with specimens of an-
cient Irish versification ; a tract on the Ogham alphabets of the
ancient Irish, with illustrations (about to be published shortly by
the Archaaological Society, edited by my respected friend, the
Rev. Dr. Graves, F.T.C.D.); the book of reciprocal rights and
tributes of the monarch and provincial kings, and some minor
chiefs of ancient Ireland (a most important document, published
for the first time in 1847, by the Celtic Society) ; a tract on the
ancient history, chiefs, and chieftaincies of Corca Laoi, or O'Dris-
coll's country, in the county of Cork (published also by the
Celtic Society, in their Miscellany for .1849) ; a copy of the
Dinnsenchus, or great topographical tract ; and a translation or
account in ancient Gaedlilic, with a critical collation of various
texts, of the Argonautic expedition and the Trojan war.
The book ends with the adventm'es of iEneas after the des-
truction of Troy.
The Gaedhlic text of this great book, which belongs to the
Library of the Royal Irish Academy, would make about 2500
pages of the Annals of the Four Masters.
The MS. As I have, in a former lecture, given a free analysis of the
theLKABHAR MS. commonly called the Leabhar Breac, or Speckled Book,
^"'^^*^" an ancient vellum MS. preserved in the same library, I have
only to add here that the Gaedhhc text of that most important
volume would make above 2000 pages of the Annals of the
Four Masters.
The Yellow -pj-^Q j^ext great book whicli merits our attention is that which
lecain. has been lately discovered to be, in great part, the Leabhar
BuidhS Lecain, or Yellow Book of Lecain, one of the ponde-
rous compilations of the truly learned and industrious family of
the Mac Firbises of that ancient seat of learning. It is preserved
in the library of Trinity College, Dubhn, where it is classed
H. 2. 16.
This volume, notwithstanding many losses, consists of about
500 pages of large quarto vellum, equal to about 2000 pages of
Gaedhlic text, printed like O'Donovan's Annals of the Fom-
Masters ; and, with the exception of a few small tracts in other
and somewhat later hands, it is all finely written by Donnoch
and Gilla Isa Mac Firbis, in the year l390.
OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 191
The Yellow Book of Lecain, in its original form, would ap- lkct. ix.
pear to have been a collection of ancient historical pieces, civil ^j^^ yellow
and ecclesiastical, in prose and verse. In its present condition, book of
it begins with a collection of family and political poems, relating ' ■
chiefly to the families of O'Kelly and O'Conor of Connacht,
and the O'Donnells of Doncgall. This tract made no part of
the original book. These pieces are followed by some mo-
nastic rules in verse, and some poems on ancient Tara, with
another fine copy of the plan and explanation of its Teach
Midhchuarta, or Banqueting Hall; the same which has been
published by Dr. Petrie in his Essay on the History and
Antiquities of Tara. After this an account of the creation,
with the formation and fall of man, translated evidently from
the Book of Genesis. This biblical piece is followed by the
Feast of Dun na n-Gedh and the battle of Magh Rath (two
important tracts published from this copy by the Irish Archseo-
logical Society) ; then a most curious and valuable account,
though a little tinged with fable, of the reign and death of Muir-
chertach Mac JErca, monarch of Ireland, at the palace of Cleitech,
on the banks of the River Boyne, in the year of our Lord 527 ;
an imperfect copy of the Tain Bo ChuailgnS, or great Cattle
Spoil of Cuailgne, in Louth, with several of the minor cattle
spoils that grew out of it; after which is a fine copy of the
Bruighean Da Dearga., and death of the monarch Conaire Mor;
the tale of the wanderings of Maelduins ship (for more than
three years) in the Atlantic ; some most interesting tracts con-
cerning the banishment of an ancient tribe from East Meath,
and an account of the wanderings of some Irish ecclesiastics in
the Northern Ocean, where they found the exiles ; an abstract
of the battle of Dunbolg, in Wicklow, where the monarch, Aedh
Mac Ainmire, was slain, in the year 594; the battle of Magh
Hath (in the present county of Down), in which Congal Claen,
prince of Ulidia, was slain, in the year 634 (published by the
Irish Archaeological Society) ; and the battle of A hnliain (now
Allen, in the present County of Kildare), where the monarch
Ferghal was killed, in the year 718. A variety of curious pieces
follow, relating to Conor Mac Nessa ; Curoi Mac Daire (pron.
nearly " Cooree Mac Darry") ; Lahhraidh Loingseach (" Lovra
Lingsha"), king of Leinster ; Niall of the Nine Hostages, and his
poet Torna; together with many other valuable tracts and
scraps, which I can do no more than allude to at present ; and
the volume ends with a fine copy (imperfect at the beginning)
of the law tract I have already mentioned, when speaking of
the Book of Ballymote. This volume would make about 2000
pages of the Annals of the Four Masters.
192 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS.
LECT. IX. The next of these great books to which I would desire your at-
tention, is the volume so well known as the Book of Lecain. This
lkcain. book was compiled in the year 1416, by Gilla Isa Mor Mac
Firbis oi Lecain Mic Fhirhisigh, in the county of Sligo,one of the
great school of teachers of that celebrated locality, and the direct
ancestor of the [earned Duhhaltach [or Duald] Mac Firbis, already
mentioned. This book, which belongs to the hbrary of the
Royal Irish Academy, contains over 600 pages, equal to 2400
pages of the Gaedhlic text of the Annals of the Four Masters.
It is beautifully and accurately "written on vellum of small folio
size, cliiefly in the hand of Gilla Isa Mac Firbis, though there
are some small parts of it written, respectively, in the hands of
Adam 0''Cuirnin (the historian of BreifiiS, or Briefnoy) and
Morogh JRiahhac O'CuindlisS^^^
The first nine folios of the Book of Lecain were lost, until
discovered by me a few years ago bomid up in a volume of the
Seabright Collection, in the library of Trinity College.
The Book of Lecain differs but little, in its arrangement and
general contents, from the Book of Bally mote. It contains two
copies of the Book of Invasions, an uupeifect one at the begin-
ning, but a perfect one, with the Sviccession of the Kings,
and the tract on the Boromean Tribute, at the end. It contains
fine copies of the ancient historical, sjmchronological, chronolo-
gical, and genealogical poems already spoken of as comprised in
the Book of Ballymote, as well as some that are not contained
in that volume. These are followed by the family history and
genealogies of the Milesians, with considerable and important
additions to those found in the Book of Ballymote. Among
the additions is a very valuable tract, in prose and verse, by
Mac Firbis himself, on the famihes and subdi\'isions of the ter-
ritory of Tir-Fiachrach, in the present county of Sligo ; a tract
which has been published by the Irish Archaaological Society
under the title of " The Tribes and Customs of Hy-Fiaclu-ach".
ofthe chief Tlic otlicr aucicut vcllum books of importance, preserved in
in T.c D. ' '■ the library of Trinity College, Dublin, may be described as
follows : — •
1. A folio volume of ancient laws, of 120 pages, on vellum,
written about the year 1400 (classed E. 3, 5.) This forms part
of the collection shortly to be published by the Brehon Law
Commission, and would make about 400 pages of the Annals of
the Four Masters.
(*3)And here I may perhaps be permitted to observe, that I believe the
families of Forbes and Candhsh in Scotland, are the same as, and indeed
directly descended from, those of Mac Firbis and O'Cuindlis in Ireland.
OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 193
2. A small folio volume, of 430 pages, on vellum (classed H. lect. ix.
2. 7), consisting cliielly of Irish pedigrees; together with some ^^^^^^ ^^^.^^
historical poems on the O'Kellys and O'Maddens, and some yciium mss,
frasrments of ancient liistoric tracts of great value, the titles of"
which, however, are missing. It contains also some translations
from ancient Anglo-Saxon writers of romance, and a fragment
of an ancient translation of Giraldus Cambrensis' History of
the Conquest of Erinn. The handwriting appears to be of
the sixteenth century, and the contents of the volume would
make about 900 pages of the Annals of the Four Masters.
3. A large folio volume, of 238 pages (classed H. 2. 15),
part on vellum, part on paper, consisting of a fragment of Bre-
lion laws, on vellum, transcribed about the year 1300; two
copies of Cormac's Glossary, on paper (one of them by Duald
Mac Firbis) ; another ancient Derivative Glossary, in the same
hand ; and some fragments of the early history of Erinn, on vel-
Imn. This volmne would make about 500 pages of the Annals
of the Fom- Masters.
4. A large folio volume, of 400 pages (classed H. 2. 17),
part on paper, and part on vellum, consisting chiefly of frag-
ments of various old books or tracts, and, among others, a
fragment of a curious ancient medical treatise. This volmne
likewise contains a fragment of the Tain B6 ChuailgnS; and,
among merely literary tales, it includes that of the Reign of
SatiuTi, an impeifect eastern story, as well as an account of the
Argonautic expedition (imperfect), and of the Destruction of
Troy (also imperfect). With this volume are bound up nine
leaves belonging to the Book of Lecain, containing, amongst
other things, the " Dialogue of the Two Sages" ; the Royal
Precepts of King Cormac Mac Art ; a fragment of the Danish
Wars ; short biographical sketches of some of the Irish Saints ;
and many other interesting historic pieces. The Gaedhhc text
of this volume would make altogether about 1400 pages of the
Annals of the Foiu- Masters.
5. A large vellum quarto (classed H. 3. 3), containing a fine,
but much decayed, copy of the Dinnseanchus. It would make
about 100 pages.
6. A small quarto volume, of 870 pages, on vellum, written
in the sixteenth century (classed H. 3. 17.). The contents, up
to the 617th page, consist of ancient laws; and from that to
the end the contents are of the most miscellaneous character.
They consist cliiefly of short pieces, such as Bricrinn's Feast,
an ancient tale of the Ultonians (imperfect) ; an account of
the expulsion of the Deise, (Decies, or Deasys), from Bregia; a
list of the wonders of Erinn ; the tract on the ancient pagan
13
194 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS.
LECT. IX. cemeteries of Erinn ; the account of the Division of Erinn
Of the ciiief ^^^"long the Aitliecich Tuatlia (called by English writers the Atta-
yeihim Mss. cots) ; tlic discoverj of Cash el, and story of the two Druids :
together with the genealogies of the O'Briens, and the Suc-
cession of the monarchs of Ireland of the line of Eher. In the
same volume will be found, too, the curious account of the reve-
lation of the Crucifixion to Conor Mac Nessa, king of Ulster, by
his druid, on the day upon which it occurred, and of the death
of Conor in consequence ; the story of the elopement of Ere,
daughter of the king of Alhain (or Scotland), with the Irish
prince Muiredhach, grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages ; a
tract on Omens, from the croaking of ravens, etc. ; the trans-
lation of the history of the Britons by Nennius ; the story of the
courtship o£Finn Mac Cumhaill (pron. " Finn Mac Coole") and
Ailbhe (pron. "Alveh"), the daughter of king Cormac Mac Art ;
together with many other short but valuable pieces. This volume
would make 1700 pages of Gaedhlic text like those of the
Annals of the Four Masters.
7. A small quarto voliune, of 665 pages of vellum, and 194
pages paper, written in the sixteenth century (classed H. 3. 18).
The first 500 pages contain various tracts and fragments of
ancient laws. The remainder, to the end, consists of several
independent glossaries, and glosses of ancient poems and prose
tracts ; together with the ancient historical tales of Bruigliean
Da Chogadh (pron. " Breean da Cugga"); a story of Cathal
Mac FinghuinS, king of Munster in the middle of the eighth
century; stories of Ronan Mac Aedlia (pron. "Mac Qi^a", or
Mac Hugh), king of Leinster; and the story of the poetess
JLiadain, of Kerry. This volume contains also the account of
the revolution of the Aitheach Tuatha [or Attacots], and the
murder by them of the kings and nobles of Erinn ; Tundal's
vision; poems on the O'Neills, and on the Mac Donnells of
Antrim ; John O'Mulchonroy's celebrated poem on Brian-na-
Murtha CRoin-ke ; together with a great number of short arti-
cles on a variety of historic subjects, bearing on all parts of
Erinn ; and some pedigrees of the chief families of Ulster,
Connacht, and Leinster. This volmne would make about 1800
pages of the Annals of the Four Masters.
8. A small quarto vokxme, of 230 pages (classed H. 4. 22^.
seventy of which contain fragments of ancient laws. The
remainder of the book contains a great variety of tracts and
poems, and among others a large and important tract on the
first settlement of the Milesians in Erinn ; a fragment of the
tale called Bricrinn's Feast ; several ancient poems on the fami-
lies of the O'Neills, the O'Driscolls, the Mac Renalds, etc.;
OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 195
togetlier witli various small poems and prose tracts of some lect. ix.
value. This volume appears to be made up of fragments of two ^^^^^ ^^^.^^
books. The writing of the first seventy pages seems to be of veiium jiss.
the sixteenth century, but the remaining part appears to be at "' • • ■
least a century older. The entire volume has suffered much
from neglect, and from exposure to smoke and damp. The
Gaedhlic text of it would make about 500 pages of the Annals
of the Four Masters.
To these books I may add (as being preserved in the same
library) the Annals of Ulster, and those of Loch CS, already
spoken of, both on vellum, and the text of wliich would make
about 900 pages of the Annals of the Four Masters.
Besides these vellum manuscripts of law and history, the Tri-
nity College library contains a large collection of paper MSS.
of great value, being transcripts of ancient velhun books made
cliiefly in the first half of the last century. To enumerate, and
even partially to analyse, these paper MSS., would carry me far
beyond the limits to which the present lecture must necessarily
be confined ; but among the most important of them I jnay men-
tion a volume written about the year 1690, by Owen O'Don-
nelly (an excellent Gaedhlic scholar) ; some large volumes by
the O'Neachtans [John and Tadhg, or Teige] , between the years
1716 and 1740; a copy of the Wars of Thomond, made by
Andrew Mac Curtin in 1716 ; and several large volumes trans-
cribed by Hugh O'Daly for Doctor Francis O' Sullivan of Tri-
nity College, in and al^out the year 1750, the originals of which
are not now known.
In this catalogue of books I have not particularised, nor in
some instances at all included, the large body of ecclesiastical
writings preserved in the Trinity College library, consisting of
ancient fives of Irish saints, and other refigious pieces, in prose
and verse. Neither have I included, in my analyses of the col-
lection, the fac-simile copies made by myself, for the fibrary, of
the Book of Lecain (on vellum), of the so called Leabhar JBreac
(on paper), of the Danish Wars, of Mac Firbis's glossaries, and
of a volume of ancient Irish deeds (on paper).
The fibrary of the Royal Irish Academy, besides its fine of the mss
treasures of ancient veUum manuscripts, contains also a very Library of
large number of important paper manuscripts ; but as they ^^^° ^'•^■^■
amount to some hundreds, it would be totally out of my power,
and beyond the scope of this lecture, to enumerate them, or to
give the most meagre analysis of their varied contents.^"^
(■**^ A list of all the Gaedhlic MSS. in the libraries of the E. Irish Academy
and Trinity College, Dublin, will be found in the Appendix, No. LXXXVI,
13 b
196 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS.
ECT. IX. There are, liowever, a few among them to whicli 1 feel called
~^ upon particularly to allude, altliougli in terms more brief than,
\is°MwtE. with more time and space, I should have been disposed to de-
vote to them.
The first of these volumes that I wish to bring under your
notice, is a fragment of the book well known as the Book of
LiSMORE, Tliis is a manuscript on paper of the largest folio size
and best quality. It is a fac-simile copy made by me from the
original, in the year 1839, for the Royal Irish Academy. This
transcript is an exact copy, page for page, line for Hne, word for
word, and contraction for contraction, and was carefully and at-
tentively read over and collated with the original, by Dr. John
O'Donovan and myself And indeed I think I may safely say
that I have recovered as much of the text of the original as it
was possible to bring out, without the application of acids or
other chemical preparations, which I was not at hberty to use.
Of the history of the original MS., which is finely written on
vellum of the largest size, we know nothing previous to the year
1814. In that year the late Duke of Devonshire commenced
the work of repairing the ancient castle of Lismore in the county
of Waterford, his property ; and in the progress of the work, the
men having occasion to re-open a door-way that had been closed
up with masonry in the interior of the castle, they found a
wooden box enclosed in the centre of it, which, on being taken
out, was found to contain this MS., as well as a superb old cro-
zier. The MS. had suffered much from damp, and the back,
front, and top margin had been gnawed in several places by rats
or mice ; but worse than that, it was said that the workmen by
whom the precious box was fomid, carried off several loose leaves,
and even whole staves of the book. Whether this be the case
or not, it is, I regret to say, true that the greater number of the
tracts contained in it are defective, and, as I believe, that whole
tracts have disappeared from it altogether since the time of its
discovery. The book was preserved for some time with great
care by the late Colonel Curry, the Duke of Devonshire's agent,
who, however, in 1815, lent it to Dennis O'Flinn, a professed,
but a very indifferent, Irish scholar, living then in Mallow Lane,
in the city of Cork. O'Flinn boimd it in wooden boards, and
disfigured several parts of it, by writing on the MS. While in
O'Fhnn's hands it was copied, in the whole or in part, by Mi-
chael O'Longan, of Carrignavar, near Cork. It was O'Fhnn
who gave it the name of " Book of Lismore", merely because it
was found at that place. After having made such use of tlae book
as he thought proper, O'Flinn retm-ned it, bound, as I have already
stated, to Colonel Cmiy, some time between the years 1816 and
OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 197
1820; and so the venerable old relic remained unquestioned, lect. ix.
and, I believe, unopened, until it was borrowed by the Royal ^^^^ ^^^^
Irish Academy, to be copied for them by me, in the year 1839. of lismobe.
The facihties for close examination which the slow progress
of a fac-simile transcript afforded me, enabled me to clearly dis-
cover this at least, that not only was the abstraction of portions
of the old book of recent date, bvit that the dishonest act had
been deliberately perpetrated by a skilful hand, and for a double
purpose. For it was not only that whole staves had been pil-
fered, but particular subjects were mutilated, so as to leave the
part that was returned to Lismore almost valueless without the
abstracted parts, the offending parties having first, of com'se,
copied all or the most part of the mutilated pieces.
After my transcript had been finished, and the old fragments
of the original returned to Lismore by the Academy, I insti-
tuted, on my own account, a close inquiry in Cork, with the
view of discovering, if possible, whether any part of the Book
of Lismore still remained there. Some seven or eight years
passed over, however, without my gaining any information on
the subject, when I happened to meet by accident, in Dublin, a
literary gentleman from the town of Middleton, ten miles from
the city of Cork ; and as I never missed an opportunity of
prosecuting my inquiries, I lost no time in communicating to
him my suspicions, and the circumstances on which they were
grounded, that part -of the Book of Lismore must be still re-
maining in Cork. To my joy and surprise the gentleman told
me that he had certain knowledge of the fact of a large portion of
the original MS. being in the hands of some person in Cork ; that
he had seen it in the hands of another party, but that he did not
know the owner, nor how or when he became possessed of it.
In a short time after this the late Sir William Betham's col-
lection of MSS. passed, by purchase, into the Hbrary of the Royal
Irish Academy ; and as I knew that the greater part of this col-
lection had been obtained from Cork, I lost no time in examin-
ing them closely for any copies of pieces from the Book of Lis-
more. Nor was I disappointed ; for I found among the books
copies of the lives of Saint Brendan, Saint Ciaran of Clonmac-
nois. Saint Mochna of Balla in Mayo, and Saint Finnchu of
Brigohliann in the county of Cork ; besides several legends and
minor pieces ; all copied by Michael O'Longan from the Book
of Lismore, in the house of Denis Ban O'Flinn, in Cork, in
the year 1816. And not only does O'Longan state, at the end
of one of these fives, that he copied these from the book which
Denis O'Flinn had borrowed from Lismore, but he gives the
weight of it, and the number of leaves or folios which the book
198 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS.
tECT. IX. in its integrity contained. As a further piece of presumptive
evidence of the Book of Lismore having been mutilated in Cork
OF LisMOEE. about this time, allow me to read for you the following memo-
randum in pencil, in an unknown hand, wliich has come into
my possession : —
" Mr. Denis O'Flyn of Mallow Lane, Cork, has brought a
book from Lismore lately, written on vellum about 900 years
ago, by Miles O'Kelly for Florence M'Carthy; it contains the
lives of some principal Irish Saints, with other historical facts
such as the wars of the Danes — 31st October, 1815".
To this I may add here the following extract of a letter
written by Mr. Joseph Long, of Cork, to the late William
Elhott Hudson, of DubHn, Esq., dated Feb. the 10th, 1848 : _
" Honoured Sir, — I have taken the liberty of bringing tliis
MS. to your honour. It contains various pieces copied from
the Book of Lismore, and other old Irish MSS. They are pieces
which I beheve you have not as yet in your collection. Its
contents are '■Forhuis Droma Damhglioire\ a liistoric legend,
describing the invasion of Munster by Cormac Mac Art, the
wonderful actions of the druids, diaiidish incantations, and
soforth ; ' A ir an da Fearmaiglie\ a topography of the two
Fermoys, together with an account of its claieftains, tribes, or
families, and soforth ; ' Seel Fiachiia mic Reataich\ a legend of
Loch En in Connaught ; Riaghail do rightliihh^ a rule for kings,
composed by Duhh Mae Turth ( ?) ; ' Seel air Chairbre Cinn-cait\
the murder of the royal chieftains of Erinn by their slaves, the
descendants of the Firbolgs, and soforth. — Book of Lismore".
With all these evidences before me of a part of the Book of
Lismore having been detained in Cork, in the year 1853 I pre-
vailed on a friend of mine in that city to endeavour to ascer-
tain in whose hands it was, what might be the nature of its
contents, whether it would be sold, and at what price. All this
my friend kindly performed. He procured me what purported
to be a catalogue of the contents of the Cork part of the Book
of Lismore, and he ascertained that the fragment consisted of 66
folios, or 132 pages, and that it would be sold for fifty pounds.
I immediately offered, on the part of the Bev. Doctors Todd
and Graves, then the secretaries to the Royal Irish Academy,
the sum named for the book ; but some new conditions with
which I had no power to comply, were afterwards added, and
the negociation broke off at this point.
The book shortly after passed, by purchase, into the posses-
sion of Thomas Hewitt, Esq., of Summerhill House, near Cork ;
and in January, 1855, a memoir of it was read before the Cu-
OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 199
vierian Society of Cork, by John Windele, Esq., of Blair's Castle, lect. ix.
in wliicli lie makes tlie folio wing: statement : — „. „
. f» 1 1 1 • "'"^ Book
" The work, it was at first supposed, may have been a portion of lismork
of the Book of Lismore, so well known to our literary antiqua-
rians, but it is now satisfactorily ascertained to have been tran-
scribed, in the latter half of the fifteenth century, for Fineen
McCarthy Reagh, Lord of Carbei-y, and his wife Catherine, the
daughter of Thomas, eighth Earl of Desmond". " Unfortu-
nately", he adds, " the volume has suffered some mutilation by
the loss of several folios. The life of Finnchu and the Forbids
are partly defective in consequence; but we possess amongst
our local MS. collections entire copies of these pieces".
To be sure, they have in Cork entire copies of these pieces ;
but they are copies, by Michael O'Longan, from the Book of
Lismore, before its mutilation among them, or else copies made
from his copies by his sons.
That Mr. Windele believed what he wrote about the Cork
fragment, tliere can of course be no doubt ; still it is equally in-
dubitable that this same fragment is part and parcel of the Book
of Lismore, and that it became detached from it while in the
hands of Denis O'FHnn, of Cork, some time about the year 1816.
And it is, therefore, equally certain, that the book which Mr.
Hewitt pm'chased, perhaps as an original bond fide volume with
some slight losses, is nothing more than a fragment, consisting of
about one-third part, of the Book of Lismore, and that this part
was fraudulently abstracted in Cork at the time above indicated.
The two pieces which Mr. Windele particularizes as being de-
fective in the Cork part, aj'e also defective in the Lismore part ;
the Life of Saint Fincliu wants but about one page in the latter,
while in Cork they cannot have more of it than one page or
folio ; and of the Forbuis, something about the first half is at
Lismore, while no more than the second half can be in Cork.
And although I have never seen any part of the Cork fragment,
I feel bold enough to say, that, should both parts be brought to-
gether in presence of competent judges, they will be pronounced
to be parts of the same original volume, and that several of the
defects in either will be exactly supplied by the other.
My transcript of the Lismore fragment of this valuable book
consists of 131 folios, or 262 pages. The chief items of the
contents are : Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick, Saint Colum Cille,
Saint Brigid of Kildare, Saint Senan (of Scattery Island, in
the Lower Shannon), Saint Finnen of Clonard, and Saint
Finnchu of Brigohhan, in the county of Cork, all written in
Gaedhhc of great purity and antiquity ; the conquests of Char-
lemagne, translated from the celebrated romance of the middle
200 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS.
LECT. IX. ages, ascribed to Turpin, Arcliblsliop of Rlieims ; the conversion
" of the Pantheon at Rome into a Christian Church ; the story
OF LisMOKE. of Petronilla, the daughter of Saint Peter ; the discovery of the
Sybilhne oracle in a stone coffin at Rome ; the History of the
Lombards (imperfect) ; an account of Saint Gregory the Great ;
the heresy of the Empress Justina ; of some modifications of cer-
tain minor ceremonies of the Mass ; an account of the successors
of Charlemagne ; of the correspondence between Archbishop
Lanfranc and the clergy of Rome ; extracts from the Travels of
Marco Polo ; an account of the battles of the celebrated Ceal-
lachan, king of Cashel, "with the Danes of Erinn, in the tenth
century ; of the battle of Crinna, between Cormac Mac Art, king
of Ireland, and the Ulstermen ; and of the siege of Drom Damh-
ghaire [now called Knocklong, in the County of Limerick], by
king Cormac Mac Art, against the men of Munster. This last,
though a strictly historic tale in its leading facts, is full of wild
incident, in which Mogh Ruith, the great Mvmster druid, and
Cithruadh, and Colptha, the druids of the monarch Cormac, bear
a most conspicvious and curious part.
The last piece in the book is one of very great interest ; it is
in the form of a dialogue between Saint Patrick and the two
surviving warriors of the band of heroes led by the celebrated
Finn Mac Cumhaill, Caoilte, the son of Ronan, and Oisin [com-
monly written in English "Ossian"], the warrior-poet, son of
F'hm himself It describes the situation of several of the hills,
mountains, rivers, caverns, rills, etc., in Ireland, with the deriva-
tion of their names. It is much to be regretted that this very
curious tract is imperfect. But for these defects, we should
probably have found in it notices of almost every monument of
note in ancient Ireland; and, even in its mutilated state, it
cannot but be regarded as preserving many of the most ancient
traditions to which we can now have access, traditions which
were committed to writing at a period when the ancient customs
of the people were unbroken and undisturbed.
I regret that space does not allow me to analyse a few more
of the important paper books in the Academy's Hbrary ; but I
think I have abeady done enough to enable you to form some
intelligible general estimate of the value and extent of the old
Gaedhlic books in Dublin ; and I shall only add, that the paper
books in Trinity College and the Academy are above 600 in
number, and may be estimated to contain about 30,000 pages
of Gaedlilic text, if printed at length in the form to which I
have so often referred as a specimen, that of O'Donovan's Annals.
There is, however, one collection (rather, I may say, one
class of MS. monmnents of Irish history) which I cannot pass by
OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 201
without at least alluding to it, though it would be, perhaps, im- ^ect. ix.
proper for mc at the present moment to enter upon any detailed ~^
account of it : I mean the great body of the laws of Ancient Law" mss.°"
Erinn, commonly called by the English the "Brehon Laws".
This collection is so immense in extent, and the subjects dealt
with throughout the whole of it, in the utmost detail, are so
numerous, and so fully illustrated by exact definitions and
minute descriptions, that, to enable us to fill up the outline sup-
phed by the annals and genealogies, these books of laws alone
would almost be found sufficient in competent hands. Indeed if
it were permitted me to enlarge upon their contents, even to the
extent 'to which I have spoken upon the subject of the various
annals 1 have desciibed to you, I should be forced to devote many
lectm'es to this subject alone. But these ancient laws, as you are
all aware, are now, and have been for the last three years, in
progi'ess of transcription and preparation for publication, under
the direction of a Commission of Irish noblemen and gentlemen,
appointed by royal warrant ; and it would not be for me to an-
ticipate their regular pubhcation.
The quantity of transcript already made (and there is still a
part to be made), amounts to over Jive thousand close quarto
pages, which, on average, would be equal to near 8000 pages
of the text of O'Donovan's Annals. This quantity, of course,
contains many duplicate pieces ; and it will rest with the Com-
missioners whether to publish the whole mass, or only a fair and
full text, compiled from a collation of all the duplicate copies.
Any one who has examined the body of Welsh Laws, now
some years before the woild, will at once be able to form a fair
opinion of the interest and value, in a historical and social point
of view, of this far larger — this immense and hitherto unex-
plored mass of legal institutes. And these were the laws and in-
stitutes which regulated the pohtical and social system of a
people the most remarkable in Europe, from a period almost
lost in the dark mazes of antiquity, down to within about two
hundred years, or seven generations, of our own time, and whose
spirit and traditions, I may add, influence the feehngs and
actions of the native Irish even to this day ! To these laws may
we, indeed, justly apply the expressive remark of the poet
Moore on the old MSS. in the Royal Irish Academy, that they
"were not written by a fooHsh people, nor for any foohsh
purpose". Into the particulars and arrangement of this mass
of laws I shall not enter here, since they are, as I have
already stated, in the hands of a Commission on whose preroga-
tives I have no disposition to trench. I may, however, be per-
mitted to observe that, copious though the records in which the
202 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS.
LECT. IX. actions and everyday life of our remote ancestors liave come
down to us, through the various documents of which I have
Law"MSS. been speaking, still, without these laws, our history would
be necessarily barren, deficient, and imcertain in one of its most
interesting and important essentials. For what can be more
essential for the historian's purpose than to have the means of
seeing clearly what the laws and customs were precisely, wliicli
governed and regulated the general and relative action of the
monarch and the provincial kings; of the provincial kings
and the hereditary princes and chiefs; of these in turn, and
of what may be called the hereditary proprietors, the Flaitlis
[pronounced "ilahs"], or landlords; and below these again, of
their farmers, and tenants, of all grades and conditions, native
and stranger ; — and what is even more interesting, if possible,
the conditions on which these various parties held their lands,
and the local customs which reo-ulated their agrarian and social
policy; as well as in general the sumptuary and economical
laws, and the several customs, which distinguished all these
classes one from another, compliance with which was abso-
lutely necessary to maintain them in their proper ranks and
respective privileges ? There are thousands of allusions to the
men and women of those days, as well as to various circum-
stances, manners, customs, and habits, to be met with in our
historic writings, otherwise inexplicable, wliich find a clear
and natural solution in these venerable institutes. And there
are besides, too, a vast number of facts, personal and historical,
recorded in the course of the laws (often stated by the com-
mentator or scribe as examples or precedents of the apphcation
of the particular law imder discussion), which must be care-
fully gleaned from them, before that History which is yet to
be framed out of the materials I have described to you, can
ever be satisfactorily completed.
These things will become accessible to all when the laboiu'S of
the Commission are concluded, when the immense and magni-
ficent work which the Commission is charged to pubHsh shall
be (a few years hence) arranged, indexed, and printed. And
perhaps this may be but the second great step in these times —
Mr. George Smith's publication of the Annals having been the
first — towards the vindication of the ancient honoior of the noble
race of Erinn. Much more, both in ecclesiastical and secular
history, remains to be done. Is the next step, after these re-
served to be taken under the auspices of a great National Insti-
tution, such as one may surely hope this, the Catholic Univer-
sity of Ireland, is destined to become ?
LECTURE X.
[Delivei-cd JIarch (i, 186fi.]
The Books of Genealogies and Pedigrees.
In tlie present Lecture I propose to finish this part of our Intro-
ductory course on the existing MS. materials of ancient Irish
History, by giving you some account of the great Records of
the Genealogies and Pedigrees of the Gaedhlic race, found
in the earhest and most reliable of the books I have described
to you.
In all civiHzed nations, where the possession of property or
the governing power was, from whatever cause, vested m any one
individual, with the right of transmission to posterity through
his legitimate descendants, direct or collateral, it follows, as a
mere matter of course, that all persons living subject to such a le-
gal arrangement must have taken good care to preserve accui'ate
evidences of their descent and identity, — accurate evidence such
as might sustain their claims to the succession, whether of pro-
perty or dignity, territory or emolmnents, whenever any dispute
upon such subjects should arise. And the natural necessity of
preserving genealogies and pedigrees being thus simply estab-
lished, it must be clear that the important duty of their preser-
vation could not be left to the care of irresponsible persons alone ;
and that, therefore, while every branch of the family kept a
proper record of its own descent (as well as of all the other
branches in relation to its own), some qualified persons must at
all times have been set apart for the express pvirpose of keeping
a pubhc record of all the descending branches of the original
tree. Such records must have been kept, in order that, when-
ever a reference to records was found necessary, no individual
representative should be able to advance his own claims upon
any mere private proofs within his own private power, nor on
any authority save such as might be found to accord with that
of a responsible public officer.
And such precautions, we find, were effectually taken under
the ancient customs and laws of Erinn.
To obviate all difficulties in respect of the right of succession
to the supreme rule, therefore, we find that the monarch of
204
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
LECT. X.
Official
records of
t}ie Gene-
alogies.
Erinn had always an officer of high distinction attached to his
court, whose office it was to keep, from generation to genera-
tion, a written record, or genealogical history, of all the descend-
ing branches of the royal family. And the same officer was
obliged to keep true record not only of these, but of the famihes
of all the provincial kings, and of all the principal territorial chiefs
in each province, m order that, in case of a dispute among them
and a ffiial appeal to the court of the chief king, he might be in
a position to decide such a dispute by the solemn authority of
a sure and impartial pubhc record.
This pubHc officer, according to law, could only be elected
from the order of Ollamhs; and the OllamJi may be described
as a doctor, or man who had arrived at the highest degree of his-
torical learning and of general literary attainments under the an-
cient Gaedlihc system of education. Every Ollamli should also
(according to the laws of the country, now popularly called the
" Brehon Laws") be an adept in regal synchronisms, should know
the boundaries of all the provinces and chieftaincies, and should
be able to trace the genealogies of all the tribes of Erinn up to
Adam. An Ollamh should also, according to the same law,
be civil of tongue, unstained by crime, and pure in morals.
The officer 1 have thus spoken of should be, then, an Ollamh
thus qualified ; and he was privileged and boimd to make perio-
dical visits to the provincial courts, and to the mansions of all
the chiefs throughout the land ; to inspect their books of family
history and genealogies ; to enter the names and number of the
leading or eldest branches of each family in his own book ; and,
on his return to Tara (or wherever the monarch might happen
to hold his residence), to write these matters into what was of old
called the Monarch's Book, but which, in more modern times,
seems to have been designated the Saltair of Tara.
And not only had the Monarch his Ollamh for these important
state pm-poses, but every provincial king, and even every smaller
territorial Chief, had his own Ollamli, or Seanchaidld [pron.
"shanachy"zz historian], for the provincial and other territorial
records ; and in obedience to an ancient law (established long
before the introduction of Christianity in the fifth century), all
the provincial records, and those of the various clann chief-
tains, were retm'nable every third year to a great convocation
or feast at Tara, where they were solemnly compared with
each other, and with the great Book or Saltair of the monarch,
and pmified and corrected where or whenever they required it.
As a very sufficient authority for the existence of this great
Monarchical Book, in the third century of the Christian era,
I may refer you, among many others, to the poem by Cinaeth
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 205
[or Kennetli] O'Hartigan, on Tara, and on King Cormac Mac lect. x.
Airt, of wliicli I have spoken in a former lectiu'e.
It lias lonoj been the fashion amonsf English writers, and credibility
those who ignorantly follow them in Ireland, to sneer at the tiquu/^of
very idea of any nation, or any families of a nation, being able aio'^ies"^"
to preserve their genealogies and pedigrees for one, two, or
three thousand years ; and as for the suggestion, that an Irish-
man, or a Welshman, of the year of om- Lord 1856, should be
able, with any conceivable probability or even possibihty, to
trace his generations up to Noah, it is set down as much worse
than absurd; it is contemptuously termed an "Irish pedigree",
or a " Welsh pedigree", and even the very name of it is deemed,
as a matter of course, a subject fit only for ridicule. Let us,
however, look a little into the question, and consider for a mo-
ment the justice of this scepticism.
You are all aware that the original genealogies and pedigrees
of the human race (and, indeed, the very form in which oru'
own ancient genealogies and pedigrees were recorded), are to
be found in the Holy Bible ; as in Genesis, chapter x., verses 1 to
5, beginning : " These are the generations of the sons of Noe (or
Noah) : Sem, Cham, and Japhcth ; and unto them sons were
born after the flood". Now this Scripture record goes on : —
2. " The sons of Japheth [were] ; Gomer, and Magog, and
Madai, and Javan, and Thubal, and Mosoch, and Thiras.
3. " And the sons of Gomer [were] ; Ascenez, and Riphath,
and Thogorma.
4. " And the sons of Javan [were] ; Elisa, and Tharsis,
Cetthim, and Dodanim.
5. " By these were divided the islands of the Gentiles in
their lands ; every one according to his tongue, and their fami-
lies in their nations", etc.
It is curious that the sons of Magog, the second son of
Japheth, are not enumerated in this genealogy ; and yet it is
to tliis remote ancestor that all the ancient colonists of Ireland
carry up their pedigrees, as recorded here long before Christi-
anity and Christian books found their way into the country.
Nor are the Gaedhils the only people said to have descended
from Magog ; for I may remark, in passing, that the Bactrians,
the Parthians, and others, also claimed descent from him.
I shall not, however, follow to-day the subject of the verifi-
cation of the ancient descent of the royal races of Erinn ; and I
have only thrown out so much by way of hinting to you, that,
notwithstanding the sneers to which I have alluded, still a great
deal of serious study may be required before any rational con-
206 OF THE B00K8 OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
LECT. X. elusion can be arrived at with certainty in relation to it. I have
only to-day to do with the plan and method followed by our
toricai ac- ancestors, in recording and preserving the Genealogies of the
GMieaioJes. Irish nation, as these have actually been handed down to us
from the days of our early kings. I desire to deal with them
simply as one branch of those materials for our history, of
which I have described to you so many, as having come down
to us in an authentic form. And whatever may be the opinions
of modern commentators (all of them very ill informed on the
subject) as to the truth of the more remote genealogies before
the arrival of the Gaedhhc colony in Erinn, I think I have given
you the most solid reason to trust the records of the Gacdlilic
genealogies from that or at least from a very remote time down-
wards, made and preserved, as we know they were, with the care
prescribed by the laws to which I have just called your attention.
I have shown in a former lecture, on authority that cannot well
be questioned, that the Pedigrees of the Gaedlilic nation were
collected and written into a single book (which was called the
Cm, or Book, of Dromsneacht) by the son ofDuach Galach, king
of Connacht, — and an Ollamh in history, in genealogies, etc.,
— shortly before the arrival of Saint Patrick in Ireland, which
happened in the year 432. It follows necessarily that those pe-
digrees and genealogies must have been already in existence, —
doubtless in the various tribe-books ; and it is more than pro-
bable that their leading portions had before then been entered,
in the manner and under the law I have already explained, in
the great Book of Tara.
Without going farther back, then, than this Book of Drom-
sneacht^ which is so often qiioted in our ancient MSS., it will
be plain that succeeding Ollamhs and genealogists had before
them a plan and mode of proceeding with their work, either
founded on still more remote precedents, or, at all events,
adopted so long ago as the earlier portion of the fifth century,
by the author of that celebrated book.
Nothing could be more simple than the plan of keeping local
Pedigrees, where, as was the case in Ireland, each kingdom,
province, and principality appointed a fully qualified ofiicer for
the purpose.
Every free-born man of the tribe was, according to the law
of the country, entitled by blood, should it come to his turn, to
succeed to the chieftaincy ; and every principal family kept its
own pedigree as a check on the officer of the tribe or province,
and as an authority for its own claim, should the occasion arise.
As the Milesians were the last of the ancient colonists, and
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 207
had subdued the races previously existing in Ireland, it is their lect. x.
genealogies only, with some very few exceptions, that have The Muesian
been thus carried down to the later times. Genealogies.
The genealogical tree then begins with the brothers Eber
and Eremon, the two surviving leaders of the Milesian expedi-
tion ; and, after tracing their ancestors so far back as to Magog,
the son of Japheth, the earliest genealogies give us the manner
of the death of each of these sons of Milesius, and the number
and names of their sons again, respectively.
From Eber, according to all the genealogies, descend all the The Lines of
families of the south of Ireland, represented at present by the Eremon.
race of Oilioll Oluim: as the Mac Carthys, the O'Briens, and
their various branches. From Eremon, on the other hand,
descend the great races of Connacht and Leinster, represented
by the O'Conors, the Mac Murrochs, etc., as well as the great
races of Ulster, also, from the fourth century down, represented
by the O'Donnells, the O'Neills, etc.
Besides these two chief races, the records relate the descent The iiian
of two others of great liistorical importance. From Emer, the unes.* '^"
son of Ir (who was the brother of Eber and Eremon), descend
the races of Uladli, or Ulidia [an ancient district consisting
nearly of the present counties of Down and Antrim], now re-
presented by the family of Magenis of Down; and from Lu-
gaidh, the son of Itli, their cousin, who settled in the west of
the present county of Cork, descended the races of that district,
represented in chief by the family of O'Driscoll. [This latter
race of Gaedhils is minutely traced in the Miscellany of tlie
Celtic Society, published in 1849.]
To these fbin-, — or rather, indeed, with very few exceptions,
to the two brothers, Eber and Eremon, — all the great lines of
the Milesian family, all the great chieftain hnes of ancient Erinn,
are traced up. It is not, however, to be expected that any re-
cord of the genealogies of the people in general, in those remote
ages, could possibly have come down to our times. It is only
in the succession of the monarchs, of the provincial kings and
chieftains, and in the hnes of saints and other remarkable persons,
that we invariably find the new king or personage traced back
through all the generations, either to his remote ancestor,
Eber, Eremon, Ir, or Ith, or at all events, to some person whose
pedigree has been in some previous part of the great genealogical
records abeady traced up to these som'ces.
The first great starting point in the Eremonian lines of pedi-
grees, and from which the great families of Connacht and Lein-
ster branch off, is to be found in UgainS Mor, who flourished,
208 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
LECT. X. according to our annals, more than 500 years before the Incar-
nation of onr Lord. From his elder son (7o57i^7iacA (pron. nearly
monian " C6v-a", now " Coffcy"), dcscend all the families of Connacht, as
%l%Tmr. well as the O'Donnells, the O'Neills, and others, of Ulster ; and
from his second son, Laeghaire (pron. nearly " Lea-ry"), de-
scend the chief families of Leinster.
Again, in the second centmy of the Christian era a great di-
vision of families took jDlace in Leinster, that, namely, of the
sons of the monarch Catliair Mo?' (pron. " Ca-hir more"), who
divided his hereditary kingdom of Leinster among his sons, to
some one of whom all the later Leinster famihes trace up their
pedigrees.
The Daicas- In the noxt, the tliird century, again, a great division of ter-
Eo"hanacts ritorics took placc in Munster between Fiacha Muilleathan, the
of Munster. gon of ESghaii Mor the elder, and Cormac Cas, the younger son
of Oilioll Oluim, the king of that province; Eoghan's son
taking South Munster, and his uncle Cormac Cas, North Mun-
ster, or Thomond ; and it is to one or the other of these two
personages that all the great Munster families of the line of
Eber trace up their pedigrees.
Again, in the fourth century a great division of families
and of territory took place in Connacht and Ulster, between
the three sons of the monarch Eochaidh Muighmheadhoin, —
Brian, Fiachf'a, and Niall, afterwards called Niall of the Nine
Hostages. The two elder sons were settled in Connacht ; and
from them descend the chief families of that province, north
and south, excepting the O'Kellys, the Mac Rannalls, and some
others. The younger son, Niall, succeeded to the monarchy :
and this Niall had seven sons, among whom he divided the
territories of Meath and Ulster, the district comprising the pre-
sent counties of Antrim and Down excepted ; and it is to these
sons that all the great families of these territories trace up
their pedigrees.
Having so far placed before you, with much more brevity
than I could wish, the remote leading points at which the
great families of Ireland are recorded to have separated, I shall
now proceed to show you how the genealogies have been
arranged, and, with their still continued separations, carried
down in some instances even to our times ; and as a Muster-
man and Dalcassian, not, I trust, unreasonably attached to my
race, I shall take my example from the really great line of the
O'Brien. As, however, it would be tedious, as well as unne-
cessary, for the purpose of a mere example, to carry the hne
down for you all the way from Eber, the son of Milesius him-
self, I shall begin with Oilioll Oluim, King of Munster, who
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 209
died, according to our annals, in tlie year of our Lord 234. I lect. x.
shall adopt the very form and plan of the old genealoo-les ^
1 T ^ ' 1 1 ' -i 1 T 1 • Genealogy of
tnemseives, m the abridged account i am about to give you ; the oBnens,
because I wish thus practically to make you acquainted with Munster"^
the mode in which the family pedigrees were recorded by the ^Sf ' ^"^""^
Ollamlis of old, and because, also, you will thus best under- ohum.
stand the importance of the class of MSS. which we are now
considering, in the study of the true history of the country.
Oilioll Oluim had several sons, seven of whom were killed in
the celebrated battle of ATagh MucruimM, in the comity of
Galway ; and among them Edghan, ot Eugene, the eldest, from
whom (through liis son again, Fiacha Muilleatlmhi) descend
what is called by old wiiters the "Eugenian" line, to which
belong the Mac Caithys, the O^'Callachans, the O'Sullivans, the
O'KeeiFes, and so forth.
Cimi was another of the sons of Oilioll Oluim killed in this
battle ; he left a son Tadhg [a name now known as Teige or
Thaddeus], from whom descend the O'Carrolls of Ely O'Carroll,
the O'Reardons, the O'Haras, the O'Garas, etc., as well as seve-
ral families of East Meatli,
Cormac Cas, the second son of Oilioll Oluim, was the only
one of his children who survived the great battle of Magh
Mticruimhe, and between him and Fiacha (the son of the eldest
son, Eugene), the old king divided his territory into North
and South Munster, giving to Fiaeha the south, and to Cormac
the north part. (This north part, I should observe, did not then
comjDrehend the present county of Clare, that territory being at
the time in the occupation of a tribe of the old Fii'bolg race.)
Cormac Cas (whose wife was the daughter of the celebrated
poet Oisin, or Ossian, son of the great warrior Finn Mac Cum-
Iiaill, or Mac Coole) had a son Mogh Corh, who had a son
Fer Corh, who had a son Aengus, called Tirech, or the wan-
derer, who had a son called Lughaidh Meann (pron: " Loo-y
Menn"). It was this Lugtiaidh Meann that first wrested the
present county of Clare from the Firbolgs, and attached it to
his patrimony ; and the whole inheritance lias been ever since
denominated TuadA Mhumhain, or North Munster, a name im
modern times Anglicized into Thomond.
Lughaidh Meann had a son Conall, called Conall Fachhtaith,
or Conall of the Fleet Steeds ; who had a son Cas. This Cas
(from whom the Dalcassians derive their distinctive name) had
twelve sons, namely, Blod, Caisin, Lughaidh, Seadna, Aengus
Cdnnathrach, Carthainn, Cainioch, Aengus CinnaiUn, Aedh^
Nae, Loisgenn, and Dealhaeth.
Blod, the eldest son of Cas, is the great stem of the Dalcas-
14
210 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
LECT. X. sian race, directly represented by tlie O'Brians. From Caism,
the second son of Cas, descend the aSzo/ ^4ofZ/«a, represented by
the O'Briens, the Mac Namaras, the O'Gradys, the Mac Flannchadhas (now
Munster'^ Called Clanchys), and the CCaisins, etc. From Ltighaidh, the
oSr ^'°°^ tliird son of Cas, descend the Muintir Dohharclion (now re-
ohiim. presented by the O'Liddys of Clare). From Seclna (pron:
" Shedna") the fourth son of Cas, descend the Cinel Sedna (not,
I believe, now represented). From Aengus Cinnathrach, the
fifth son, descend the O'Deas. From Aengus Cinnaitin, the
sixth son, descend the O'Quinns (a family who may now be
considered to be represented by the Earl of Dunraven), and the
O'Nechtanns. Fyovcl Aedh (or Hugh), the seventh son of Cas,
descend the O'Heas. From Dealheatli, the eighth son of Cas,
descend the Mac Cochlanns of Dealbhna, or Delvin (in the
county of Westmeath), the O'Scullys, etc. The descendants
of the other sons are not now to be distinguished.
It is curious to observe, in this recital, at how early a period
the ancestors of those various Dalcassian families separated from
each other. — But to return to the progenitor of the O'Briens.
Blod, the eldest son of Cas, had two sons: Cairthinn Finn,
and Brenan Ban. From this Brenan Ban, the second son, de-
scend the O'Hurlys and the O'Malonys.
Cairthinn Fimi, the eldest son of Blod, had two sons,
Fochaidh, called Bailldearg (or " of the Red Mole"), and
Aengus. From Aengus, the younger son, descend, among
others, the famihes of O Comhraidhe (now called Curry); the
O'Cormacans (now called Mac Cormacks) ; O Seasnain, now
Sexton ; ORiada, now Reidy, etc.
Fochaidh Bailldearg, the eldest son of Cairthinn Fhin, was
born during the time that St. Patrick was on his first mission in
Mimster, and received baptism and benediction at the hands of
the great apostle himself. This Fochaidh Bailldearg had a son
Conall, who had a son Aedli Caenih, or Hugh the Comely.
A edh Caemh, the son of Conall, had two sons, Cathal (pron :
" Cahal") and Congal. From Congal, the younger son, descend
the O'Neills of Clare, and the On-Foghans, or Owens. Cathal,
the elder son of Aedh Caemh, had two sons, Torloch and
Ailgenan. It is from this Ailgenan that the O'Mearas descend.
Torloch, the elder son of Cathal, had a son, 3Iathghamhain,
or Mahon ; who had a son. Core ; who had a son Lachtna (the
ruins of whose ancient palace of Grianan Lachtna, situated
about a mile north of Killaloe, I was, by means of the records
of these ancient pedigrees, first enabled to identify, in the year
1840, during the investigations of the Ordnance survey).
Lachtna, the son of Core, had a valiant son, Lorcdn (a name
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 2 1 1
now Anglicised "Lawrence"). Lorcdn had throe sons, Cinneidigli lect. x.
or Kennedy; Cosgrach; and Bran. From Cosgrach, the second q^^^^-^ ^
son, descend the O'Lorcans, or Larkins ; the O'Sheehans ; the tiie O'Briens,
CCnaimhins (now Bowens); the O'Hogans; the O'Flahei-tys ; s"unster
the O'Gloiarns ; the O'Aingidys ; and the O'Maines. From ^^^™f' ^'•''™
Bran, the third son, descend the Sliocht Branfinn, in DuiFerm oudm.
in Wexford, a clann who subsequently took, and still retain, the
name of O'Brien.
Cwmidigh, or Kennedy, the eldest son of Lorcdn, had twelve
sons, four only of whom left issue — namely, Mahon, Brian,
Donnchuan (or Doncan), and Echtighern.
From INIahon, the eldest son of Kennedy, descend the
O'Bolands, the O'Caseys, the OSiodhachans, the Mac Inirys,
the O'Connallys, and the O'Tuomys, in the county of Limerick,
From the great Brian Boroimhe, the second son of Kennedy,
descend the O'Briens and the Mac JMahons of Clare.
Donnchuan, tliird son of Kennedy, had five sons — namely, two
of the name of Kennedy, Riagan, Longargan, and Ceileachair.
From one of the two Kennedys descend the family of O' Con-
ning (now Gunning), and from the other the family of O'Kennedy.
From Riagan descend the O'Riagans, or O'Regans, of Clare
and Limerick. From Longargan descend the O'Longergans,
or Lonergans ; and from Ceileachair, the fifth son, descend the
O Ceileachair s, or Kellehers.
Brian Boroimhe, the second son of Kennedy, had six sons:
MurchadJi, or Moroch, killed at the battle of Clontarf; Tadhg;
Donnchadh, or Donoch; Domhnall, or Donnall; Conor; and
Flami ; — but two of them only left issue, namely Tadhg, the
eldest after Moroch, and Donoch. From Tadhg descend the
great family of the O'Briens of Thomond ; and from Donoch,
the O'Briens of Cuanach and Eatharlagh, in the present
counties of Limerick and Tipperary.
Tadhg, the eldest surviving son of Brian BoroimhS, after the
battle of Clontarf, had a son, Torloch. Torloch had two sons,
Muircheartach, or Mortogh, and Biarmaid, or Dermod.
Mortoch, from whom descend the Mac Mahons of Clare,
assiuned the monarchy of L'eland, and died in the year 1119 ;
and the Book of Leinster brings down the genealogies of the race
of Eber to these two brothers of the Dalcassian line, and to their
co-descendants, the brothers Cormac and Tadhg Mac Carthy
of the Eugenian line, both of whose names are inscribed on
that beautiful bronze shrine of Saint Lachtin's arm, which was
exhibited in the gi'eat Dublin Exhibition in 1853, and of wliich
some account will be fomid in the Proceedings of the Royal
Irish Academy (vol. v., page 461). This Cormac Mac Carthy
14 B
212 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
LECT. X. died in tlae year 1138. (And I may here observe, that by a
' general rule, from ■which, so far as I have knowii, there is never
tiiTo^irfeiis, any deviation, the termination of these Hnes of genealogies in
Mmister'^ anciont Irish manuscript books marks the date of the compila-
cianns, from tion of sucli books. But to return :)
oiuim. Dermod, the second son of Torloch, and brother of Mortoch,
and from whom descend the O'Brians, had a son, Torloch.
This Torloch had a son, Donnall 3I6r O'Brian, who was king of
Munster at the period of the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1172.
DonnallJ/w' had a son, Donoch (Donnchadh) Cairhrech, who
had a son Conor of Siubhdainech, who erected the great Abbey
of Corcamroe, in which he was bvu'ied in the year 1260.
Conor of Siubhdainech (that is, Conor of the wood of Siubh-
dainech, in Burren, where he was killed in battle by the O'Loch-
lainns, in the above year) had two sons, Tadhg Caeluisge, and
Brian Ruadh, or Roe, the ancestor of the O'Brians of Ai-ra, in
Tipperary.
Tadhg, the eldest son of Conor, had a son Torloch, the great
hero of the wars of Thomond ; who had a son, Murtoch ; who
had a son, Mahon ; who had two sons, Brian and Conor ; from
the latter of whom descend the O'Brians of Carraig Og- Conaill
(now called " Corrig-a-gunnell"), near Limerick.
Brian, the elder son of Mahon, and who was styled Brian of
the battle of Nenagh, died in the year 1399.
The Book of Ballymote, which was compiled in the year
1391, and the Book of Lecan, wlrich was compiled in the year
1416, bring down the O'Brian pedigree, as well as all other
pedigrees, to this Brian of the battle of Nenagh, who died in
1399, from where the Book of Leinster stops (that is, from the
year 1119); and Dubhaltach Mac Firbisigh, of whose book we
shall presently speak, continues the lines from 1399 down to
his own time in 1664, as follows: —
Brian of the battle of Nenagh had a son, Torloch ; who had a
son, Tadhg, of Comhad; who had a son, Torloch ; who had two
sons, Conor and Murchadh, or Moroch, of whom the last-named
became the first Earl of Thomond and Baron of Inchiquin.
Conor had a son, Donnchadh, or Donoch ; who had a son,
Conor ; who had a son Donoch ; who had a son, Brian ; who had
a son, Henry, seventh Earl of Thomond, hving in the year 1646,
at wliich date Mac Firbis stops ; and from that period the line is,
of coiu'se, preserved in many pubhc documents, as well as in local
Irish records, to the late Marquis of Thomond, who died in 1855.
You have heard (in a general way, indeed, for oiu- time
allowed of no other) the evidences upon wliich such a pedigree
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 213
as I have thus traced for you, may claim credence. You have lect. x.
heard in what manner the records from which I have derived
it were kept — legal records, whose authenticity, so far at least, I
think, it will he in vain for the most sceptical critic to call in
question, when he has properly examined and studied them.
And if ancient pedigree in an unbroken Hne be indeed so
honovu'able as modern fashion seems to insist it is, then here is a
line of pedigree and genealogy that would do honour to the
most dignified crowned head in the world.
Of the Dalcassian line we find that Cormac Cas, the founder, Genealogy of
was king of Munster about the year of our Lord 260; Aengus slansl^ar*'
Tireach, about the year 290 ; Conall of the Swift Steeds, in 366 ; ^i^^'^^Pcorded
Cairtliinn Finn, in 439 ; Aedh Caemh, from 571 to his death in caedhuc
601; Lorcdn, in 910; Cinneidigh, or Kennedy, the father of ®'^^'^°^'^^'
Brian BoroimhS, in 954; and Brian himself, from 975 to the
year 1002, when he became monarch of all Erinn, and as
such reigned till his death, at the battle of Clontarf, in 1014.
The succession to the kingship of Munster was alternate be-
tween the Eugenians and the Dalcassians ; but the former being
the most powerful in nmnbers and in extent of territory, mo-
nopolized the provincial rule as far as they were able. The
line of the Dalcassians were, however, always kings or chiefs
of Thomond in succession, and kings of the province as often
as they had strength enough to assert their alternate right ; and
it is a fact beyond dispute that the kindred of the late Marquis
of Thomond hold lands at the present day which have de-
scended to them, through an unbroken line of ancestry, for
1600 years. Now the Dalcassians, whose genealogical line I
have only presented to you as an example, were but one out of
about forty different great tribes of the line of Eber, which ex-
isted in Munster in the sixth and seventh centuries ; all and each
of whom held separate and peculiar territories of their own, which
were again subdivided; and in these territories every man of
the tribe, who could prove his relationship, had a legal share.
And as the law and the custom were the same throughout all
Erinn, it follows almost as a matter of necessity that the gene-
alogies and pedigrees — the only proofs of title to the tribe-
lands — must have been kept with all the jealous care and accu-
racy we have ascribed to the compilation of records practically
so important.
A most curious feature in our ancient national records, in
connexion with these genealogies, is the information they con-
tain concerning the manner and time at which several of the
ancient independent tribes and families lost their inheritance and
214
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
LECT. X. independence, becoming sometimes mere rent-payers ^ some-
times servitors in tlie free lands of their fathers, and at other
o™the Gene- timcs Settling as strangers in other territories and provinces.
thfPan^ienr The laws imdor which such changes coixld take place, will of
Laws. course be explained when the work of the Brehon Law Com-
mission is completed. Historic facts, illustrative of many of
them, are recorded in the genealogical tracts, which in this re-
spect also will be found to contain many important items of
historical information not entered in any of the annals.
Family
names first
introduced
.about A.D.
1000.
Distinction
between a
Qenealogy
aufl a
Fedigi'&e.
Previous to the time of the monarch Brian BoroimhS (about
the year 1000), there was no general system of family names in
Erinn ; but every man took the name either of his father or his
grandfather for a surname. Brian, however, established a new
and most convenient arrangement, namely, that families in fu-
ture should take permanent names, either those of their imme-
diate fathers, or of any person more remote in their line of
pedigree. And thus Muireadhach, the son of Carthach, took
the surname of Mac Carthaigh (now Mac Carthy); ^'■Mac^
being the GaedliHc for "son". Toirdhealhhagh, or Turloch, the
grandson of Brian himself, took the surname of O'Brian, or the
grandson of Brian, "0" being the Gaedhlic for "grandson";
Cathbharr, the grandson of Donnell, took the name of O'Donnell ;
Donnell, the grandson of Niall Glundubh, took the siu-name
of O'Neill ; Tadgh, or Teige, the grandson of Conor, took the
name of O'Conor (of Connacht) ; Donoch, the son o£ 3IurcJiadh,
or Miu-och, took the surname of Mac Muroch of Leinster;
and so as to all the other families throughout the kingdom.
The genealogists always made a distinction between a genea-
logy and a pedigree. A Genealogy, according to them, em-
braced the descent of a family and its relation to all the other
families that descended from the same remote parent-stock, and
who took a distinct tribe name, such as, for instance, the Dal-
cassians. A Pedigree meant only the running up of the line of
descent of any one of those families, through its various genera-
tions, to the individual from whom the name was derived, such
as the line of O'Brien, MacNamara, O'Quinn, etc., traced up
again to a more remote ancestor, such as Oilioll Oluini, without
any reference to relationship with the other families descended
from the same remote progenitor. I have given you an ex-
ample of a Genealogy, — that of the race of Oilioll Oluim. Now,
the principal races are all traced in the same way in the great
books of Genealogies. The Pedigrees of the different families
are afterwards entered, beginning with the individual living at
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 215
the time of the record, and tracing his descent backwards (from lect. x.
son to father) iip to that ancestor, whoever he was, from whom ^
the name of the family was taken, and who had been ah'eady Geneiiiogies
recorded in one of the genealogies as the ancestor of the family. booUs."^*^
All the Genealogies, as a general rule, are made to begin, as
you have ah'eady heard, from the beginning of the world, or at
least, from Noah ; and you are aware, from what I have told
you in relation to O'Clery's " Succession of the Kings", how the
line of Milidh, or Milesius, was traced. The great genealogical
tracts then take i;p each province separately, and deal with all
its tribes, one after another, just as the Dalcassians are dealt
with in the example I have to-day given you.
The Book of Leinster is, as you know, the second oldest of
our existing historical MSS., the genealogical tracts in that
book having been written into it, I may assert, about a.d. 1130.
This tract comprises sixty closely-written pages of that cele-
brated MS. The Book of Ballymote (a.d. 1391) contains the
same tracts, enlaro-ed and continued. The same tracts asfain occur,
with still further additions and continuations, in the Book of
Lecain (a.d. 141G); and among the additions in the last named
book, will be found a genealogy of the Ttiatha De Danann,
the race anterior to the Milesians. I need hardly observe that,
at the time those various books were compiled, these tracts were
regarded as of the highest authority, as they have been ever
since among Irish scholars and historical students; and it is
more than probable that that in the Book of Leinster was copied
from the Saltair of Cashel and other cotemporaneous books.
But the fullest and most perfect of all is the immense Book Mac Firbis'
of Genealogies, compiled m the years 1650 to 1666 (by being Genealogies,
copied from a great number of now lost local records), by that
Duhhaltach Mac Firhisigh^ or Duald Mac Firbis, whose cha-
racter and works (including the present volume), as well as
whose tragical death, I have already described to you in a
former lecture.
According to the plan I have observed in reference to the
O'Clerys, I propose to make you acquainted with Mac Firbis
himseh", as well as with his book, and the reason, as well as the
plan, of its compilation, by reading for you, in translation, as
much of his introduction as the remainder of our time may
permit to day. And, I do so the more readily, because no part
of it has yet been given to the world, and it contains an inmaense
quantity of suggestion, of criticism, and of positive information,
which I am particularly well pleased to be able to lay before
you, upon the foundation of so venerable and learned an
authoritv. [See the original of this Introduction in the Ap-
pendix,"'No. LXXXYIL]
216 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
LECT. VII. Mac Firbis begins with the title of his book, which is expla-
, , natory of its contents, as the title pages of books in the seven-
liook of teenth century generally were : —
Geneaiogus. ^ 'Y\\Q kincbcd and genealogical branches of every colony
that took possession of Erinn from the present time back up
to Adam (the Fomorians, the Lochlanns, and the Sax-Normans
excepted, only as far as they are connected with the history of
our comitry), together wdth the genealogies of the saints, and the
succession of the kings of Ireland. And, lastly, a table of con-
tents, in which are arranged, in alphabetical order, the sur-
names and the noted places which are mentioned in this book ;
which was compiled by Dubhaltach Mac Firhisigh of Lecain,
in the year 1650".
The author then continues : —
" Although the above is the more usual manner of giving
titles (to books) in these times, yet we shall not depart from the
paths of our ancestors, the old pleasant Irish custom, for it is the
plainest, as follows : —
" The place, time, author, and cause of writing this book,
are : Its place is the College of Saint Nicholas, in Gal way ; its
time is the tune of the religious war between the Cathohcs of
Ireland and the heretics of Ireland, Scotland, and England, and,
particularly, the year of the age of Christ, 1650. The author
of it is Dubhaltach, the son of Gilla Isa Mor Mac Firhisigh,
historian, etc., of Lecain Mic Firhisigh, in Tu-eragh of the
jNloy ; and the cause of writmg the same book is to magnify
the glory of God, and to give knowledge to all men in general.
" It may happen that some one may be surprised at this
work, because of the copiousness of the pedigrees that appear
in it, and of the hundreds of famiHes that are coimted m it, up
to Adam, in the order of their relation to one another. Because
I myself hear people saying that the pedigrees of the Gaedhils
cannot be brought thus to their origin. Whatever is their
reason for saying this, we might give it an answer, if we thought
it worth wliile, but that is not our present object, but to show
the truth, on the authority of ancient writings, of learned elders,
old saints, and the highest seanachies or historians of Erinn,
from the beginning of time to this day. This is a thing of
which there can be no doubt ; for it is a common and true say-
ing, in the ancient and pure Gaedlilic Books of Erinn, showing
the classes who preserved their history. Thus do they say : If
there be any one who shall ask who preserved the history
\Seanchus'\, let him know that they were very ancient and
long lived old men, recording elders of great age, whom God
permitted to preserve and hand down the history of Erinn, in
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 217
books, in succession, one after another, from the Dehige to the lect. x.
time of Saint Patrick (who came in the fourth year of Laegli- ^^^^ p.^^.^,
aire Mac Neill), and Coluin Cille, and Comhgall o£ Bemi-chair Book of
[Bangor], and Finnen of Clonard, and the other saints of Erinn ; ^^'^^ °^'^*"
which [liistory] was written on their knees, in books, and which
[liistory] is now on the altars of the saints, in their houses of
writings [libraries], in the hands of sages and liistorians, from
that time for ever.
*' So far doth the foregoing say, but it is more at large in the
Leahhar Gahhala; and that is a book that ought to be sufficient
to confirm this fact. Besides that, here, in particular, are the
names of the authors of the liistory and the other poetry [literary
productions] of Erinn, who came with the different colonists,
taken on the authority of very ancient writings, which set them
down thus : —
'■'• Bacorhladhi'a was the first teacher of Erinn, and Ollamh
to Partholan.
" Figma, the poet and historian of the Clanna-Nemheidh.
^'■Fathach, the poet of the Firbolgs, who related history,
poetry, and stories to them.
" Cairbre, Aoi, and -5j]dan, were the poets of the Tuatlia DS
Danann, for history, poems, and stories. And besides that,
the greater pai"t of the nobles (or higher classes) of the Tuatlia
De Danann were full of learning and of druidism.
" The Gaedliils, too, were not a people that were without
preservers of then- history in all parts through which they passed :
because Fenias Farsaidh, their ancestor, was a prime author in
all the languages ; and it is not to be wondered at that he sho\ild
know his own history. So it was with Nel, the son of Fenias,
in Egypt, [who was invited by Pharoah]. So Caicher, the druid,
in Scythia and in Getulia, and between them (Egypt and Ge-
tulia), where he foretold that they would come to Erinn. So Mi-
lesius of Spain, who was named Golam, after going out of Spain
into Scythia, and from that to Egypt, and parties of his people
learned the chief arts in it (Egypt) : that is, Seudga, Suirge, and
Sobairce, in the arts; Mantdn, Falman, Caicher, in druidism;
tliree more of them were just judging judges, that is, Gostin,
Amergin^dindi Donn; Amergin Glungealthe son o^JS^iid, Caeham,
and Cir the son of Cis, were the three poets of the Milesians ;
Amergin and Caeham, were poets, brehons, historians, and
story-tellers ; Cir, the son of Cis, was a poet and a story-teller
[but not a historian] ; Onna was the musician and harper of
the Milesians, as given in the Book of Invasions, in the poem
beginning, ' The tw^o sons of Mileadh [Milesius] , of honourable
arts'
Mac Firbls'
218 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
" The sons of Ugaine M&r^ were, some of tKem, full of learn-
ing, as is evident from RoighnS Mosgadach, tlie son of Ugaine,
Book of"'* wlio was the author of many ancient law maxims.
Genealogies. u QUamh FodJila, the king of Erinn, who was so called from
the extent of his Ollamh learning ; for Eochaidli was his first
name. It was he that made the first Feis of Tara, which was
the great convocation of the men of Erinn, and which Avas con-
tinued by the kings of Erinn from that down, every third year,
to preserve the laws and rules, and to pmify the history of
Erinn, and to write it in the Saltair [or psalter] of Tara, that
is, the Book of the A^^d Righ [chief king or monarch] of Erinn.
*' Would not this alone be sufiicient to preserve the history of
any kingdom, no matter how extensive ? But it is not that they
were trusting to this alone; for it is not recorded that there
came any race into Ireland, who had not learned men to pre-
serve their history.
" At one time, in the time of Conor Mac Nessa, there were
1200 poets in one company; another time 1000; another time
700, as was the case in the time of Aedh Mac Aininire [Hugh,
the son of Ainmire] and Colum Cille; and besides, in every
time, between these periods, Erinn always thought that she had
more of learned men in her than she wanted ; so that, from their
numbers and their pressure [that is, the tax their support made
necessary upon the people], it was attempted to banish them out
of Erinn on three difl^erent occasions, mitil they were detained by
the Ultonians for hospitality sake. This is evident in the Amhra
Cholum Chille, who \_Colum CilU^ was the last that kept them
in Ireland ; and Colum Cille distributed a poet to every territory,
and a poet to every king, in order to lighten the burden on the
people in general ; so that there were people in their following
[that is, keeping ixp the succession of the ancient professors of
poetry], contemporary with every generation, to preserve the his-
tory and events of the country at this time. Not these alone,
but the kings and saints, and churches of Erinn, as I have already
stated, preserved the history in like manner.
'■'■ FerceirtnS, the poet; Seancha, the son oiAilell; NeidS, the
son of^4(^7ina; and J^f//ma himself, the son of Uither ; Morann,
sonof Jiaon; yl ^AaiVne, the poet; Cormac Ua Cuinn [grandson
of Conn] , Cliief King of Erinn ; Cormac Mac Cinlennain, King
of Munster; Flann Mainistreach; Eochaidh OTlinn; Gilla
na Naemh ODuinn, etc. Why should I be enumerating them,
for they cannot be coimted without writing a large book of their
names, and not to give but the titles of the tracts, alone, which
they wrote, as we have done before now. However, these men
preserved the history until latter times, say about 500 or 600
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 219
years ago, that is, to the time of Brian BoroimM. About that lect. x.
time was settled the greater number of the family names of ^^^^ ^ ,
Erinn ; and certain families chose or were ordered to be jjro- Book of
fessors of history and other arts at that time, some of them be- ^^^"^ °^''^^'
fore, and some after that time. So that they remain in the
countries of Erinn, with the chiefs all round, for the purpose of
writing their genealogies, and history, and annals ; and to com-
pose noble poems on these histories, also ; and also to preserve
and to teach every instruction that is difficult or obscure in
Gaedhlic, that is, to teach the reading of the ancient writings.
" Here follow the names of a number of these historians,
and the territories, and the noble families for whom they
speak in those latter times. The O'Mulchonries, with the
Siol Murray (O'Connors) round Cruachain ; another portion of
them in Thomond ; another portion in Leinster ; and another
portion of them in Annally (Longford, O'Ferrall's country).
The Clann Firbisigh, in Lower Connacht, and in Ihh Fiachrach
Moy ; and in Ihh Amlialgliaidh ; and in Cearra (county Sligo),
and Ibli Fiachrach Aidhne, and in Eachtga; and with the race
of Colla Uais (the Mac Donnells of Antrim) ; the O'Duigenans,
with the Clann Maolruanaidh (]\Iac Dennetts, Mac Donachs,
etc.) ; and with the Conmaicne Maigh rein. The O'Curnins,
with the O'Ruarcs, etc. ; the O'Diigans, with the O'Kellys of
Ibh Mainh ; the O'Clerys and the O'Cananns, with the Cinel
Conaill m Donegall ; the O'Luin'ms, in Fermanagh ; the O'Cler-
cins, with the Cinel Eoghain (Tyi'one) ; the O'Duinfns, cliiefly
in Munster, i. e., with the race of Eoghan Mor (the M'Carthys,
etc.) ; the Mac an Ghobhcn (a name now Anglicised " Smith"),
with the O'Kennedys of Ormond; the O'Riordans, with the
O'Carrolls and others, of Ely ; the Mac Curtins and Mac Bro-
dies, in Thomond; the Mac-Gilli-Kellys, in west Connacht,
with the OTlaherties, etc. And so there were other families in
Ireland of the same profession ; and it was obligatory on every
one of them who followed it, to purify the profession [i.e., to
drive out of it every improprietyj.
" Along with these, the Judges of Banhha used to be in
like manner preserving the history ; for a man could not be a
Judge without being an liistorian ; and he is not an historian
without being a Judge in the Brethibh Nhnhedh, that is the
last Books of the works [study] of the Seanchaidhe [Seanchies]
or historians, and of the Judges themselves
" According to these truthful words, we believe that hence-
forth no wise person will be found who will not acknowledge
that it is feasible to bring the genealogies of the Gaedhils to
their origin, to Noah and to Adam ; and if he does not believe
220 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
that, may lie not believe tliat lie himself is the son of his own
father. For there is no error in the genealogical history, but
as it was left from father to son in succession, one after another.
"Surely every one believes the Divine Scriptures, which give
a similar genealogy to the men of the world, from Adam down
to Noah ; and the genealogy of Christ and of the holy fathers,
as may be seen in the Church [writings]. Let him believe
this, or let him deny God. And if he does believe this, why
should he not believe another history, of which there has been
truthful preservation, Hke the history of Erinn ? I say tru.thful
preservation, for it is not only that they [the preservers of it]
were very numerous, as we said, preserving the same, but
there was an order and a law with them and uj)on them, out of
which they could not, without great injury, tell lies or false-
hoods, as may be seen in the Books of Fenechas [Law] of
Fodhla [Erinn], and in the degrees of the poets themselves,
their order, and their laws. For there was not m Erinn (until
the country was confounded) a laity [of a territory] , nor a clergy
of a chvu'ch, on whom there was not some particular order [lay
or ecclesiastical], which are called Gradha [or Degrees]. And
it was obligatory on them to maintain the laws of these degrees,
under the pain or penalty of fine, and the loss of their dignity
[and privileges], as we have written in oiu" Fenechas [Law]
Vocabulary, which speaks at length of these laws, and of the
laws of the Gaedliils in general.
" The historians of Erinn, in the ancient times, will scarcely
be distinguished from the Feinigh, [or story-tellers,] and those
who are called Aos ddna [or poets] at this day; for it was at
one school often that they were educated, all the learned of Erinn.
And the way that they were divided was into seven degrees :
OUamh, Anrad, Cli, Cana, Dos, Macfidrmid, Foclog, were the
names of the seven degrees, like the ecclesiastical degrees, such
as priest, deacon, sub-deacon, etc. The Order of Poets, was,
among its other laws, obHged to be pure and free from theft
and killing, and of satirizing, and of adultery, and of every
thing that would be a reproach to their learning, as it is found
in this rann (or verse) : —
" Purity of hand, bright without wounding,
Purity of mouth, without poisonous satire,
Pmity of learning, without reproach.
Purity of ' husbandship' [or marriage] .
" Any Seanchaidhe, then, whether an OUamh, an Anrad, or
of any other degree of them, who did not preserve these puri-
ties, lost half his income and his dignity, according to law,
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 221
and was subject to heavy penalties beside ; therefore, It Is not to lect. x.
be supposed that there is in the world a person who would not ^^^^ p.^.^.^,
prefer to tell the truth, if he had no other reason than the fear Book of
of God and the loss of his dignity and his income ; and it is not
becoming to charge partiahty upon these selected historians of
the nation. However, if unworthy people wrote falsehood,
and charged it to an historian, it might become a reproach to
the order of historians, if they were not gtiarded, and did not
look for it, to see whether it was in their prime books of
authority that those writers obtained their knowledge. And
that is what is proper to be done by every one, both the lay
scholar and the professional liistorian; every thing of which
they have a suspicion, to look for it, and if they do not find it
confirmed in good books, to note down its doubtfulness along
with it, as I myself do to certain races hereafter in this book :
and it is thus that the historians are freed from the errors of
Other parties, should these be cast upon them, which God
forbid.
" The historians were so anxious and ardent to preserve the
history of Erinn, that the descriptions of the nobleness and dig-
nified manners of the people, which they have left us, however
copious they may be, should not be wondered at ; for they did
not refrain from writing even of the undignified artizans, and of
the professors of the healing and building arts of the ancient
times, — as shall be shown below, to show the fidelity of the his-
torians and the error of those who make such assertions as [for
instance] that there were no stone buildings in Erinn mitil the
coming of the Danes and Anglo-Normans into it.
" Thus saith an ancient authority : The first doctor, the first
builder, and the first fisherman, that were ever in Erinn, were : —
" ^Capa, for the healing of the sick,
In his time was all-powerful ;
And Luasad, the cunning builder,
And LaighnS, the fisherman.
" Eaba,the female physician who accompanied the lady Ceasair
into Erinn, was the second doctor; Slanga, the son oi Partliolan,
was the third doctor that came into Erinn (with Partholan) ; and
Fergna, the grandson of Crithinhel, was the fourth doctor who
came into Erinn (with Nemed). The doctors of the Firbolgs
were, Dubhda DidJdosach, Codan Corinchisnech, and Fingin
Fisiocdha, Maine, the son of Gressach, andAongus Antemmach.
The doctors of the Tuatha De Danann were, Dianceaht, Air-
medh, Miach, etc.
" Of ancient builders, the following are the names of a few, who
222
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
Mac Firbis'
Book of
Genealogies.
were styled the builders of tlie chief stone edifices (of the world) :
" Ailian was Solomon's stone-builder; Cabur was the stone-
builder of Tara ; Barnab was the stone-builder of Jerico ; Bacus
was the rath-builder of Nimrod ; Cicloin, or Cidoim, was Curoi
{Mac Dairy's) stone-builder ; Cir was the stone-builder of Rome ;
Arond was the stone-builder of Jerusalem ; Oilen was the stone-
builder of Constantinople ; Bole, the son of Blar, was the rath-
builder of Cruachain; Goll, of Clochar, was stone-builder to
Nadfraich [king of Munster at the close of the fourth century] ;
Casruba was the stone-builder of Ailiac [A ilinn ?~\ ; Ringin, or
Rigj'in, and Gabhlan, the son of Ua Gairbh, were the stone-
builders oi Aileach; Troighleathan was the rath-builder of Tara;
Bainche, or Bainchne, the son of Dobru, was the rath-builder of
Emania ; Balur, the son of Buanlamh, was the builder of Rath
BreisS; Oricil, the son of Dubhchruit, was the builder of the
Rath o? Ailin7i.
[This list of names is repeated here in verse by Donnell, the
son of Flannacan, king of Fer-li (?), about the year 1000].
" We could find a countless number of the ancient edifices of
Erinn to name besides these above, and the builders who
erected them, and the kings and noble chiefs for whom they
were built, but that they would be too tedious to mention here.
Look at the Book of Conquests if you wish to discover them ;
and we have evidence of their having been built like the edifices
of other kingdoms of the times in which they were built ; — and
why should they not ? for there came no colony into Erinn but
from the eastern world, as from Spain, -etc. ; and it would be
strange if such deficiency of intellect should mark the parties
who came into Ireland, since they had the courage to seek and
take the coimtry, as that they should not have the sense to form
their residences and dwellings after the manner of the countries
from which they originally went forth, or through which they
travelled ; for it is not possible that they were not acquainted
with the style of buildings of the greater part of Europe, after
having passed through such travels as they did — from Scythia,
from Egypt, from Greece and Athens, from Felesdine [sic; qu.
for Palestine?] from Spain, etc., into Erinn.
" And if those colonists of ancient Erinn erected buildings
in the country similar to those of the countries through which
they came, as it is likely they did, what is the reason that the
fact is doubted? There is no reason, but because there are not
lime-built walls standing in the places where they were erected,
fifteen hundred, two thousand, or three thousand years ago;
when it is no wonder that there are not, since, in much shorter
spaces of time than these, the land grows over buildings, when
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 223
once tliey are broken down, or fall of tlieir own accord, from lect. x.
OI^H^''- r. P ,. Ti ir -Til • MacFirW
" In prooi 01 tins, i have myseli seen, witnm the last sixteen Book of
years, lofty lime-built castles, built of lime-stone ; and at this day, ^^^^ °^^^^'
after they have fallen, there remains nothing of them but an
earthen mound to mark their sites, nor could even the anti-
quarians easily discover that any edifices had ever stood there
at all.
" Compare these to the buildings which were erected hun-
dreds and thousands of years ago, one with another ; and it is
no wonder, should this be done, except for the superiority of
the ancient building over the modern, that not a stone, nor an
elevation of the ground should mark their situation. Such,
however, is not the case, for, such is the stabihty of the old build-
ings, that there are immense royal raths [or palaces] and forts
[^Lios] throughout Erinn, in which there are numerous hewn
and polished stones, and cellars and apartments under ground,
within their walls; such as there are in Rath Maoilcatha, in
Castle Conor, and in Bally O'Dowda, in Tireragh, on the banks
of the Moy. There are nine smooth stone cellars under the
walls of this rath ; and I have been inside it, and I think it is
one of the oldest raths in Erinn ; and its walls are of the height
of a good cow-keep still. I leave this, however, and many
other things of the kind, to the learned to discuss, and I shall
return to my first intention, namely, the defence of the fidehty
of our history, to which the ignorant do an additional injustice,
by saying that it carries [the genealogies of all] the men of
Erinn up to the sons of Mi'esius.
" They will acknowledge their own falsehood in this matter, if
they will but see the number of alien races which are given in
this book alone, which are not carried up to the sons of Mile-
sius, as may be seen in several places in the body of the book,
and let them compare them with one another.
" Here, too, is the distinction Avhich the profound historians
draw between the tliree diiFerent races which are in Erinn —
that is, between the descendants of the Firbolgs, Fir Domh-
nanns and GaiUu7is, and the Tuatha De Danann^ and the
IMilesians.
" Every one who is white [of skin], brown [of hair], bold,
honourable, daring, prosperous, bountiful in the bestowal of
property, wealth, and rings, and who is not afraid of battle or
combat ; they are the descendants of the sons of Milesius, in
Erinn.
"Every one wlio is fair-haired, vengeful, large; and every
plunderer ; every musical person ; the professors of musical and
224 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
LECT. X. entertaining performances ; who are adepts in all Dniidical and
„ -,. ,. , magical arts ; they are the descendants of the Tuatlia DS
M.ac tirbis _^ o , ' . -^
Book of JJanann, m iirmn.
Genealogies, „ Every One who is black-haired, who is a tattler, guileful,
tale-telhng, noisy, contemptible ; every wretched, mean, stroll-
ing, unsteady, harsh, and inhospitable person; every slave,
every mean thief, every churl, every one who loves not to listen
to music and entertainment, the disturbers of every council and
every assembly, and the promoters of discord among people,
these are the descendants of the Firbolgs, of the Gailiuns, of
Liogairne, and of the Fh' DomJmanns, in Erinn. But, however,
the descendants of the Firbolgs are the most numerous of all these.
[This is summed up in verse here, but we pass it for the
present.]
" This is taken from an old book. However, that it is possible
to identify a race by their personal appearance and their dis-
positions I do not take upon myself positively to say ; though it
may have been true in the ancient times, until the races subse-
quently became repeatedly intermixed. For we daily see, in our
own time, and we often hear it from our old people, a simihtude
of people, a similitude of form, character, and names, in some
.families in Erinn, with others ; and not only is this so, but it is
said that the people of every country have a resemblance to
each other, and that they all have some one peculiar character-
istic by which they are known, as may be understood from this
poem : —
" For building, the noble Jews are found, f
And for truly fierce envy ;
For size, the guileless Armenians,
And for firmness, the Saracens ;
For acLiteness and valour, the Greeks ;
For excessive pride, the Romans ;
For dullness, the creeping Saxons ;
For haughtiness, the Spaniards ;
For covetousness and revenge, the French ;
And for anger, the true Britons. —
Such is the true knowledge of the trees. —
For gluttony, the Danes, and for commerce ;
For high spirit the Picts are not unknown ;
And for beauty and amourousness, the Gajdhils ; —
As Giolla-na-naemh says in verse,
A fair and pleasing composition.
" We believe that it is more likely to find the resemblance in
Erinn (than anywhere else), because there is a law in the
OB THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 225
Seanchas Mor, ordered by St. Patrick, wliich says, that if it lect. x.
should happen that a woman knew two men, at the time of her ., „. .. ,
conception, — so that she could not know which ot tnem was the Book of
father of the child begotten at that time, — the law says, if the "^"^^ °^'^*'
child cannot be af&liated on the trvie father by any other mode,
that he is to be borne with for three years, imtil he shall be-
tray family likeness, family voice, and family disposition ; and
the woman was thus assisted to identify him as the father to
whom these characteristics bore the closest resemblance ; as it is
supposed that it is to liim whom he the more resembles he
belongs. And as this has been laid down in St. Patrick's law,
it is no wonder that it should be a remarkable distinction of
some families more than others. And though it may not be
found true in all cases, there is nothing inconsistent with reason
in it. And, further, it is an argument against the people who
say that there is no family in this country which the genealo-
gists do not trace up to the sons of Milesius. And notmthstand-
ing this, even though it were so, it would be no wonder ; for, if
a man will look at the sons of Milesius, and the great families
that sprmig from them in Erinn and in Scotland, and how few
of them exist at this day, he will not wonder that people inferior
to them, who had been a long time mider them, should not ex-
ist ; for it is the custom of the nobles, when their own children
and famihes multiply, to suppress, blight, and exterminate their
farmers and followers.,
" Examine Erinn and the whole world, and there is no end
to the number of examples of this kind to be found ; so that it
would be no wonder that the number of genealogies which are
in Erinn at this day were earned up to Milesius.
" It having been the custom of the genealogists to give dis-
tinct names of books according to their variety, to the [tracts
which relate to the] Gaedliils, who alone were the particular
objects of their care ; such as the Book of Connacht, the Book
of Ulster, the Book of Leinster, and the Book of Munster, I
shall, in like manner, divide and classify this book. I will di-
vide it into different books, according to the nmnber of the con-
quests of Erinn before the Gaedhils, and according to the number
of the three sons of Milesius of Spain, who took the sovereignty
of Erinn ; a book for the saints, and a book for the Fomorians,
Lochlanns or Danes, and the Normans, and Anglo-Normans,
old and new, after them.
" I shall devote the first book to Partholcm, who first took
possession of Erinn after the Deluge, devoting the beginning
of it to the comiiifj of the lady Ceasair, as they are not worth
^ 15
226 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
LECT. X. dividing ; tlie second, to Nemed ; tlie tliird, to tlie Firbolgs ;
. , tlie fourth, to the Tuatha De Danann; the fifth, to the Gaedhils,
Book of and all the sons of Milesius, though it is only of the race of
Genealogies, j^^j-^^^qj^ \i treats, till they are finished ; and this book is larger
than seven books of the old division, because it contains more
than they did, and it is more copious than ever it [that is, than
ever this branch of the Gaedhlic genealogies] was before. The
sixth book, to the race of /;•, and the Dal Flatach; these are
also of the race of Eremon, and occupants of the same country
of Ulster for a long time. The seventh book, to the race of
JEber, and the descendants of Lughaidh, the son of Ith; for
Munster is the original country of both. The eighth book, to
the saints of Erinn. The ninth and last book, to the Fomo-
rians, the Lochlanns, and the Normans.
" As to the arrangement of our book — O reader ! if you
are not pleased with placing the younger before the elder, I do
not deny that you will often find it so in it, from Fenias Far-
saidh down. Behold the sons of Fenias himself : that JViul, the
younger, has been from the beginning spoken of with pre-
ference by the historians, wliile Naenbal, the elder, is little
spoken of.
" Eremon, too, the son of Milesius, is placed in it before the
rest of the sons of Milesius, who were older than him; and
there is no computing the number of such cases contained in it,
down to the latter families which we have at this day.
" See how the historians of Munster place the Mac Carthys
before the O'Sulhvans, who are their seniors in descent, and
the O'Briens before their seniors the Mac Malions.
" Other books of the northern half of Erinn, as well as
Doctor Keting, place Niall of the Nine Hostages, and his de-
scendants, though junior, before the rest of his brothers, his
seniors.
" See how Duach Galacli, the youngest son of Brian, took
precedence of the other three-and-twenty sons, his seniors.
" The historians of the Siol Muiredhaigh, place the O'Conors
(of Connacht) before their seniors.
" The UHdians place 3Iac AongJmsa (or Magenis), of the
race of Concdl Cearnach, before the descendants of Conor, the
king, because Conall's descendants were the more distinguished ;
and it was the same as regarded many other families, which it
would be tedious to enumerate. And if these are allowed to
be proper, why not 1 have a right to follow the same course ?
" And further, should any one suppose that this is an ar-
bitrary proceeding, I can assm'e him it is not ; and that very
often it cannot be avoided, where the descent of many tribes
OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 227
and races has become complicated ; so that, in order to separate lect. x
them, it is often found necessary to pass over the senior, and ,, „. . . ,
write oi the jmiior tirst, and then to return to tne senior again. Book of
"Understand, moreover, O reader! that it was a law in ®'^*^'^ "t^'^*'
Erinn to raise the jmiior sometimes to the chiefship, in prefer-
ence to the senior, as the following Rule of Law, taken from
the Seanchas Mar, and from the Fenechas in common, says:
' The senior to the tribe, the powerful to the chiefship, the wise
to the Church'. That is, the senior person of the tribe is to be
put at the head of that tribe or family, alone ; the man who has
most supporters and power, if he be equally noble with his
senior, to be placed in the chiefship or lordship ; and the wisest
man to be raised to the supreme rule of the Church.
" However, if the senior be the more wealthy and powerful,
or if there be no junior of more wealth and power than him,
according to the law, then he takes the chiefship. This, how-
ever, is the same as what has been already said.
" There is a common verse, which is repeated, to prove that
it is lawful that an eligible junior ought to be elevated to the
sovereignty, in preference to any number of his seniors, who
were deficient in the lawful requirements.
' Though there be nine in the line.
Between a good son and the sovereignty,
It is the right and proper rule
That he be forthwith inaugurated'.
" And it is, therefore, sometimes proper that the junior be
elevated to the sovereignty. Why, then, if one should choose it,
that he should not be placed at the beginning of a book ? And,
besides, it would be an unbecoming arrangement to place the
most important of the guests at the foot of the table, while all
the rest, even though they were his elder brothers, were placed
at the head, when they are not kings.
" See, too, how the ignoble of descent are now placed in high
positions in Erinn, in preference to the nobles, because they
possess worldly wealth, which is more to be wondered at than
the above ; and it is a far greater insult to the native nobles of
Erinn than any arrangement of their genealogies which we may
happen to make, particularly as we receive no remuneration
from any one of them. I pray them, therefore, to excuse their
devoted servant Dubhaltach Mac Firhisigli\
I have stated, in a former lecture, that the autograph of Mac
Firhisiglis Book, which is written on paper, is in the possession
of the Earl of Roden, and that I made a fac-simile copy of it
15 B
228 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES.
LECT. X. for the Royal Irish Academy, in the year 1836. I have only
^ . to add, as before, with respect to the other books, a calcvxlation
Book of of the extent of the Gsedlihc text of this book, estimated, as before,
Genealogies. -^ reference to the size of the pages of O'Donovan's Annals of
the Four Masters, supposing the Irish text alone were printed
at full length, that it would make about 1300 pages.
You will now, I think, be able to comprehend why it is that
I have attached so much importance to the genealogical tracts ;
and you, perhaps, already feel Avith me that by the future liisto-
rian these great records will not be foimd less valuable than any
of the annals themselves, to the accuracy of which they supply
a check so invaluable in the comparison of historical materials.
The last, the most perfect, and the greatest of these works is Mac
Firbis's vast collection.
Mac Firbis found the great lines and general ramifications of
the Gaedhlic genealogies, already brought down, in the Books of
Leinster, Ballymote, and Lecan, to the beginning of the fifteenth
century. These he continued down to his own time, from a.d.
1650 to 1666, with most important additions, collected evi-
dently from various local records and private family documents,
as well as from the State Papers in the pubhc offices in Dublin,
to which he seems to have had access, probably through the in-
fluence of Sir James Ware.
His book is, perhaps, the greatest national genealogical com-
pilation in the world ; and when we remember his great age at
the time of its compilation, and that he neither received nor ex-
pected reward from any one, — that he wrote his book (as he
himself says), simply for the enlightenment of his countrymen,
the honour of his country, and the glory of God, — we cannot
but feel admiration for his enthusiasm and piety, and venera-
tion for the man who determined to close liis life by bequeath-
ing this precious legacy to his native land.
LECTURE XL
[Delivered June 19, 1856.]
Of the existing pieces of detailed History in tlie Gaedhlic Language. The History
of the Origin of tlie Boromean Tribute. The History of the Wars of tlie
Danes andl;he Gaedhils. Tlie History of the Wars of Thomond. The "Book
of Munster". Of the Historic Tales appointed to be recited by the Poets and
Ollamhs. Of the legal education of the Ollamh. The Historic Tales,
with Examples. 1. Of the Cff<A«, or Battles. The " Battle of Ma^A Tai-
readh". The " Battle of Mdgh Tliireadh of the Fomorians".
In the previous part of tliis course, we have already disposed of
the series of the Annals, the foundation of our yet unwritten
history. Yovi have also heard something of the general contents
of the great books of Gaedhlic manuscripts still preserved, and
I have endeavoured to give you some idea of the extent of these
great remains of our ancient literature. Before I proceed to
give an account of the compositions I have termed Historic
Tales, in which so vast a body of information is to be found as
to the details of isolated occurrences, and the life and exploits
of particular historic personages, I have still to introduce to
your notice a few works of a yet more important character.
When I explained to you the nature of the meagre entries of
which the earlier Annals fur the most part consist, I told you
that the intention of their compilers was confined to a record of
mere dates of the more remarkable historical events, and of the
succession and deaths of the Chiefs, Kings, Bishops, and Saints.
They omitted the details of the events thus recorded, and of the
lives of the sages and rulers of Erinn in these general annals,
because such details formed the subject of compositions of an-
other kind. There were many extensive local histories regu-
larly kept, and many enlarged accounts of important historical
events, which filled up what was wanted in the general annals.
Of those systematic historical compositions, embracing accounts
of events extending over a considerable nvmiber of years or ge-
nerations, many are known to have existed, but a few only have
come down to us. These few are, however, tracts so much
larger in extent, and so much more ambitious in their aim, than
the pieces I have classed under the name of Historic Tales, that
they demand our notice in somewhat greater detail. And as
they rank in importance next to the Annals and the great Books
LECT. XI.
Of the
230 OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES.
of Genealogy tliemselves, it is to these pieces that I have now
to direct your attention. These larger tracts, then, of which I
existhig old am about to speak, are those which may be distinguished from
torie?\t the the smaller pieces, recording only isolated events, exploits, and
lan'^'ua'c battles, in so far as they form connected narratives of the history
of the whole country, or of some large portion of it, throughout
a series of years. They may, therefore, be considered as comj)lete
pieces of history so far as they go, and were, no doubt, intended
to form a portion of the full and complete history of the country,
of which the Annals embrace but the meagre outhne.
onhe or°-^^ '^^^^ ^^'^* °^ t^^^^ ^^^^^ °^ pieces to which I shall call your at-
iGiN OF THE tention, is one covering a considerable space of time, and chiefly,
tkibutk. if not entirely, within the acknowledged historic period. It is
the remarkable history which gives an account of the Origin of
the BoROMEAN Tribute, so long the source of such fierce in-
ternal warfare among the princes of Eiinn ; and which details
the chief contests, battles, and social broils to which that tribute
gave rise, from the period of its imposition in the first century,
to its final remission in the seventh.
About the middle of the first century, the mere rent-payers
and unprivileged classes of Erinn, the Aitheach TuatJia (a word
incorrectly Anglicised " Attacots"), rose up against their lords,
and by a sudden rebellion succeeded in overthrowing their power,
and even in destroying the chief part of the nobility, together
with the monarch Fiacha, in whose stead they placed their own
leader, CairbrS Cinn-Cait [Carbry Cat-head], on the throne.
Cairhre reigned five years, and was succeeded by Elim Mac
Conrach, one of the Rudrician race. This EKm reigned over
Erinn for twenty years, after which he was at last slain at the
battle o£ Acaill (a place now known as the hill of Skreen, near
Tara) by Tuathal Teachtmar, son of the former or legitimate
monarch Fiaclia. Tuathal assumed the sovereignty with the
hearty good will of the majority of the people, who were tired
out by the inability of the usurping ruler to govern the nation
in peace and order. He immediately set about consolidating his
power, by reducing to obedience all such chiefs as remained still
favourable to the revolutionary cause; and, having fully suc-
ceeded in accomplishing this work, he formally received at last
the solemn allegiance of his subjects, and sat down in full power
and honour in the palace of the kings at Tara.
Tuathal had, at this time, two beautiful marriageable daugh-
ters, named Fithir and Dairine. Eochaidh Aincheann, the king
of Leinster, sought and obtained the hand of the younger
daughter i>amn(^, and, after their nuptials, carried her home to
OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES 231
his palace at Naas, in Leinster. Some time afterwards his peo- lect. xi.
pie persuaded him that he had made a bad selection, and that ,^^_^^ History
the elder was the better of the tvfo sisters, upon which Eocliaidh of the ok-
resolved by a stratagem to obtain the other daughter too. For iim;oMEAs
this pm-pose, he shut up his young queen in a secret chamber of '^'•"'"■'^•
his palace, at the same time giving out that she was dead ; after
which he repaired to Tara, told the monarch Tuathal that
Dairine was dead, and expressed his great anxiety to continue
the alHance by espousing the other daughter. To this Tuathal
gave his consent, and Eocliaidh returned again to his own court
with a new bride.
After some time the injured lady, DairinS, contrived to
make her escape from her confinement, and quite unexpectedly
made her appearance in the presence of her faithless husband
and his new wife. The deceived sister, on seeing her alive
and well, for the first time knew how falsely both had been
dealt with, and, struck with horror, disgust, and shame, fell
dead on the spot. Dairine was no less aifected by the treachery
of her husband and the death of her sister ; she returned to her
solitary chamber, and in a short time died of a broken heart.
The monarch Tuathal having heard of the insult put upon
his two daughters, and their untimely death, forthwith raised a
powerful force, marched into Leinster, burned and ravaged the
whole province to its uttermost boundaries, and then compelled
the king and his people to bind themselves and their descendants
for ever to the payment of a triennial tribute to the monarch
of Eiinn. This tribute he fixed to consist of five thousand
ounces of silver, five thousand cloaks, five thousand fat cows,
five thousand fat hogs, five thousand fat wethers, and five thou-
sand large vessels of brass or bronze.
This was what was called the " Boromean Tribute" ; as it
was named from the great number of cows paid in it, — ho being
the Gaedlilic for a cow.
The levying of this degrading and oppressive tribute by the
successive monarchs of Erinn, was the cause of periodical san-
guinary conflicts, from Tuathal's time down to the reign of
Finnachta the Festive, who, about the year 680, abolished it,
at the persiiasion of St. Moling of Ti<jh Moling (now St. Mid-
len's, in the county of Carlow), though against the will of St.
Adamnan, who was then the friend and confessor of the mo-
narch. The tribute was, however, revived and again levied by
Brian, the son of Cinneidigh, at the beginning of the eleventh
century, as a punishment for the adherence of Leinster to the
Danish cause : and it was from this circumstance that he ob-
tained the surname of Boroimhe.
232 OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES.
LECT. XI. Of the tract devoted to the history of this tribute we have a
most vahiable copy in the Book of Lecain, in the hl)rary of the
of the oe- Royal Irish Academy ; but we have a still more valuable copy,
BoRfniEAN'^ because much older, in the Book of Leinster, a manuscript of
Tribute. ^]-^q middle of the twelfth century, preserved in the Library of
Trinity College, Dublin.
The most important of the events recorded in the History of
the Boromean Tribute, because by far the most detailed, is the
0 battle of Dim Bolg, near Bealach Conglais [now Baltinglass],
in the county of Wicklow. This battle was fought in the
year 594, between the monarch of Erinn, Aedh [Hugh], the
son of Ammire, and the celebrated Bi^an Biibh, King of
Leinster, in wliich the monarch was slain, and his forces
routed and slaughtered.
The History '^^^^ ucxt great cpocli of OUT liistory has been described in
of the Wars another similar piecc. I allude to that lon^ period, extending
1>F THE ^ .^■*-, , ^
Danes ovct moTC than two hundred years, during which the Danish
GAEDHal 8'i^tl^ other Scandinavian hordes continued to pour an almost in-
cessant stream of death and destruction on the country. Of the
history of this dreadful warfare we have a very ample account,
preserved in various contemporary poems and minor pieces of
prose ; but the most valuable, because the most complete and
detailed, account of it remaining, is that contained in the tract
specially compiled under the name of Cogadh Gcdl re Gaedhil,
or the Wars of the Danes with the Gaedhils.
Of tliis tract I had the good fortune some sixteen years ago
to discover an ancient, but much soiled and imperfect copy, in
the library of Trinity College ; and this manuscript, with the
permission of the College Board, I cleaned and copied. On the
discovery of the Brussels Collection of Irish MSS. in 1846, it
was found to contain a perfect copy of this tract, in the hand-
writing of the friar Michael O'Clery. This book was borrowed
by Dr. Todd in 1852, and I made a fair transcript of it for the
College library, thus securing to an Irish institution, where it
might be easily consulted, a full and perfect copy. The ancient
fragment must be nearly as old as the chief events towards the
conclusion of the war, or the time of the decisive battle of Clon-
tarf ; and, as the O'Clery manuscript was not made out from this,
we have the advantage of two independent copies of authority so
far; and this, I need not tell you, is no small advantage in the
case of documents which must have passed through so many
successive transcriptions in successive ages, as most of oiu" cele-
. bratcd pieces have done.
Of the antiquity of the original composition of the tract, and
OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES. 233
of its authenticity, we have most important evidence in the lect. xi.
fact, that a fragment (unfortunately the first folio only) remains ^^^ jj._,^^^.
in the Book of Leinster. The existence of this fragment is of of the
double miportance. Firstly, because the Book of Leinster, the Danes
ha\'ing been compiled between the years 1120 and 1150, at a ^^^"^1!
time that men were living whose grandfathers remembered the
battle of Clontarf, this tract must have been at that period re-
cognized as an authentic and veritable narrative, and exten-
sively known, else it could scarcely find a place in such a com-
pilation. And secondly, the fact of this tract containing a great
amount of detail, of what must have been at this period very
distasteful to the Leinster men, it is but reasonable to believe
that neither exaggerration nor falsehood would have been al-
lowed to form part of so great a provincial compilation.
This, to be sure, is arguing in the absence of the now lost
copy ; but any one acquainted with our ancient books, will be
struck with the remarkable agreement which characterizes the
record of the same events in books of different and often hostile
provinces, even when the writer is recording the defeat, and
perhaps disgrace, of the people of his own territory or province.
This book is now in course of publication, as one of the series
of Chronicles on the History of Great Britain and Ireland, under
the superintendance of the Master of the Rolls, in England. It
is to be edited, with a Translation, Notes, and Introduction, by
the Rev. Dr. Todd, S.F.T.C.D.
The next great piece of history that I have to call your attention The History
to, in continuation of the historical chain, is one which, though waksop
but of local name and importance, still must have had (as indeed thomond.
it is well known to have had) a considerable influence in stimu-
lating the fierce opposition which the Anglo-Norman invaders
met with, in the south and west of Ireland, for near two hundred
years after their first disastrous descent upon this country.
The tract I allude to is commonly called the Wars of Tho-
mond; and up to the present time it is, I am sorry to say,
better known by name than by examination. It was compiled
in the year 1459, by John, the son of Rory 3fac Craith, a
member of a learned family of that name, which gave many poets
andhistorians to the Dalcassian families ofClare,and many learned
ecclesiastics to the Catholic Church, — down to the time of the
wretched Maelmuire [or Miler] Mac Grath, who, from being a
pious friar of the Franciscan order, became (after some smaller
preferments) the first Protestant Archbishop of Cashel, at the
close of Queen Elizabeth's reign. It professes to have been com-
piled from various documents belonging to the families of men
Wars of
Thomond.
234 OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES.
LECT. XI. wlio took an active and prominent part in the stirring scenes of
which it is the record.
of nie'^ °'^ The following is the explanatory title-page, prefixed to a
fine paper copy of this valuable tract, now preserved in the
library of the Dublin University : —
" Here is a copy of that prime historical book, which the
learned call Catlireim Thoirdhealhhaigh [the Wars ofTurlogh],
in which is set forth every renowned deed that happened in
Thomond, or North Munster, for more than two hundred years,
or nearly from the Anglo-Norman invasion of Erinn to the
death of De Clare ; first written by John, the son of Rory Mac
Grath, the chief historian to the noble descendants of Cas [the
Dalcassians], in the year 1459, as appears at the nineteenth
foho of the same very old book, which may be seen at this day ;
and now newly written by Andrew Mac Curtin for the use of
Tadhg, son of John, son of Mahon, son of Donnoch, son of
Tadlig Og^ son of Tadhg, son of Donnoch, son of Rory, son of
Mahon, son of John, son of Dornhnall Ballach, son of Mahon the
Blind, son of Maccon, son of Ctimeadha, son of Maccon, son of
Loclilcdnn, son of Cumeadha Mdr Mac Namara of Ranna.
A.D. 1721".
The transcriber of this copy, Andrew Mac Curtin, of Ennis-
timon, in the county of Clare, was one of the best, if not the
very best, Irish scholar of his day ; and a transcript from his
accurate hand may be received with confidence, and looked
upon, for all historical purposes, as of equal value with the
original. The Mac Namara, for whom the transcript was made,
represented, in the direct line, the ancient chiefs of the Clann
Cuilein, in Clare ; and well might he be anxious to preserve in
his family a correct copy of this historical piece, because the Mac
Namaras, his ancestors, were the most numerous, the most
imjDortant, and, if possible, the most valiant of the proud and
powerful Dalcassian Clanns who took part in the fearful internal
warfare recorded in it.
The tract opens with the death of the brave Domhnall Mor
O'Brien, the last king of Munster, in the year 1194, and the
elevation of his son, Donoch, (or Donnchadh) Cairbi^ech O'Brien
to his place, — but as chief of the Balcais only (not as King of
Munster), with the title of The O'Brien. The incidents of this
prince's reign are passed over lightly, to his death, in the year
1242. Donnoch was succeeded by his son Conor, who erected
the monastery of Corcomroe, in which his tomb and effigy may
be seen at this day. This Conor had two sons, Tadlig and Brian
Ruadh O'Brien, of whom I shall presently speak.
The Anglo-Norman power which came into the coimtry in
OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES. 235
the year 1172, had constantly gained ground, generation after lect. xi.
generation, as you ai'e of course aware, in consequence chiefly
of the mutual jealousies and isolated opposition of the individual of uie'^ °'^
chiefs and clanns among the Gaedhils. At last the two great jhojiond.
sections of the country, the races of the north and the south, re-
solved to take counsel, and select some brave man of either of the
ancient royal houses to be elevated to the chief command of the
whole nation, in order that its power and efficiency might be the
more efiectually concentrated and brought into action against
the common enemy. To this end, then, a convention was ar-
ranged to take place between Brian O'Neill, the greatest leader
of the north at this time, and Tadlig^ the son of Conor O'Brien,
— at CaeluisgS [Narrow Water] , on Loch Erne (near the present
Castle Calwell). O'Neill came attended by all the chiefs of the
north and a munerous force of armed men. O'Brien, though in
his father's lifetime, went thither, at the head of the Munster
and Connacht chiefs, and a large body of men in arms. The
great chiefs came face to face at either Bank of the NarroAv
Water, but their old destiny accompanied them, and each came
to the convention fully determined that himself alone should be
the chosen leader and king of Erinn. The convention was,
as might be expected, a failure; and the respective parties
returned home more divided, more jealous, and less powerful
than ever to advance the general interests of their country, and
to crush, as united they might easily have done, that crafty,
unscrupulous, and treacherous foe, which contrived then and for
centuries after to rule over the clanns of Erinn, by taking ad-
vantage of those dissensions among them which the stranger
always found means but too readily to foment and to perpetuate.
This convention or meeting of O'Brien and O'Neill took
place in the year 1258, according to the Annals of the Four
Masters; and in the year after, that is in 1259, Tadhg O'Brien
died. In the year after that again, that is, in 1260, Brian
O'Neill himself was killed in the battle of Down Patrick, by
John de Courcy and his followers.
The premature death of Tadhg O'Brien so preyed on his
father, that for a considerable time he forgot altogether the
duties of his position and the general interests of his people.
This state of supineness encom^aged some of his subordinate
chiefs to withhold from him his lawful tributes.
Among these insubordinates was the OLocMainn of Burren,
whose contumacy at length roused the old chief to action ; and
in the year 1267 he marched into OLochlainns country, as far
as the wood of Siuhhdaineach, in the north-west part of Burren.
Here the chief was met by the CLochlainns and their adhe-
236
OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTOEIES.
LECT. XI.
The History
of the
Wars of
TnonoxD.
rents, and a battle ensued, in wliicli O'Brien was killed and liis
army routed : and hence he has been ever since known in his-
tory as Conchuhhar na SiubhdainS, or Conor o( Siuhhdaineach.
Tadhg O'Brien, the elder son of Conor, left two sons, Turloch
and Donoch ; and according to the law of succession among the
clanns, Toi'loch, though still in his minority, should succeed to
the chieftaincy and to the title of O'Brien. In this, however,
he was wrongfully anticipated by his father's brother Brian
Ruadh, who had himself proclaimed chief, and without any
opposition. This Brian Ruadh continued to rule for nine
yeai's, until the young Torloch came to full age ; when, backed
by his relatives the MacNamaras, and his fosterers the O'Deas,
he marched with a great force agamst his uncle, who, sooner
than risk a battle, fled with his immediate family and adherents,
taking with him all his property, eastwards into North Tip-
perary, and left young Torloch in full possession of his ancestral
rule and dignity.
Brian Ruadh, however, could not quietly submit to his loss
and disgrace, and, taking counsel with his adherents, they
decided on his seeking the aid of the national enemy, to rein-
state him in his lost chieftainship. For tliis purpose Brian
Ruadh and his son Donoch proceeded to Cork, to Thomas de
Clare, son of the Earl of Gloucester, then at the head of all the
Anglo-Norman forces of Munster, and sought his assistance, offer-
ing him an ample remuneration for his services. They offered him
all the land lying between the city of Limerick and the town
of Ardsallas, in Clare. De Clare gladly accepted those terms,
and both parties met by agreement at Limerick, from which
they marched into Clare ; where, before any successful opposition
could be offered them, the castle of Bunratty was built and
fortified by the Norman leader.
A short time afterwards, however (in the year 1277), De
Clare put the unfortunate Brian Ruadh to death ; having had
him drawn between horses and torn limb from limb, notwith-
standing that the fidelity of their mutual alliance had been
ratified by the most solemn oaths on all the ancient relics of
Munster. And it was then indeed that the great wars of
Thomond commenced in earnest; for, notwithstanding the
treacherous death of their father, the infatuated sons of Brian
Ruadh still adhered to De Clare, and the warfare was kept up
with varying success till the year 1318, when Robert de Clare
and his son were at last killed, in the battle of Disert O'Dea.
After this the party of Brian Ruadh were compelled to fly once
more over the Shannon into Ara, in Tipperary, where their
descendants have ever since remained under the clann designa-
tion of the O'Briens of Ara.
OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES. 237
The brave Dalcassiaus having thus rid themselves both of lect xi.
domestic aiid foreim usurpation, preserved their comitry, their ^^ „. ,
mdepeudence, and their native laws and institutions, down to of the
the year 1542, when Murroch, the son of Tiuioch, made sub- t/omond.
mission to Henry the Eighth, abandoned the ancient and glorious
title of the O'Brien, and disgraced his lineage by accepting a
patent of his territory from an EngHsh king, with the English
title of Eail of Thomond.
As illustrative of local topograpliical and family history, this
tract stands unrivalled. There is not an ancient chieftaincy in
Clare that camiot be defined, and that has not been defined
by its aid ; nor a family of any note in that part of Ireland,
whose position and power at the time is not recorded in it.
Among these families may be foimd — the O'Briens, the Mac-
Namaras, the MacMahons, the O'Quinns, the O'Deas, the
O'GrilFys (or Grifiins), the O'Hehirs, the O'Gradys, the Mac
Gormans, the O'Conors of Corcomroe, the O'Lochlainns of
Burren, the O'Seasnans (or Sextons), the 0' Comhraidhes (or
CiuTys), the O'Kennedys, the O'Hogans, etc., etc.
The style of the composition of this tract is extremely redun-
dant, abounding in adjectives of indefinable difterence ; never-
theless, it possesses a power and vigour of description and nar-
ration wliich, independently of the exciting incidents, will
amply compensate the reader's study.
There are several copies of this tract extant in paper, the
best of which known to me is Mac Curtin's, in Trinity College
library ; but there is a large fragment of it in vellum in the li-
brary of the Royal Irish Academy, wiitten in a most beautiful,
but unknown hand, in the year 1509.
The text of this tract would make about 300 pages of the
text of O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters.
The last piece of this class of historical composition which 1 5^'^^^^°^'^ "^
shall bring under your notice, before proceeding to give some
account of the Historic Tales, is the " Book of Munster", — an
important collection of provincial history, and to a considerable
extent of the history of the whole nation.
The Book of Munster is an independent compilation, but
of uncertain date, as we happen to have no ancient copy of it ;
but as its leading points are to be found in the Books of Lein-
ster, Ballymote, and Lecain, we may believe that they must
have taken their abstracts from this ancient book in its original
form. There are two copies of it on paper in the Royal Irish
Academy, both made at the beginning of the last century, but
neither of them giving us any account of the originals from
which they were transcribed.
238 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XI. The book (as is usual in all tlie very ancient independent
compilations of this kind) begins with a record of the creation
MuNSTEK. (taken, of course, from the Book of Genesis), and this merely
for the purpose of carrying down the pedigrees of the sons of
Noah, and particularly of Japhet, from whom the Milesians of
Erinn descend.
The history of the Ebereans, or southern branch of the Mile-
sian line, is then carried do\vn from Eher to Brian Boroimhe
and the time of the battle of Clontarf.
The line of succession of the kings and great chiefs of Mim-
ster may be easily collected from the great books which I have
before mentioned; but in tliis particular "Book of Munster"
there is a mass of details relative to the various disputes and
contentions for this succession (between rival local aspirants,
as well as between north and south Munster, or the Dal-
cassian and Eugenian lines), not to be found in any other work
that I am acquainted with.
Space will not, however, here allow me to enter into a
minute analysis of this important tract ; but I may particularly
call your attention to the detailed accoimt it contains of the
contests and circumstances attending the succession to the
throne of Munster of Catlial Mac Finguine, about the year
720 ; of Feilim Mac Crimthainn, about 824 ; of Cormac Mac
Cullinan, about 885 ; of Ceallacliain of Cashel, about 934 ; and
o? Brian BoroimhS, about 976; all of which are full of historic
interest, and the more so, as they are fomided upon indisputable
facts not elsewhere mmutely or satisfactorily recorded.
The Book of Munster, including the pedigrees of the leading
Munster families, consists of 260 pages foHo, on paper, equal to
400 pages of the Four Masters. I believe there is a vellum
copy of it in the College of St. Isidore at Rome.
Of the In the very short account I have thus given you of the larger
Tales. historical tracts, which supply, for those portions of our history
which they describe, the chief details passed over in the mere
Annals, I have only endeavoured to make you aware of the
scope of this class of works, without enlarging on their special
importance to the futiu'e historian of the country, who will find
in them so much of continuous narrative nearly made to his
hand. A little consideration will indeed suggest to you how
much I could have offered on this subject. I pass, therefore,
without more delay to the consideration of a department of our
literature, which is, perhaps, the largest in extent, and hardly
the least in importance, among the materials for the elucidation
of our ancient history, but which I find I must, for the proper
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 239
imderstanding of it, introduce to your notice here by some ob- lect. xi.
servations of an introductory character. I aUude to those
shorter pieces, which we may call the Historic Tales, and historic
wliich consist of detailed accounts of isolated exploits and inci- ^'^^'
dents, strictly historical in the main, but recited often with no
inconsiderable amount of poetical or imaginative accompani-
ment of style.
Of these compositions, a very large number have come down
to us, and when, by careful collation, and by the judicious ap-
pHcation to them of an enhghtened criticism, the true facts of
history with which they abound shall be collected, the futiu-e
historian will find liimself at no loss for materials of the most
valuable kind.
I do not purpose in this place to enter into any detailed ex-
amination of the authority of these tracts. Many of them con-
sist entii'ely of pure history; many others contain recitals of
indubitable liistoric facts in great detail, but mixed with minor
incidents of an imaginative character. That they are all true
in the main, I have myself no doubt whatever ; but the investi-
gation of their claims to respect in this regard would lead me at
present too far from the prescribed track of an introductory
com'se. I shall, therefore, only open to you shortly the circum-
stances under wliich tales of this kind were composed, and the
general character and profession of their authors; and I shall
refer you to a few examples of the recognition of their authority
by some of our earliest, most careful, and authentic writers. I
shall then at once proceed to describe to you the contents and
plan of a few of these compositions, which may be taken as
specimens of the remainder of them in each department.
luca
I have already shown you in a former Lecture, that under the Jl^ ^^^^^
ancient laws of Eiinn an obhgation was imposed upon certain fifties of an
high officers to make and preserve regular records of the his-
tory of the country.
The duty of the Ollamlis was, however, a good deal more
extensive than this, for they were bomid by the same laws to
make themselves perfect masters of that history in all its de-
tails, and to teach it to the people by public recitals ; as well as
to be the legal referees upon all subjects in dispute concerning
history and the genealogies (and you will bear in mind that the
preservation of the rights of property of individuals intimately
depended on the accuracy of that history and of those genea-
logies). The laws pro^dded strictly for the education of the
OllairJi (and no one could act as a Brehon or Judge that had
not attained the degree of an OUamh), and they conferred upon
240
OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT.
The educa-
tion and
duties of an
Ollainh.
XI. him valuable endowments and most important privileges, all
wliicli he forfeited for Hfe, as I had occasion befoi'c to observe
to you, if he became guilty of falsifying the history of any fact
or the genealogy of any family.
The education of the Ollamh was long and minute. It ex-
tended over a space of twelve years " of hard work", as the
early books say, and in the course of these twelve years certain
regular courses were completed, each of wliich gave the stu-
dent an additional degree, as a File, or Poet, with corres-
ponding title, rank, and privileges.
In the Book of Lecain (fol. 168) there is an ancient tract,
describing the laws upon this subject, and referring, ^vith quo-
tations, to the body of the Brethibh Nimhedh, or " Brehon Laws".
According to this authority, the perfect Poet or Ollamh should
know and practise the Teiyiim Laegha, the Lyias Forosnadh,
and the Dichedal do cliennaihli. The first appears to have been
a peculiar druidical verse, or incantation, believed to confer upon
the di'uid or poet the power of understanding everything that it
was proper for him to say or speak of. The second is explained
or translated, " the illumination of much knowledge, as from
the teacher to the pupil", that is, that he should be able to ex-
plain and teach the foiu: divisions of poetry or jDhilosophy, "and
each division of them", continues the authority quoted, " is the
chief teaching of three years of hard work". The third quahfi-
cation, or Dichedal, is explained, " that he begins at once the
head of his poem", in short, to improvise extempore in correct
verse. " To the Ollamh", says the ancient authority quoted in
this passage in the Book of Lecain, " belong synchronisms, to-
gether with the laegha laidhibh, or illuminating poems [incan-
tations] , and to liim belong the pedigrees and the etymologies
of names, that is, he has the pedigrees of the men of Erinn
with certainty, and the branching off of their various relation-
ships". Lastly, " Here are the four divisions of the knowledge of
poetry (or philosophy)", says the tract I have referred to ; " ge-
nealogies, synchronisms, and the reciting of (historic) tales form
the first division ; knowledge of the seven kinds of verse, and
how to measm-e them by letters and syllables, form another of
them ; judgment of the seven kinds of poetry, another of them ;
lastly, Dichedal [or improvisation], that is, to contemplate and
recite the verses without ever thinking of them before".
It thus appears that the Ollamh was bound (and even from
the very first course of his professional studies), among other
duties, to have the Historic Stories ; and these are classed with
the genealogies and synchronisms of history, in which he was
to preserve the truth of history pure and unbroken to sue-
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 241
ceeding generations. According to several of tlie most ancient lect. xr.
authorities, the Ollamh. or perfect Doctor, was bound to have „
• ■*■ TliG Gtiuca,-
(for recital at the pubhc feasts and assemblies) at least Seven tion ana
Fifties of these Historic narratives ; and there appear to have o"tem/° ""
been various degrees in the ranks of the poets, as they pro-
gressed in education towards the final degree, each of which
was bound to be supphed with at least a certain numbei'. Thus
the Anroth, next in rank to an Ollamh, shovdd have half the
number of an Ollamh; the Cll, one-third the nmnber, according
to some authorities, and eighty according to others ; and so on
down to the Fochlog, who shoidd have thirty, and the Driseg
(the lowest of all), who shoidd have twenty of these tales.
To each of these classes, as I have observed, proportionate
emoluments and privileges were seciu'ed by law.
It is thus perfectly clear that the compositions I have already The autiio-
called the Historic Tales, were composed for a much graver "iL'toric'^
purpose than that of mere amvisement; and when the nature oi'^^llf^l^
the profession of the Ollamh, the Poet, the Historical Teacher, History.
is considered, as well as the laws by which it was regulated, it
will not seem surprising that the poems and tales in which
these officers preserved the special facts and details of history,
shoidd have been regarded at all times as of the greatest autho-
rity. Accordingly, we find them quoted and followed by the
most distingTiished of the early critics and teachers of oiu' his-
tory, such as the celebrated Flann of Monasterboice, and others.
As instances of such references, I shall take a few examples
at i-andom from the Book of Lecain ; but they occur in innu-
merable places in that and other ancient MSS.
The Book of Lecain, at foHo 15, b. a., after a poem on the
death of Aengus Ollmiicadh, quotes as authority for it a poem
by Eochaidli O'FHnn; and at 16, b. b., it quotes from another
poem by the same writer.
At folio 25, b.b-, a poem by Finntan (sixth century) is quoted
as an authority on the subject of the colonies of Parthalon, .
and Nemhed, and of the Firbolgs.
At foho 277, b., a poem by Mac Liag, on the Firbolg co-
lonies, is quoted as having been taken from their own accounts
of themselves ; and at 278, a., another on the same subject.
At foHo 280, is quoted a poem by Eochaidh O'Flinn, on the
Tuatha De Danann and the first battle of Magh Tuireadh — a
poem, in which the account of that battle corresponds with
that of the ancient prose tale I have presently to describe
to you. And so on.
One reason, perhaps, why even the poems of the learned
men of ancient times have thus been regarded as of such im-
1(3
242
OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
I-ECT XI.
The autho-
rity of the
" Historic
Tales", as
pieces of
History.
portance, is that the Ollamhs were in the habit of teaching the
facts of history to their pupils in verse, probably that they might
thus be the more easily remembered. Thus we find in the Book
o£ Lecain (fol. 27, a. b.) a poem by Colum Cille, in praise of
Eochaidh Mac Eire, addressed to a pupil who questioned him ;
and this poem contains a minute account of the battle of Magh
Tuireadh, and also of the Milesian expedition to Erinn.
And Flann of Monasterboice (perhaps the greatest of our
early critics), the celebrated compiler of the synchronisms
which pass under his name, frequently quotes from and refers
to poems earher than his time as authorities for historic facts,
and he also often communicates in verse to his pupils his own
profound historic learning. Of Flann's critical and historical
poems there are several in the Book of Lecain : as at folio 24,
b. b., one on the kings, from Eochaidh Feidhleach to LaeghairS^
in which he gives an account of the Cathreim Dathi, and the
Bruighean Da Derga, exactly corresponding with the recitals of
those events in the Historic Tales so named. So also, Lecain,
folio 25, a.; 28, a. a.; 280, etc., etc., etc.,
It seems strange enough that the authors of the Historic Tales
should have been permitted at all to introduce fairy agency in
describing the exploits of real heroes, and to describe pui'ely
imaginative characters occasionally among the subordinate per-
sonages in these stories. This seems strange, because they could
not alter the historic occurrences themselves, nor tamper with the
truth of the genealogies and successions of the kings and chief-
tains,— which it w^as their professional duty to teach in purity
to the people, — without hazarding the loss of all their dignities
and privileges. It is, however, certain that the rules of these
compositions permitted the introduction of a certain amount of
poetical machinery. These rules, and the circmustances imder
which, and the extent to which, the Ollamhs used such licence,
must remain matter for critical investigation. It only belongs
to my present design to assure yo\i of the historical authority of
all the substantial statements respecting the battles, the expedi-
tions, and the alliances of our early kings, contained in these
Scela, or Tales : and of this authority there cannot be any doubt,
if we are to believe the testimony of the most accurate of our
early critics and the most venerable MSS. which have been
handed down to us.
One other observation remains to be made. That the His-
toric Tales which I am about to describe to you are indeed
those which the Ollamhs were bound, under the laws I have
quoted, to have for recital to the people, we are fortunately in
a condition to prove out of one of the earliest, and on the whole,
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 243
I believe I may say, tlie most valuable, of all the early liistoi-ic i,ect. xt.
books now in existence. I mean no other than the Book of
Leinster itself (T.C.D. ; H. 2. 18). ^^""6
At folio 151, a., of this venerable MS., we find recorded the xaies-'alf
rule I have already referred to as to the niunber of Historic come^uwi
Tales which each class of poet, or teacher, was bound to have, — - to m,
[See original in Appendix, No. LXXXVIII.]
" Of the qualifications of a poet in stories and in deeds to be
related to kings and chiefs, as follows, viz. : Seven times fifty
stories, i.e., five times fifty prime stories, and twice fifty secon-
dary stories ; and these secondary stories are not permitted [that
is, can only be permitted] but to four grades only, viz. : an
Ollamh, an Amrath, a Cli, and a Ccmo. And these ' Prime
Stories' are: Destructions and Prcyings, Courtships, Battles,
Caves, Navigations, Tragedies (orDeatlis), Expeditions,, Elope-
ments, and Conflagrations". And afterwards, " These following
reckon also as prime stories : stories of Irruptions, of Visions, of
Loves, of Hostings, and of Migrations".
A vast number of examples of these difierent prime stories
follow, by which we are supplied with tlie names of so many
as 187 in all, classified under their different heads; and this
invaluable list has been the means of identifying very many of
these ancient tales among the MSS. which have been preserved
to our times. — [See this List in the Appendix, No. LXXXIX.]
The number of the ancient Historic Tales yet in existence
is considerable, and several of them have been identified. Many
of these, of course, are not known to us in so pure a state as we
could wish, but each year's investigation throws some addi-
tional light on even the least of them, and brings out their his-
toric value. I need only add, that the strictly Historic Tales
known to me may be calculated as embracing matter extensive
enough to occupy about 4000 pages of O'Donovan's Annals.
Of the Historic Tales a few have been printed within the last
few years, which may be taken, to some extent at least, as spe-
cimens of the remainder. The Catli Muighe Rath (Battle of
Magh Rath, or Moyra), published by the Archaeological Society
in 1842, is one of the tales in the list in the Book of Leinster,
The Celtic Society also printed two of the Historic Tales in
1855, the Cath Aluighe Leana, and the Tochnarc Momera,
both of which are of remarkable interest and great historic value.
Of those which I have selected shortly to introduce to your
notice here, the first is also one of the Catha, or Battles, It is
that of Magh Tuireadh, one of the earliest battles recorded in
our history, and almost the earliest event upon the record of
which we may place sure reliance. It was in this battle that
IG B
244
OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
]°. Of the
Catha, or
" Battles".
Tl.e "Battle
of Maijh
I'uireadh".
the Firbolgs were defeated by the Tuatlia De Danann race,
who subsequently ruled in Erinn till the coming of the Mile-
sians from Spain ; so that it forms a great epoch and starting
point in our liistory. The tract which goes by the name is
somewhat long, opening indeed with the same account of the
first colonies or expeditions that landed in Erinn which we
find in the Books of Invasions. It is impossible that I should
give you the whole account here, or indeed any considerable
part of it, but I shall endeavour to make the contents of the
tract as intelligible as our time may permit.
The Firbolgs, according to the Annals, arrived in Ireland
about the year of the world 3266. Very soon after landing,
the chiefs, though wide apart the spots upon which in different
parties they first touched the shore, contrived to discover the
fate of each other; and having looked out for a central and
suitable place to reunite their forces, they happened to fix on
the green hill now called Tara, but which they named Druim
Cain, or the Beautiful Eminence. Here they planted their seat
of government ; they divided the island into five parts, between
the five brothers, and distributed their people among them.
The Firbolgs continued thus to hold and rule the country for
the space of thirty-six years, that is, till the year of the world
3303, when Eochaidh the son of Ere was their king.
In this year the Firbolgs were sui-prised to find that the island
contained some other inhabitants whom they had never before
seen or heard of. These were no other than the Tuatlia DS Da-
nann, the descendants oilohath, son ofBeathach. lohath was one
of the Nemedian chiefs who survived the destruction of Conaings
Tower (on Tory Island), and passed into the north of Europe;
wliilst another of them, Simeon Breac, passed into Thrace, from
whom the Firbolgs descended. Both tribes thus met in the old
land once more, after a separation of about 237 years.
The Tuatlia De Danann, after landing on the north-east
coast of Erinn, had destroyed their ships and boats, and steal-
thily made their way into the fastnesses of Magli Rein (in the
County Leitrim). Here they had raised such temporary works
of defence as might save them from any sudden surprise of an
enemy, and then gradually showing themselves to the Firbolg
inhabitants, they pretended that they had, by their skill in ne-
cromancy, come into Erinn on the wings of the wind.
The king of the Firbolgs, having heard of the arrival of
these strange tribes, took counsel with liis wise men, and they
resolved to send a large, powerful, and fierce warrior of their
people forward to the camp of the strangers, to make observa-
tions, and ascertain as much of their history and condition as he
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 245
could. The chosen warrior, whose name was Sreng, went forward lkct. xr.
on his mission to Magli Rein; but before he reached the camp ^^
the Tuatha De Danann sentinels had perceived him, and they catha, or
immediately sent forward one of their own champions, named (The "Battle
Breas, to meet and talk to him. Both warriors approached '^^l/llan;-).
with great caution, imtil they came within speaking distance
of each other, when each of them planted his shield in front
of him to cover his body, and viewed the other over its border
with inquiring eyes. Breas was the first to break silence, and
Sreng was delighted to hear himself addressed in his own lan-
guage, for the old Gaedhlic was the mother-tongue of each.
They drew nearer each other, and, after some conversation, dis-
covered each other's lineage and remote consanguinity.
" They next examined each other's spears, swords, and shields ;
and in tliis examination they discovered a very marked difference
in the shape and excellence of the spears ; Sreng being armed
with two heavy, thick, pointless, but sharply rounded, spears ;
while Breas carried two beautifully shaped, thin, slender, long,
sharp-pointed spears. Breas then proposed on the part of the
Tuatlia I)e Danann, to divide the island into two parts, be-
tween the two great parties, and that they should mutually
enjoy and defend it against all futm'e invaders. They then ex-
changed spears for the mutual examination of both hosts ; and
after ha^dng entered into vows of future friendship, each re-
turned to his people.
Sreng retmiicd to Tara, as we shall in future call that place ;
and having recounted to the king and his people the result of
his mission, they took counsel, and decided on not granting to
the Tuatlia De Danann a division of the country, but, on
the contrary, prepared to give them battle. In the meantime,
Breas returned to his camp, and gave his people a very discou-
raging account of the appearance, tone, and arms of the fierce
man he had been sent to parley with. The Tuatha DS
Danann having drawn no favoiu^able augury of peace or friend-
ship from this specimen of the Firbolg warriors and his formid-
able arms, abandoned their holdings, and, retiring farther to the
south and west, took up a strong position on Mount Belgadan,
at the west end oi Magh Nia (the plain of Nia), which is now
called Magli Tuireadh (or Moytura), and is situated near the
village of Cong, in the present county of Mayo. The Firbolgs
marched from Tara, with all their forces, to this plain of Moy-
tura, and encamped at the east end of it. Nuada, who was the
king of the Tuatha DS Danann, however, wisliing to avoid hosti-
lities if possible, opened new negotiations with King Eochaidh
through the medium of his bards. The Firbolg king declined
246 OF THE HISTORIC TALE«.
iEci". XI. to grant any accommodation, and the poets having returned to
their hosts, both the great parties prepared for battle.
catha. or The battle took place on Midsunimer-day. The Firbolgs
(7116*" Battle wcrc defeated with gTeat slaughter, and their king (who left the
Tuireadm battlc-field with a body guard of a hundred brave men, in
search of water to allay his burning thirst) was followed by a
party of a hundred and fifty men, led by the three sons of
Nemedh, who pursued him all the way to the strand called
Traigh EothaiU [near Ballysadare, in the county of Sligo].
Here a fierce combat ensued between the parties, in which
King Eochaidh fell, — as well as the leaders on the other side,
the three sons of Nemedh.
The sons of Nemedh were buried at the west end of the
strand, at a place since called heca Meic Nemedli, or the Grave
Stones of the sons of Nemedh; and King Eochaidh was buried
where he fell in the strand, and the great heap of stones known
to this day as the Carn of Traigh EothaiU (and which was
"^^ formerly accounted one of the wonders of Erinn) was raised
over him by the victors.
In the course of the battle, the Firbolg warrior Sreng dealt
the king of the Tuatha De Danann, Nuada, a blow of his
heavy sword, wliich clove the rim of his shield, and cut off his
arm at the shoulder. Nuada had a silver arm made for him by
certain ingenious artificers attached to his court, and he has been
ever since known in our histoiy and romances as Nn/xda
Airgead-lamh, or the Silver-handed.
The battle of Magh Ttiireadli continued for four successive
days, until at length the Firbolgs were diminished to 300
fighting men, headed by their still surviving warrior-chief,
Sreng ; and, being thus reduced to a great inequahty of numbers
compared with their enemies, they held a counsel and resolved
to demand single combat, of man to man, in accordance with
the universally acknowledged laws of ancient chivalry. The
Tuatha De Danann thought better, and offered Sreng terms of
peace, and his choice of the five great divisions of Erinn,
Sreng accepted these terms, and took as his choice the present
province of Connacht, which, down to the time of Conn of the
Hundred Battles, was called by no other name than Cuigead
Sreing — that is Sreng's province, — in which indeed his descend-
ants were still recognized down so late as the year 1650,
according to Duald Mac Firbis.
The antiquity of this tract, in its present form, can scarcely
be imder fourteen hundred years. The story is told with
singular truthfulness of description. There is no attempt at
making a hero, or ascribing to any individual or party the per-
OF THE mSTOBIC TAfiES,''^,! C, - » ^ '247
ibrmance of any incredible deeds of valoiir. Tbere is, noweve?;""
a good deal of di-uidisni introduced ; — but tlie position and con-
dvict of the poets or bards during the battle, and in the midst of catha, or
it, — the origin of the name of Moytura, or the plain of pillars or (nie^Muuie
columns, — the origin, names, and use of so many of the pillar yj^"^'^,,..,
stones, of the mounds, and of the huge graves, vulgarly called
Cromlechs, with which the plain is still covered, — are all matters
of such interest and importance in the reading of our ancient
history and the investigation of om* antiquarian monumental
remains, that I am bold to assert that I believe there is not in
all Europe a tract of equal historical value yet lying in MS., /
considering its undoubted antiquity and authenticity.
There is but one ancient copy of this tract known to me ''''^''7=^- ^-'^
to be in existence, and of this I possess an accurate transcript^, 4 '4 \^ ,
The mere facts of the coming in of the TzcatJut De Dancmji^^""^'''^ ^
of the battle that ensued, and of the death of King Eochaidh , — ^-pr- ^ ^
only, are told in O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, at /^ f L^ /j
the year of the world 3303. That accomplished Irish topogra- ' * - ■
pher lays down the position of Moytiua, and other places men-
tioned in oui" tract, with his usual accuracy ; but he has mis-
taken the account of the second battle (which is in the British
Museum) for this ; and of that battle I shall now proceed to
give you a short sketch, in abstracting for you a second of these
Historic Tales, which we may call the Second Battle of Magh
Tuireadh, or the Battle of Magh Tuireadh "of the Fomorians".
After the brief record of the fii-st battle by the Four Masters, The "Battle
at the year of the world 3303, they tell us (at the year 3304) 'ruireadh
that Bveas, the chief of the Tuath D6 Danann, who was a Fo- j^momns".
morian by liis father (the same who, as we have seen, held the
parley with the Firbolg warrior Sreng), received the regency
from his people during the illness of their king, Nuada, who had
lost liis arm in the battle. Breas held the regency for seven years,
when he resigned it again to the king ; and Nuada (who in the
mean time was supplied with a silver arm by his surgeon, Dian-
cecht, sindCreidne, the great worker in metals, — and thence called
Nuada Airgid-lamli, or " of the Silver Hand") reassumed the
sovereignty. The Annals pass on then to the twentieth year of
Nuada's reign, (that is, a.m. 3330), where they merely state
that, he fell in the battle of Moytura of the Fomorians, by the
hand of Balor " of the stiiF blows", one of the Fomorians.
Now nothing could be more dry or less attractive than this
simple record, in four Hues, of the death in battle of the king of
a country and people, without a single word of detail, or any
reference whatever to the cause of the war, or to the other actors
in the battle ; so that any person might take it upon himself to
248 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XI. question tlie veracity of so meagre a record, if there had been
Of th ^° collateral evidence to support it. This, however, like the
Catha, or former battle, had its ancient history, as well as its dry chronicle ;
(The "Battle and from the former I shall lay before you in the following ab-
Tufrtadh stract as much of it as will, at least, I hope arouse the curiosity
of the and attention of my hearers, — begging of them at the same time
to remember, that notwithstanding all that has been written
and spoken for and against the remote history of Ireland, even
ixp to this day, the test of pure, unbiassed criticism, historical
and chronological, has not yet been applied to it.
The tract opens with an account of the lineage of Breas, and
how it was that he became king.
We have seen that the warrior regent resigned the sovereignty
at the end of seven years to Nuada the king ; but it was more
by compulsion than good will that he did so, for his rule was so
marked by inhospitality, and by entire neglect of the wants and
wishes of his people, that loud murmurs of discontent assailed
him from all quarters long before his regency was terminated.
In short, as the chronicler says, the knives of his people were
not greased at his table, nor did their breath smell of ale at the
banquet. Neither their poets, nor their bards, nor their satirists,
nor their harpers, nor their pipers, nor their trumpeters, nor their
jugglers, nor their bujftbons, were ever seen engaged in amusing
them at the assemblies of his court. It is in line added that he
had even succeeded in reducing many of the best and bravest of
tlie Tuatlia De Danann warriors to a state of absolute servitude
and vassalage to himself; and his design seems to have been to
substitute an absolute ride for the circumscribed power of a chief
kinff under the national law of the clanns.
At the time that the discontent was at its height, a certain
poet and satirist named CairhrS, the son of the poetess Etan, vi-
sited the king's court ; but, in place of being received with the
accustomed respect, the poet was sent, it appears, to a small dark
chamber, without fire, furniture, or bed, where he was served
with three small cakes of dry bread only, on a very small and
mean table. This treatment was in gross violation of public
law, and could not fail to excite the strongest feeling. The poet
accordingly arose on the next morning, full of discontent and
bitterness, and left the court not only without the usual profes-
sional compUments, but even pronouncing a bitter and wither-
ing satire on his host. This was the first satire ever, it is said,
written in Erinn ; and although such an insult to a poet, and
the public expression of his indignation in consequence, would
fall very far short of penetrating the quick feelings of the nobi-
lity or royalty of these times (so different are the customs of an-
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 249
cient and modern lionour), still it was sufficient in those early lect. xi.
days to excite the sympathy of the whole body of the Tuatlia iJe jo ofthe
Danann, chiefs and people ; and occurring as it did after so many catha, or
just causes of popular complaint, they detennined without more (The "Battle
to call upon Breas to resign his power forthwith. To this call ^„/f.";'rfA
the regent reluctantly acceded ; and ha^ang held coimcil with his of "!^^J'",-
mother, they both determined to retire to the court of his father,
Elatlia, at this time the great cliief of the Fomorian pirates, or
sea kings, who then swarmed through all the German Ocean,
and ruled over the Shetland Islands and the Hebrides.
Though Elatha received his son coldly, and seemed to tliink
that his disgrace was deserved, still he acceded to his request to
furnish liim with a fleet and army with which to return and
conquer Erinn for himself, if he could, from his maternal rela-
tions the Tuatha De Danann. Breas was therefore recom-
mended by his father to the favour of the great Fomorian
chiefs, Balor " of the Evil Eye", king of the Islands, and In-
dech, son of De-JJomnand ; and these two leaders collected all
the men and ships lying from Scandinavia westwards, for the
intended invasion, so that they are said to have formed an un-
broken bridge of ships and boats from the Hebrides to the north-
west coast of Erinn. Having landed there, they marched to a
plain iu the present barony of Tirerrill, in the comity of Sligo, —
a spot surrounded by high hills, rocks, and narrow defiles ; —
and, ha'ving thus pitched their camp in the enemy's country,
they awaited the cleteiinination of the Tuatha De Danan?i, to
surrender or give them battle. The latter were not slow in pre-
paring to resist the invaders, and the recorded account of their
preparations is in full accordance with their traditional character
as skilful artizans and profound necromancers.
Besides the king, Nuada " of the Silver Hand", the cliief men
of the Tuatha De Dojiann at tliis time were : the great Daghda;
Lug, the son of Cian, son of Diancecht, their great Esculapius ;
Ogma Grian-Aineach ("of the sun-like face"), and others; but
the Daghda and Lug were the prime counsellors and arrangers
of the battle. The tract proceeds to state how these two called
to their presence : — their smiths ; their cerds, or silver and brass
w^orkers ; their carpenters ; their surgeons ; their sorcerers ; their
cup-bearers ; their druids ; their poets ; their witches ; and their
cliief leaders. And there is not, perhaps, in the whole range of
oiu" ancient literature a more curious chapter than that which
describes the questions which Lug put to these several classes
as to the nature of the service which each was prepared to
render in the battle, and the characteristic professional answer
which he recei\'ed from each of them.
250 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XI. The battle (which took place on the last day of October) is
1° Of the eloquently described, — with all the brave achievements, and all
Catha, or the deeds of art and necromancy by which it was distinguished.
(The "Battle The Fomorians were defeated, and their chief men killed. King
fkih^e^dh Nuada of the Silver Hand was indeed killed by Balor of the Evil
of the Fo- Eye, but Balor himself fell, soon after, by a stone flung at him
by Lug (his grandson by his daughter Eitldenn), which struck
him (we are told) in the "evil eye", and with so much force, that
it carried it ont through the back of his head.
The magical skill, as it was called, — ^in i-eality of course,
the scientific superiority — of the Tuatha De Danann, stood
them well in this battle ; for JJiancecht, their chief physician,
with his daughter Oclitriuil, and liis two sons, Airmedh and
Mioch, are stated to have previously prepared a heahng bath or
fountain with the essences of the principal heahng herbs and
plants of Eiinn, gathered chiefly in Lus-MhagJi, or the Plain of
Herbs (a district comprised in the present King's Coimty) ; and
on this bath they continued to pronounce incantations during
the battle. Such of their men as happened to be wounded in
the fight were immediately brought to the bath and plunged in,
-and they are said to have been instantly refreshed and made
whole, so that they were able to retiu^n and fight against the
enemy again and again.
The situation of the plain on which this battle was fought, is
minutely laid down in the story, and has been ever since called
Meagli Tuireadh na hh-Fomorac1i, or "The Plain of the Towers
(or j)illars) of the Fomorians", to distinguish it from the south-
ern Moytura, from which it is distant about fifty miles.
The story does not enter into any account of the setting up
of any tombs, towers, or pillars, though many ancient Cyclopian
graves and monuments remain to this day on the plain ; but as
it appears to be imperfect at the end, it is possible that the tract
in its complete form contained some details of this nature.
Cormac Mac Cullinan in his celebrated Glossary quotes this
tract in illustration of the word Nes; so that so early as the
ninth century it was looked upon by him as a very ancient
historic composition of authority.
I have only to add, that the only ancient copy of this tract
that I am acquainted with, or that, perhaps, now exists, is one
in the British Museum, finely written on vellum by Gilla-Riah-
hach O'Clery, about the year 1460. Of this I had a perfect
transcript made by my son Eugene, under my own inspection
and correction, in London, in the summer of last year [1855] ;
so that the safety of the tract does not any longer depend on the
existence of a single copy.
LECTURE XII.
[DoUvered March 6, 1856.]
The Historic Tales (continued). 2. Of the Longasa, or Voyages, The
Historj' of the " Voyage of Labhraidh Loingseach, or Macn\ The " Voyage
of Sreacan". 3. Of the Tfjt/A/a, or Destructions. The " Destruction of the
Bruighean (or Court of) Da Derga". The " Bniigliean Du Clwga". 4. Of
the Airgne, or Shiughters. Tlie " Slaughters (battles) of Conghal Cldring-
neach'\ Of the Revolt of the Aitheacli Tuatha, called the Attacotti, or Atta-
cots. The " Slaughter of the Noble Clanns of Erinn, by Cairbre Cinti-cait"
(Carbry-Cat-head). 5. Of the Forbasa, or Sieges. The " Siege of JEdar",
(the Fortress of Howth Hill), The " Siege of JDrom Damhghaire" (Knock-
long).
In the last lecture I opened tlie account I proposed to gi\e you
of the Historic Tales, with the remarkable tracts which describe
the first and second battles of Magh Tiiireadh.
These tracts afforded us examples of the most important class
of those Prim-scela, or Prime Stories, mentioned in the Book
of Leinster: I mean the Catha^ or Battles. The remainder of
the tales of wliicli 1 intend to speak, as examples of the other
classes, may be most conveniently introduced in the chrono-
logical order of the events narrated in them ; but it is proper to
remind you, that no such system of selection is adopted in the
list in the Book of Leinster, or elsewhere, and that each class of
the ancient Historic Tales^ embraces histories of events occiu-
ring at every jDcriod of our liistory, from the most remote to the
tenth century. The division of the tales into classes was purely
arbitrary, and apparently for the mere convenience of reference
All these tales are but the recitals in detail of isolated events of
history, either in explanation of important historical occur-
rences, or ilkistrating the wisdom or gallantry of the heroes of
the Gaedhlic race, or recording some interesting circumstance
in their well-known career. And of each of the classes into
which this department of our historical literatiu'e was divided
we possess still several examples.
The next of these tales which I have selected to describe to
you is that in which the curious history of Labhraidh Loing-
seach is recorded, a Leinster prince, who became monarch of
Erinn about the year 541 before Christ. This tale might, per-
haps, be classed among the Tochmarca, or Courtships, in so far
as it contains a relation of the romantic story of the marriage of
Labhraidh with the ladv 3Joriadh, the daughter of the king of
252 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
lECT. XII. West Munster; or it might take its place among the Ah'gne, or
2° Of the Slaughters, in so much as it details the Destruction of the fort
LoNGASA,or of I) Inn High (near Carlow), which was taken by Lahhxiidh
(The^" voy- from liis treacherous grand-uncle, Cohhthach Cael, the usurping
IfidhLoing- ^i^^g of Erinn, who was killed in it. It may, however, as probably
seach"). be the tale recorded in the Book of Leinster among the Longasa,
or Voyages, as the Longeas Labhrada, and as the prince's second
name of Loingseach ["the Voyager"] was due to this Longeas,
we may perhaps take tliis tract as an appropriate specimen of
that class of pieces.
The Longeas was in one sense simply a voyage ; from Long,
a ship. But it is observable that this designation is usually con-
fined in ancient stories to a voyage involuntarily undertaken, as
for instance in the case of a banishment, or a flight. A volun-
tary expedition by sea is described under a different name, that
of Lnram, and we shall find an example of that class also
amongst the tales which I have yet to introduce to your notice.
In a former lecture I beHeve I told you sometliing of the
great king Ugaine Mor, from whom almost all the chief Gaedh-
lic families in the provinces of Leinster, Ulster, and Connacht
trace their descent. Ugaine Mor was king of all Erinn about
the year 633 before Christ, according to the Annals of the Four
Masters. He reigned forty years ; and he was at last succeeded,
in 593 B.C., by his eldest son, Laeghaire Lore, who was how-
ever treacherously killed two years afterwards by Ms brother,
Cobhthach Cael Breagli; and this Cobhthach then assumed the
kingship of Erinn, which he enjoyed for full half a century, till
he also was slain at the taking of Linn Righ, just alluded to. It
is with the accession of Cobhthach Cael to the supreme throne
that the story of Labhraidh commences. This story is particu-
larly interesting as recording one of the earliest instances of the
very early cultivation of music among the ancient Irish, — in the
power exercised over the feehngs of liis audience by CraftinS,
the fu'st harper of whom we find any special mention in our books.
Laeghaire Lore, the story tells us, had one son, Ailill AinS,
who succeeded him as king of Leinster; however, his uncle
Cobhthach soon procured his death by means of a poisoned
drink. Ailill Aim left an infant son named Maen Ollamh; but
because he was dumb, and therefore, according to law, for ever
ineligible to be made a king, the usurping monarch spared his
life. The orphan prince was therefore allowed to reside in his
father's palace of Linn Righ, and placed under the tuition and
guardianship of two officers of the court of Tara, namely, Fer-
ceirtne, the poet and philosopher, and CraftinS, the harper.
This instance of the endeavour to communicate mental in-
OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
253
struction to a dumb person at so remote a period, is particularly lect. xn.
interesting. The boy Avas not, however, as Ave shall see, dumb ^o of t,,e
from his birth, and the choice of a harper as one of his instruct- longasa, or
ors would suggest that he was never deficient in hearing. (xue "\oy-
Maen^ vmder the care and tuition of his two able guardians, ^^^aidhufng-
in the course of years, sprung up into manhood, singularly dis- «eachn.
tinguished by beauty of feature, symmetry of person, and cul-
tivation of mind. One day, hoAvever, it happened that while
enjoying his usual sports in the play-ground of his father's man-
sion he receiA' ed some offence from one of his companions. The
insult was promptly resented by a bloAV ; and, in an attempt to
suit words to the action, the spell of his dumbness was broken,
and the young man spoke. The quarrel was lost in an ex-
clamation of joy raised by his companions, when they all cried
owt Lahhraidh 31 aen! Lahhxddh Maen ! [" Maen speaks I Macn
speaks !"] ; and his tutor Craftine coming up at the same time,
and hearing what had happened, said that henceforth the prince
should bear the name of Labhraidh Maen, in commemoration of
the wonderful cA^ent.
News of tliis important occurrence having reached the
monarch CohJithach, at Tara, he commanded Labhraidh Maen to
appear at his court, with his tutors and retainers, to assist at
the Great Feast of Tara, which was then being held.
While seated at the feast, and in the presence of all the com-
pany, the monarch (so the tale relates) happened to ask aloud,
Avho Avas, in the opinion of the company, the most munificent
man in Erinn? Craftine and Ferceirtine both ansAvered that
Lahhraidh Maen was the most mimificent man in Erinn. He
is better than me, then, said the monarch, and you both may
go with him. The loss Avill be greater to you than to us, said
the harper. Depart out of Erinn, said the monarch. If we can
can find no refuge in Erinn, Ave will, said they.
Lahhraidh Maen, accordingly, took counsel at once with his
tutors and a fcAV other friends, as to what he should do ; when,
after a careful consideration of all the circumstances of their
case, they decided on leaA'ing Leinster, and seeking refuge and
friendship from Scoriath, king of Fermorca (or the Great Men)
of West Munster. Thither they repaired, and, after having
received the customary hospitality of several days, without
questions asked, at Scoriatlis palace, the king at last inquired
the cause and natiu-e of their visit. We have been expelled by
the monarch of Erinn, said they. You are welcome to my care
and protection, then, said Scoriath.
The tale proceeds to tell us that king Scoriath had a daughter,
whose name was Moriath, and whose beauty had so bewildered
254 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XII. the young princes and chiefs of Minister, that several schemes
^ had been devised by some of them to obtain imlawful possession
LoNGASA, or of her person, after their proposals of marriage had been rejected.
(The^" voy- Ou. the discovcry of those designs by the lady's parents, they de-
age of Labh- termined on being her sole guardians themselves, and, in order
raulh Loing- _ iii t • f ^ • • •^ •
seac/i"). that there should be no relaxation oi their vigilance, it was ar-
ranged between them that the father should have constant charge
of her by day, and the mother by night, so that she should never
be out of the safe keeping of either the one or the other.
This vigilance on the part of the royal parents did not escape
the notice of their noble guest, who was, indeed, permitted to
enjoy free conversation with the beautiful 3foriath, but subject to
one trifling drawback, that, namely, of the presence of her father
or m.other on all such occasions. But, notwitlistanding the res-
traint which parental vigilance had placed upon any expression
of tender sentiment, the youthful pair soon discovered that the
society of each was highly prized and desired by the other ; but
beyond tliis they had no power to proceed, — their love story had
come prematurely to a full stop. The cautious parents of the
young princess were, indeed, as often happens, the only persons
in their court ignorant of the true state of the case ; but their
watchfulness was not the less successful in baffling the designs
of the lover. Distracted and dejected, the young Lahhraidh
Maen had recourse to the counsels of his faitliful friend and
mentor, Craftine, and that illustrious harper appears to have
been no stranger to the delicate management of small court
difficulties of the kind. On this occasion, he advised his ward
to wait for some favourable opportunity to carry out his inten-
tions, and he assured hiul that when such an opportunity should
offer, he, Craftine, would contrive to obtain for him an interval
of uninterrupted conversation with 3foriath.
King Scoriath, after some little time, happened to invite all
the chiefs and nobles of his territory to a sumptuous feast. The
delight of the guests was much heightened by Craftines per-
formance on his harp ; and, when the king, queen, and all the
festive company were plunged in enjojancnt, exhilarated by
wine, and charmed by the unequalled melody of the most dis-
tinguished performer of his time, Lahhraidli Maen and Moriath
snatched the opportunity to slip away unobserved from the
company. No sooner did the gifted harper believe them to
have gone beyond the hearing of his music, than he struck the
almost magical tones of the Suantraighe, which was of so richly
soft and enchanting a character as to throw the whole company,
including the king and queen, into the most delicious and pro-
found slumber ; and in the trance of this slmnber they were all
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 255
kept bj the magic of Craftiness harp, until the young lovers lect. xh
had time to return again and take their proper seats in the as-
sembly, after having, for the first time, plighted to each other
mutual vows of constancy and alFection.
The Ollamhs of music, or those raised to the highest order of ^|^^^j°
musicians in ancient Erinn, I may here tell you, were obliged, cjansofan-
by the rules of the order, to be perfectly accomplished in the "^"^
performaJice of three peculiar classes or pieces of music, namely,
the Suantraighe, which no one could hear without falling into
a delightful slumber; the Goltraighe, which no one could hear
without bursting into tears and lamentation; and the Gean-
traigld, which no one could hear without bursting out into loud
and irrepressible laughter,
Craftine availed himself, as we have seen, of the possession
of these, the highest gifts of his profession, to assist the designs
of his yoimg ward, and played into a profound sleep all those who
would have stood in the way of his happiness.
Now, however, that the pardonable objects of the young
couple were attained, he changed his hand, and struck the
Geantraighe^ which roused the whole company, and quickly
tuxned their quiet sleep into a tiunult of uproarious laughter.
And then, the musician having displayed these wonderful spe-
cimens of his art, returned again to the performance of the less
excitmg, but always beautiful melodies, so many of which still
remain to remind us of the ancient glories of our country, and
continued to delight his hearers until the time of their retire-
ment had arrived.
In the meantime, the ever-suspicious queen imagined she de-
tected some equivocal radiations in the glowing coimtenance of
her daugliter, and, approaching her nearer, she thought she
caught the faintest imaginable whisper of a sigh. With an in-
stinctive perception of deception and treason, she immediately
called the king to her side : Your daughter, said she, has ceased
to be herself; her sighs denote that she lias given part of her
heart to another. The king was outrageous, ordered the
strictest investigation, and vowed that if the conspirators were
discovered, their heads should be struck off. CraftinS remon-
strated against the violence of such a proceeding, but the king,
not being without some suspicions, and disregarding the invio-
lable character of a poet and musician, threatened even him
with punishment, shovdd he interfere farther.
After the first bm'st of anger and indignation had subsided,
however, and confidence had been once more restored between
the mother and daughter, the latter gradually permitted the former
to discover the truth of her secret. It is but a poor compliment
256 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XII. to the march of intellect and the progress of civilization, that,
2° Of the ^^ those remote ages, they solved the mtricate complications of
LoNGASA,or precipitate love very much in the same way that we do in the
(Th7" voyl present enlightened times. But so it was, and King Scoriath
rllmLoinrj- ^^^^ ^^^^ prudent queen, by the silent sighs of their daughter
seacfr). and the soothing notes of Craftiness harp, were soon induced
to accept Lahhraidh Maen as their son-in-law ; and so terminated
this comedy, precisely as such comedies are brought to a con-
clusion even in the nineteenth century.
The alliance with the king of West Munster was an event of
deep political, as well as social, importance to Lahhraidh Maen;
for, immediately after the event took place, his father-in-law
placed at his command a large force of the bravest men in liis
territory, to assist him in recovering his hereditary kingdom of
Leinster from his grand-uncle. With these troops he marched
quietly into Leinster, where, bemg joined by a large number of
adherents to his house's fortune, he at once laid siege to the
royal palace of Dinn Righ, and succeeded in taking it from the
garrison placed in it by the monarch. His triumph, however,
was but of short duration; for King Cohhthach, who had re-
covered his first surprise, raised a large army, and marched from
Tara at once into Leinster.
Labhraidh Maen found himself totally unable to meet such a
force, and felt compelled to withdraw, for the time at least, from
the iinequal contest. He accordingly changed his plans on the
instant, disbanded his followers, sent his wife, Moriath, under
the immediate guardianship of Craftine, and attended by her
countrymen, into Munster to her father; and, selecting from
among his adherents a small band of brave men, he bid adieu to
his native land, and took sail for the opposite coast of Britain.
He made no delay in Britain, but, passing over alone to France,
he entered the military service of the king of that country, in
which he so distinguished himself that he soon became one of
the chief commanders of the army there.
After he had in course of time estabhshed himself in the full
confidence and estimation of the king of France, Lahhraidh
Maen, who still kept up a correspondence with his friends in
Erinn, determined, if he could, to make one more effort to
regain his rightful inheritance.
Witli this view, he made himself known, and disclosed his
whole history to the king of France, and concluded by asking
of him such a body of troops as he should select, to accompany
him to Erinn, and assist him, in conjunction with his friends
there, to reestablish himself in his kingdom. The French
king consented without difficulty, and the exjDedition arrived
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 257
safely in the moutli of tlie river Slaney, now the liarbour of lect. xn.
Wexford. _ , ^ • ^ i - 2°ofthe
After resting awhile here to recover from the fatigues of their longasa, or
voyage, and being joined by great numbers from Lcinster and (The"Vo.v-
Munster, the expedition marched by night to Dinn Eigh, where cmO-^'''"''
the monarch Cobhthach, entirely ignorant of their approach,
happened to be at the time holding an assembly, accompanied
by thirty of the native princes and a body gviard of seven hun-
dred men. The palace was surprised and set on fire, and the
monarch, the princes, the guards, and the entire household,
were burned to death. This was the Argain Dinn Rigli, or
Slaughter of Dinn Righ.
Lahhraidh then assumed the monarchy, and reigned over
Eiinn eighteen years.
Another of these Loingeas, but which seems to have been a
voluntary one, is of much later date, — that, namely, of Breaccm,
of which we have but the following short accoimt : —
Breacan was the son of Maine, son of Niall of the Nine Hos-
tages, monarch of Erinn, whose reign closed A.D. 405. This
Breacan was a gi'eat merchant, and the owner of fifty Curachs,
trading betv/een Ireland and Scotland. On one of his voyages he
was, we are told, with his fifty Curachs, swallowed up in the
great whirlpool formed by the confluence of the nortli-western
and north-eastern seas with the channel between Ireland and
Scotland. His fate, however, was not exactly known until
Lughaidh, the blind poet, in many years after, paid a visit to
Bennchuir [Bangor, — on the coast of the county of Down].
The poet's people having strayed from the town down to the
beach, foimd the bleached skull of a small dog on the shore.
This they took up, carried to the poet, and asked him what
skull it was. " Lay the end of the poet's wand on the skull", said
Lughaidh; and then, pronouncing some mystical sentences in the
ancient Teinim Laegh style, he told them that the skull was
that 0? Breacan s Httle dog, and that Bi'eacan himself, with all his
curachs and people, had been drowned in the Coire Breacain
(or Breacan's Cauldron), — an appro^jriate name, from the constant
boiling up and surging of the whirlpool, and the name by which
it continued ever after to be known in ancient Gaedhlic \viitinga.
This story is preserved in Cormac's Glossary, compiled in the
ninth centm-y, and in the BinnsencJuis, a much older comjjila-
tion generally.
The next class of tales, of which an example offers itself to
our notice, is that of the Toghla, or Destructions. A Toghail,
or Destruction of a Fort, is the title given to those histories
17
Da Derga").
258 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XII. which detail the taking of a fort or fortified palace or habita-
,Q tion, by force, when the place is not merely taken, but also
TocHLA, or burnt or destroyed on the taking of it. A Togliail may be a
tiras"!^TTiie taking by surprise, or it may be a taking after a siege, but the
tion of the term always implies the destruction of the buildings taken.
Bruighean Of the Toglilci but a fcw are named in the list I have referred
to in the Book of Leinster, though many others, of course,
there were. Of those in the Hst, the most remarkable, perhaps,
is that of the Bimigliean Da Deirja, or court of Da Derga;
because it was in the storming and surprise of that residence
that the great Conaire Mor was killed, one of the most cele-
brated kings of ancient Erinn. This tract possesses, too, a pe-
culiar interest for those wdao reside in or near Dublin, because
the scene of the surprise lies near the city, at a place which still
preserves a portion of the ancient name in its present designa-
tion. And it is partly on this account that I have selected the
account of the Toghail Bruighne Da Derga to describe to you.
In the year of the world 5091, ConairS Mor, the son of
Eidersgel, a former monarch of Erinn, ascended the throne, and
ruled with justice and vigour, until the year of the world 5160,
that is, till thirty-three years before the Incarnation of our
Lord, according to the chronology of the Four Masters.
The impartiality and strictness of Conah^es rule banished
from the country large numbers of idle and insubordinote per-
sons, and among the rest his own foster-brothers, the four sons
of Donndesa, a great Leinster chief. These young men, adven-
turous and highly gifted, impatiently put out, with a large party
of followers, upon the sea between Erinn and Britain, for the
purpose of leading a piratical life, until the death of the
monarch or some other circumstance should occiu* that might
permit their return to their comitry.
While thus beating about, and committing depredations at
both sides of the channel whenever they could, they met,
engaged in similar enterprises, the yomig prince Ingel, a son of
the king of Britain, who with his six brothers and a numerous
band of desperate men like themselves had been for their mis-
deeds banished from his territory by their father. Both parties
entered into a compact of mutual risk and assistance ; and
having, according to agreement, first made a night descent on
the coast of Britain, where they committed great ravages and
carried off much booty, they turned towards Erinn, for the pm'-
pose of adding to their stock of plunder, and carrying on the war
of depredation evenly between both countries. They landed
in the bay of Tuirhhe [Turvey] (near Malahide, on the coast of
the present coimty of Dublin), and immediately commenced
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 259
their devastation of the country, by lire and sword, in the lect. xit.
direction of Tara. go of tiie
At this time, the monarch Conaire, attended by a slender toghla, or
retinue, was on his return from north Munster, where he had tions" (The
been to eifect a reconciliation between two hostile chiefs of that tjou of the
countr3^ On his entering Meath, and approaching his palace Bi-mihrnn
of Tara, he saw the whole country, to his great surprise, wrapt
in fire, and tliinking that a general rebellion against the law
had taken place in liis absence, he ordered his charioteer to
turn to tlie right from Tara, and drive towards Dublin. The
charioteer obeyed, and drove by the hill of Cearna, Lusk, and
the Great Road of Cualann to Dublin ; which, however, the
monarch did not enter, but crossing the LifFey above the town,
he continued his route to the court, or mansion, of the great
Brughaidh (or Hospitaller), Da Derga.
This court was built on the river Dodder, at a place which
to this day bears the name of Bothar-na-Bruighie (or the Road
of the Court), near Tallaght, in the county of Dublin. This
was one of the six great houses of imiversal hospitality which
existed in Erinn at the time, and the owner. Da Derga, hav-
ing previously partaken largely of the monarch's bounty, he
was now but too glad to receive him witli the hospitality and
distinction wliich became his rank and munificence.
In the mean time, continues the tale, the outlaws having
missed the monarch, -ravaged all Brcgia [the eastern part of
Meath], before they returned to their vessels, and then steered
to the headland of Beann Bdair (now called the Hill of Howth),
where they held a council of war. There it was decided that
two of the sons of Donndesa (two of the monarch's foster-
brothers), should come on shore, and find out the monarch's re-
treat, they having abeady discovered the course he had taken
from Tara. Tliis was done, and the scouts having returned to
the fleet with the information sought, the piratical force landed
somewhere south of the mouth of the LifFey, and marching over
the rugged Dublin mountains, they surrounded Da Derga's
court, which, in spite of a stout resistance, they destroyed and
plundered, murdering the monarch himself and the chief part
of his slender train of attendants.
The composition of tlris tract must be referred to a period of
very remote antiquity, the style of the construction and language
being more ancient even than the Tain Bo Chuailgne, and, like
that difficult piece, of a character totally beyond the power of
ordinary Irish scholars to reduce to anything like a correct
translation.
This tract is one of considerable length, and not a little im-
17 B
260
OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XII.
3° Of the
ToGHLA, or
" Destruc-
tions". (The
" Destruc-
tion of tlie
Brtiif/lieaii
Da Derga").
The "Des-
truction of
the Brii-
ighean Da
Choga".
4° Of the
AiEGNE, or
"Slaughters'
bued ■with tlie marvellous ; but, apart from its value as in essen-
tials a truthful link in our national history, it contains, perhaps
^vithout exception, the best and most copious illustrations in any
tract now extant (I mean, of course, illustrations by description)
of the various ranks and classes of the officers that composed the
king's household in ancient times, and of the arrangements of a
regal feast — both social subjects of great historical interest.
There is a fine copy of this tract (with a slight imperfection
at the beginning) preserved in the ancient Leahhar na h- Uidhre,
in the Royal Irish Academy; and another copy less copious,
but perfect at the beginning and the end, in the Leahhar Buidhe
Lecan, in the Library of T.C.D. ; so that from both these
sources a perfect copy could be procured.
Another of these Tof/hla, and one of great interest, is the
Toghail Bruighne Da Choga, of which a good copy is to be
found in MS. H. 3. 18. Trinity College, Dubhn.
The Bruigliean Dei Choga was in the present county of West-
meath ; and it was on the occasion of a sudden surprise of this
Court that Cormac Conloingeas was killed, about a.d. 33. He
was the son of the celebrated Conor Mac Nessa, king of Ulster,
from whose court he had several years before gone into volun-
tary banishment into Connacht, in consequence of his father's
having put to death the three sons of Uisneach, for whose safety
Cormac had pledged his word, when they consented to return
to Conor's court at the king's invitation. On the death of
Conor, his son prepared to return, to assume the throne of his
province, and it was on his way back that he lost his Hfe, in
the surprise of Da Cogas court, where he had stopped to rest
on his road. Cormac Conloingeas was one of the most celebrated
champions of his time, and figures in many of the detailed his-
tories of events recorded at this period of our annals.
The chronological order of the specimens of tales that I have
selected leads us next to the class called Airgne, or Slaughters.
The Argain, though separated by the writer in the Book of
Leinster from the Toghail, is not, in fact, well to be distin-
guished from it. The word signifies the Slaughter of a garrison
of a fort, where the place is taken and destroyed. So the
taking of Dinn High by Lahhraidh Loingseach, described in the
tract I spoke of just now, is called, in the Book of Leinster,
Argain Dinn High, and that tract may perhaps actually be the
tale there so named.
There are a great number of the Airgne named in the
ancient list so often referred to, and of these several have
1 cached us in one shape or another. One of them, the Argain
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 261
Cathracli B6ircM is included in tlie lono^ tract the Cathreim lect. xn.
CJionghail Chldiringnigh, or Battles of Conghal Claringneach. ^oofthe
The Destruction of Cathair Boirche forms but a single inci- airgne, or
dent in the career of the warrior Congal, and I may in a few words (xhT^^ ^'^
introduce to you the causes that led to so fatal a catastrophe, e^of Co«?a'
Lughaidh LuaigJme, of the Eberean line, assumed the mo- ^^^™f-
narchy of Erinn in the year of the world 4024 ; and, in dis-
posing of the petty kingships of the provinces, he imposed two
kings on the province of Ulster, to one of whom, Conghal Clar-
ingneach, the son of a former monarch, he gave the southern,
and to Fergus Mac Leide, the northern half of the province.
The Ulstermen soon began to feel the weight of two royal
establishments, and a secret meeting of their chiefs took place at
Emania, at wliich it was resolved to invite both their kings to a
great feast, for the purpose of having them assassinated, and
then to elect one king from among themselves, whom they
would support by force of arms against the Monarch, should he
feel dissatisfied with their deed.
The feast was soon prepared, the two kings seated at it, and
the assassins, who were selected from the menials of the chiefs,
took up a convenient position outside the banqueting house.
By this time, however, the knowledge of the conspiracy had
reached the ears of Fachtna Finn, the chief poet of Ulster;
whereupon he, with the other chief poets of the province, who
attended the feast, arose from their particular places, and seated
themselves between the two kings. The assassins entered the
house shortly after, but seeing the position of the poets, they
held back, rmwilling to desecrate their sacred presence, or
violate their too obvious protection.
Wlien the prince Congal saw the assassins, he suspected their
design, and asked the poet if his suspicions were not well-
founded. Fachtna answered in the affirmative, and stated the
cause of the conspiracy ; whereupon Congal stood up, and ad-
di'cssing the assembled chiefs, off^ered, on the part of himself and
his colleague, to surrender their power and dignity into the
hands of the monarch again, with a request that he would set
up in their place the person most agreeable to the Ultonians.
The chiefs agreed, and the poets taking the two kings under
their inviolable protection, they all repaired to Tara, where
they soon anived, and announced the object of their visit.
On their arrival at Tara, the monarch's daughter fell in love
with Fergus Mac Leide, and at her request, backed by the re-
commendation of the provincial kings who then happened to be
at court, the monarch appointed him sole king of Ulster, though
such a decision was against an ancient law, wliich ordained that.
262 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT.xii. a junior sliould not be preferred to a senior, — and Congal was
~777Z older than Fer^rus.
4 Of the ^ - . • .
AiKGNE, or Congal, on hearing this decision, departed immediately from
(ThT^^'^'^ Tara, collected all the disaffected of the country about him, to-
erso^ coiigai gather with some Scottish exiles, and having met the monarch's
cia,in(j- son, cut off his head and bid defiance to the father. He was,
however, soon forced to leave Erinn with his adherents; and
Ms adventures in the island of RacJdainn^ and in Denmark and
other northern countries, form a considerable and most interest-
ing part of liis career. After some years, however, he returned
to his native country, and landed in the present bay of Dun-
drum (county Down). Immediately upon his coming ashore, he
discovered that his rival, Fergus Afac Leide, was at that time
enjoying the hospitalities of Cathair Boirche (that is, Boirches
Stone Castle or Fortress), the princely residence of Eochaidh
Salbhuidhe, chief of the southern part of the present county of
Down, at a short distance from Congal's landing place.
On receiving this welcome piece of information, Congal
marched directly to Cathair BoircM, and surprised and de-
stroyed it with all that were in it. From thence he went straight
to Tara, and challenged the king with all his forces to a pitched
battle. The battle was fought in the immediate neighbourhood
of Tara ; the monarch was defeated and beheaded by Congal,
who was proclaimed in his place, and reigned fifteen years.
The only copy of this fine historic tale that I am acquainted
with, is preserved in the library of the Royal Irish Academy.
[No. 205, Hodges and Smith Collection.]
Ttid AUheach But the tale which I should prefer to take for you as a spe-
"Attacots". cimen of the AirgnS, is one which recites the origin of one of
the most momentous troubles which interrupt the course of our
history; I mean the Revolt of the Ait/ieach Tuatlia (or "Atta-
cots"), in the early part of the first century, an incident of which
I have ah'eady shortly spoken. This tract is that which is en-
tered in the list in the Book of Leinster as the Argain Chairpri
Cinn-Cait for Saerclannaihh h-Ei'enn; that is, the Murder by
Carbry Cat-head of the Noble clanns of Erinn.
The revolution and reign of the Aitheach Tuatha {^^Attacotti",
or "Attacots", as they have been called in English writings),
mark an era in Irish history, more interesting, perhaps, than
important in relation to the consequences of their rule ; and the
name given to these people has supplied food for much learned
discussion and speculation, to writers of more modem times.
Father John Lynch (better known as Gratianus Lucius),
General Vallancey, the Rev. Charles O'Conor, and many others
,of their times, have been more or less puzzled by the name "At-
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 263
tacots", and have soiiglit everywhere for an explanation of it lect. xn.
but where only it could be found, namely, in the lanofuaofc of „ „„
the country m which it originated, and in which those people afrgne, or
grew, hved, and died. _ ^ S'Keloif
The name which those modern writers have made into "At- oftueAme-
" r 1 T • • -t n A Ml • • • m ""* Tun/ha,
tacots , irom the Latinized form "Attacotti , is written m all or '• Atta-
Irish manuscripts, ancient and modern, Aitheach Tuatha, and
this means nothing more than simply the Rent-payers, or Rent-
paying Tribes or People.
It is also stated, by even our very latest historic writers, that
the Aitheach Tuatha were the descendants of the earlier colo-
nists, depressed and enslaved by their conquerors, the Milesians.
But this is a mistake, for, according to the Books of Ballymote
and Lecain, the revolutionists were not composed, even for the
major part, of the former colonists, but of the Milesians them-
selves. For, as may be expected, in the lapse of ages countless
numbers of noble and free Milesian families fell away from their
caste, lost their civil independence, and became mixed up and
reduced to the same level with the remnants of the conquered
races, who still continued, in a state nearly alHed to slaveiy,
tillers of the soil.
At the time of this revolution, which took place about the
middle of the first century of the Christian era, the magnates of
the land seem to have combined to lay even heavier burdens
than ever before on the occupiers and tillers of the soil ; and the
debased Milesians were the first to evince a disposition to re-
sistance. Combinations were afterwards formed between them
and the other malcontents, but so profoundly secret, that during
the three years which they took to consider and matm'e their
plans, not one of theu' intended victims had received the faintest
hint of the plot that ripened for their destruction.
The result of their councils was, to prepare a great feast, to
which, as a pretended mark of respect and gratitude, they were
to invite the monarch, the provincial kings, and the great chiefs
of the nation, really for the purpose of destroying them during
the convivial excitement and unsuspicious confidence of a regal
banquet of the old times.
The feast was prepared at a place since called Magh Cru (or
the Bloody Plain), in Connacht. Thither came the monarch,
kings, and chiefs, in the full flow of unreserved security, — a se-
curity, as it befell, of the falsest kind ; for, when the nobles were
deep in their cups, and plunged in the enjoyment of the deli-
cious strains of the harp, treacherous hosts svirrounded the ban-
quet hall with men in armom*, and slew without pity or remorse
the monarch, Fiacha Finnolaidh, the provincial kings, and
all the assembled chiefs, as well as all their train.
264 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
I.ECT.XII. Tlie revolutionary party having thus, at one blow, g-ot rid of
.TTTT all tlieir old taskmasters, but still wisliin^ to live under a more
4 Of tuG • ^
AiRGSE, or _ lenient monarcliical goveraraent, proceeded to select a king.
(The'leTOit Their choice fell on Cairhre Cinn-Cait, an exiled son of the
llh^Ti^chT ki^g ^f Lochlainn (or Scandinavia), who had taken a leading
or"Atta- ' part in the plan and completion of the revolution.
cots' '1 y^ • •
Cairhre, however, died in the fifth year of an unprosperous
reign, and Fiacha Finnolaidli, of the royal Eremonian race, suc-
ceeded to the sovereignty. Against Fiacha, however, another
revolt of the provinces took place, and he was surprised and
murdered at Magh Bolg in Ulster, in the year of our Lord 56 ;
and Elim Mac Conrach, king of Ulster (of the Rudrician race
of Ulster), was elected by the revolutionists in his place. The
reign of Elim also proved unfortimate, for, not only did discord
and discontent prevail throughout the land, but the gifts of
Heaven itself were denied it, and the soil seemed to have been
struck with sterility, and the air of Heaven charged with pesti-
lence and death during those years.
The old loyalists and friends of the former dynasties took
advantaOT at once of the confusion and freneral consternation
which seized on the minds of the people, and proposed to them
to recal or rather to in\'ite liome Tuathal, the son of the mur-
dered monarch, whose mother had fled from the slaughter to the
house of her father, the king of Scotland, wliile Tuathal as
some writers say was yet unborn.
This proposal was very generally listened to, and a great
number of the Aitheach Tiiatha agreed in council to bring over
the young prince, who was now in his twenty-fifth year.
Tuathal answered the call, and soon after landed in Bregia
[jVIeath], where he imfurled his standard, and was immediately
joined by several native chiefs, with all their followers. From
this he marched upon Tara, but was met by the reigning mo-
narch, Elim, at Acaill (noAv the hill of Screen), near Tara, in
the county of Meath, where a fierce battle was fought, in
which at length the reigning monarch, Elim, was slain, and a
great slaughter made of his adherents.
And thus the ancient dynasty was once more established, and
continued, substantially unbroken, down to the final overthrow
of our monarchy, in the twelfth century.
There is a detailed, but not very copious account of the
massacre of Magh Cru, preserved in a MS. (H. 3. 18.) in
Trinity College, Dublin.
The next class of the Historic Tales consists of the Forbasa,
or Sieges. The Forhais may be called a Siege, because it im-
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 2G5
plies a regular investment of a position, or of a city, or forti- lect. xii.
tied place of residence. The name is generally, thougli not ^^ ^^ ^^^
always, applied to those sieges which were followed by the cap- foebasa, or
ture, or, at least, the plunder of the place invested. That (fhe"\siege
capture, as I have abeady explained to you, would be called ^^^l^-'^] "''
Toghail, if the place were destroyed If only besieged, the
event would be a Forhais; but a Toghail, or storming, might,
of course, take place, without being preceded by a Forhais.
These distinctions the student will do well to observe, in apply-
ing himself to the branch of historical literature now under our
notice.
Of the Forhasa, or Sieges, the example I shall take shall be
the Forbais Eclair, or Siege of Howth, — again selecting a story
the scene of wliich Ues near this city.
In the more ancient times in which the events recorded in
the tracts I notice to-day took place, and, indeed, down to a
comparatively late period, it was customary, — I may premise
by telHng you, — for distinguished poets and bards (who were
also the philosophers, lawyers, and most educated men of their
day) to pass from one province into another, at pleastu'e, on -a
circuit, as it may be called, of visits among the kings, chiefs, and
nobles of the country ; and, on these occasions, they used to re-
ceive rich gifts, in return for the learning they communicated,
and the poems in which they sounded the praises of their patrons
or the condemnation of their enemies. Sometimes the poet's \dsit
bore also a political character ; and ho was often, with diplomatic
astuteness, sent, by direction of his own provincial king, into
another province, with wliich some cause of quarrel was sought
at the moment. On such occasions he was instructed not to be
satisfied with any gifts or presents that might be offered to hiui,
and even to couch liis refusals in language so insolent and sar-
castic as to provoke expulsion if not personal chastisement.
And, whenever matters proceeded so far, then he retiu-ned to
his master, and to him transferred the indignities and injuries
received by himself, and pubHcly called on him, as a matter of
personal honour, to resent them. And thus, on occasions where
no real cause of dispute or complaint had previously existed, an
ambitious or contentious king or chief found means, in those
days just as in our own, to pick what public opinion regarded
as an honourable quan-el with his neighbour.
A curious instance of the antiquity of this practice in Erinn,
will be found in the very ancient but little known tract of
wliich I shall now proceed to offer you a short sketch. It con-
tains besides, I should however tell you, a great deal of other
valuable matter illustrative of the manners and customs of a
266
OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XII. very early jseriod : and it may be taken as a fair specimen of tlie
5° Of the important class of those Historic Tales wliicli I have referred to
FoRBASA, or under the title of Forhasa.
(The^-siege Tlicrc Hvcd in Ulster in the time of King Conor Mac Nessa,
Howth")! °^" ^'^^^ iS' about a.d. 33, a learned poet, but withal a virulent
satirist, named Aithirne, better known in our ancient writings
as Aithirne Ailghesacli, or ^Aithirne the Importunate"; and he
received this surname from the fact that, he never asked for a
gift or preferred a request, but such as it was especially difficult
to give, or dishonourable to grant.
At this time the Ultonians were in great strength, and the
valour of the champions of the Royal Branch had filled Erinn
with their fame, and themselves and their province with arro-
gance and insolence. They had already enriched themselves
with the preys and spoils of Connacht, and they had beaten the
men of Leinster in the battle of Ros na High, and extended
the boundary of the northern province from the river Boyne
southwards to the High (or river Rye, the boundary between
the present counties of jNIeath and Dublin). They had also
made a sudden and successful incursion into Munster, des-
troyed the ancient palace of Teamhair Luachra, from which
they returned home with great spoils. So that, having in this
manner shown their power and superiority over the other pro-
vinces, they were restless to undertake some yet more ambi-
tious enterprise ; and, losing all self-restraint, they seem to have
proposed to themselves no object but the one, to find an enemy
to fight with, no matter where, and for any cause, no matter
what it might be.
In this embarrassment of the Ultonians, Aithirne, the poet,
determined to relieve their languor by raising a still more se-
rious quarrel, if possible, than ever, between them and some one
of the other provinces. Accordingly, though not without the
consent and approval of king Conor Mac Nessa, the poet set out
upon a round of visits to the other provincial kings, resolved
that his conduct and demands should be so insulting and ex-
travagant that they should be forced to visit Mm with some
gross indignity or personal punishment, such as might give
him cause for pouring out upon tliem the most satirical strains
of his venomous tongue, as well as make it incumbent on his
province to demand and take satisfaction for the insult offered
them in his person.
He went first into Connacht, but the kings and chiefs of
that province granted freely even his most imreasonable de-
mands, sooner than be drawn into a war with Ulster by a refusal.
From Connacht AithirnS passed to the kingdom of Mid-
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 267
Erinn (compreliending the south of Connacht and the north lect. xn.
of Munster or Thomond, and extending, it is said, within nar- .-onfth
row limits, from the bay of Galway to DnbUn). The king of fotjbasa, or
this territory at the time was Eochaidh Mac Luchta, whose re- (xile^^siege
sidence lay on the brink of the present Loch Derg, in tlie Upper Hof urj. °'
Shannon (somewhere, I believe, between Scariff, in the county
of Clare, and the present Mountshannon Daly, on the south-
eastern border of the county of Galway). This king, whose hos-
pitality and munificence were proverbial, had the misfortune to
be blind of an eve, and the malignant satirist knowino- that no
demand on his riches, however exorbitant it might be, would be
refused, determined to demand from him that which he was most
certain could not be granted. He, therefore, demanded the king's
only eye. To his great surprise and disappointment, Eochaidh
Mac Lnchta (so goes the story) suddenly thrust his finger into the
socket of his eye, tore it out by the roots, and handed it to the
poet ! The king then commanded his servant to lead him down
to the lake to wash his face and staunch the blood ; but fear-
ing that perhaps he had not been able to extract the eye, he
asked his servant if he had really given it to the poet. Alas !
said t\\e servant, the lake is red with the blood of your red eye.
That shall be its name for ever, said the king. Loch Derg-
dheirc^ or the Lake of the Red Eye, — (the present Loch Derg,
above Killaloe, on the^Shannon).
[Let me here obserA^e, in a parenthesis, that I should not, per-
haps, have gone into this minor, though curious detail, but that
more modern writers of family Irish history have endeavoured
to make Eochaidh, the ancestor of the O'SidUvan family, to be
the person who granted his only eye to the demand of a ]na-
licious Scotch poet, and that it is from that circmnstance that
the name OSuilahhain — that is, the one-eyed, — is derived. But
there are two objections to the truthfulness of this version of the
story ; the first is, that the tale I have just noticed is certainly
older than the time of this latter Eochaidh; the second objec-
tion is, that if this were the derivation of the name, it should
be written with the letter m, instead of the 5, which is always
found in it: that is, the word should be Sidlamhain (or " one
eye"), and not Suilabhain, as it is generally (but not always)
written in the ancient MSS. The fact, however, is, that both
these spellings are incorrect, and that the family name, in the
best authorities, is written 0' Suildhuhhain, or the Black-eyed.]
But to return to the tract under notice.
Our poet next crossed the Shannon into south Munster, to
the palace of Tighernach Tethannach, the king of that province
[from whom Cam Tighernaigh (on a mountain near Rathcor-
268 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XII. mac, in tlie county of Cork) in wliicli he Kes buried, lias its
go Of the name.] The kings of all these territories submitted to the
^"«B^sA. or deejDcst insults sooner than incur the poet's virulent abuse and
(The''" Siege the enmity of his province.
Hotvth")! "^ Aithirn^^ therefore, proceeded on his circuit from Munster
into Leinster, and came to a place called Aixl Brestine, in the
present county of Carlow. Here the people of South Lein-
ster, with their king, Fergus Fairrge^ met him in assembly
with large and valuable presents, in order to induce him not to
enter their territory. The poet refused to accept any of the
rich gifts that were offered him, until he should be given the
richest present or article in the assembly. This was a sore
puzzle to them, because they could not well discover which
was the best of their valuables. Now while they were in this
dilemma, there happened to be a young man, mounted on a
fleet steed, careering for his amusement, in presence of the
assembly ; — and so close sometimes to where the king sat, that,
on one occasion, while wheeling round at full speed, a large
clod of earth flew from one of the hind-legs of his steed, and
fell in the king's lap. The king immediately perceived a large
and beautiful gold brooch imbedded in the clod ; and, turning
joyfully to the poet, who sat next him, he said: " Wliat have
I got in my lap?" "You have got a brooch", said Aith-
irne, " and that brooch is the present that will satisfy me, be-
cause it was it that fastened the cloak o^ Maine Mac DurthacJit,
my mother's brother, who buried it in the ground here at the
time that he and the Ultonians were defeated by you in the
battle of Ard Brestine". The brooch was then given to AitJi-
irne, after which he took his departiu'e from South Leinster,
and came to Naas, where Mesgedhra, the supreme king of all
the province of Leinster, then resided.
The poet was hospitably received by this king, at whose
coiu't he remained twelve months, and he was loaded with rich
gifts by the king himself, and the cliiefs of North Lemster.
The more he got, however, the more insolent and importunate
he became, until at last he insisted on getting seven hundi-ed
white cows with red ears, a countless number of sheep, and
one hundred and fifty of the wives and daughters of the Lein-
ster nobles, to be carried in bondage into Ulster.
To all these t3a'annical demands the Leinster men submitted
in appearance, but with a grace and condescension that fore-
boded anything but good to the penetrating eyes of the poet.
Satisfied that the men of Leinster, who felt themselves restrained
by the public law of hospitality witliin their own territory, would,
when he had passed out of it, follow and deprive him of all his
OP THE HISTORIC TALES. 269
ill-gotten property, perhaps even of his life, he therefore sent a lect. xh.
messenger into Ulster, demanding of king Conor to send a strong ^^ ^^ ^^^
body of men to the confines of Leinster, to receive and escort forbasa, or
him and his property, as soon as he should pass across the (The^"siege
border of that province. "I^^^^i;;; °'-
When the poet's time for departure came at last, he set out
from Naas with all his rich presents, his cattle, and his captives,
attended by a multitude of the men of Leinster, apparently but
to see him safely out of their country. When they came to
Dublin, however, they found that the poet's sheep could not cross
the river -L(fe [or Liffey] at the ordinary ford ; upon which, a
number of the people went into the neighbom-ing woods, and set
to work to cut down the trees and branches ; so that, in a very
short time, they were able to throw a bridge, or causeway, of
trees and hurdles across the river, by means of which the poet,
his cattle, and train, passed over into the province of Meath,
the LifFey being at this time the boundary line of Leinster and
Meath at this point.
(The point of the river over which this bridge of hurdles was
thrown was, at this time, called Duhhlinn, literally the " Black
Pool" (but in fact so called from a lady named Ditbh, who had
been formerly drowned there) ; but from this time down it took
the name of Duhhlinn Atha Cliath, or the Black Pool of the
Ford of Hm-dles; and this ford, I have no doubt, extended
from a point at the, Dublin side of the river, where the Dothor
[or Dodder] falls into the Lifiey at Rings-End, to the opposite
side, where the Poll-beg Lighthouse now stands. The Danish
and EngHsh name Dublin is a mere modification of Dubhlimi, or
Black's Pool, but the native Irish have always called, and still do
call, the city of Dublin Ath Cliath, or Baile Atha Cliath — that
is, the Ford of HmxUes, or the Town of the Ford of Hm-dles.)
No sooner had Aithirne crossed the Ford of Hurdles than
the Leinster men rapidly rescued their women ; but before they
had time to turn their cattle, the Ultonian escort, which had
previously arrived and encamped at the mouth of the river Tul-
chlainn [or Tolca], a short distance from the ford, rushed down
upon them. A battle ensued, in which the Ultonians were
routed, and forced to retreat to Beann Eclair (now called the
Hill of Howth), to which place, however, they succeeded in
carrying with them the seven hundred cows. Here they threw
up, on a sudden, a strong earthen fortification, which was ever
afterwards called Dun AitJdrne, or Aithirne s fort, and within
which they took shelter with their prey ; and they sent forthwith
for further reinforcements to the north, and continued, in the
meanwhile, to act on the defensive until their arrival
of Edair
Ilowth").
270 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XII. The Leinstermen encamped in front of them, cut off their
'°ofti communication with the country, and brought them to great
Foi!BAs-\, or distress. After some time, however, the liower of the cham-
(The^" Siege pious of the Rojal Branch arrived suddenly at Howth, attacked
the Leinstermen, and routed them with considerable slaughter ;
so that, with their king Mesgedhra, they fled towards their own
country. Then Conall Cearnach, the most distingviished of the
heroes of the Royal Branch, followed tlie Leinstermen with his
chariot and charioteer, alone ; in order to take vengeance on
certain of them for the death of his two brothers, Mesdeadad
and Laeghaire, who had been slain at this siege of Howth. He
passed over the ford of hurdles, through Drummainech (now
Drimnagh), and on to Naas; but the army had already dis-
persed, and the king had not yet reached his court.
Conall pressed on from Naas to Claen, where he found Mes-
gedhra, at last, at the ford of the LifFey. A combat imme-
diately ensued between them, in which Mesgedhra was slain
and beheaded. Conall placed the king's head in his own chariot,
and ordering the cliarioteer to mount the royal chariot, they set
out northwards. They had not gone far, however, when they
met 3Iesgedhras queen, attended by fifty ladies of honour, return-
ing from a visit in Mcath. "Who art thou, O woman?" said
Conall. "I am J/es^etZ/tra's wife", said she. " Thou art com-
manded to come with me", said Conall. " Who has commanded
me ?" said the queen. ^''Mesgedhra has", said Conall. " Hast thou
brought me any token ?" said the queen. " I have brought his
chariot and his horses", said Conall. " He makes many presents",
said the queen. " His head is here, too", said Conall, " Then I
am disengaged", said she. " Come into my chariot", said Conall.
" Grant me liberty to lament for my husband", said the queen.
And then she shrieked aloud her grief and sorrow with such
intensity, that her heart burst, and she fell dead from her
chariot.
The fierce Conall and his servant made there a grave and
movmd on the spot ; in which they buried her, together with
her husband's head, from which, however, according to a sin-
gular custom hardly less barbarous than singular of which I shall
say more presently, he had first extracted the brain.
This queen's name was J3uan, or the Good [woman] ; and,
after some time, according to a very poetical tradition, a beau-
tiful hazel tree sprung up from her grave, which was for ages
after called Coll Buana, or Buan's Hazel. The grave was situ-
ated a short distance to the north of the Ford of Claen, on the
ancient road which led from Naas to Tara, and may, perhaps,
be known even at this day.
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 271
Copies of this tract are preserved in the Book of Leinster, lect. xii.
and in a vellum MS. in tlic British Museum, Harl. 5280. go of the
FoRB\sA, or
Of the Forhasa listed in the Book of Leinster there is one (The^'siege
more so remarkable, that I would make room for some account '^amk^
of it, if it were possible — namely, the Forhais Droma Damh- ^'^''"'^"^■
ghaire, by kinor Cormac Mac Airt, against Fiacha Muilleathan,
king of Minister, about the year of our Lord 220. Drom
Damhghaire was the name of a ridge or hill in the county ol
Limerick, since Cormac's time (and still) called Cnoc Luinge,
or Knocklong, from the tents set up there by Cormac, who
encamped upon the spot. The following is shortly the history
of this Forhais: —
Cormac's munificence was so boundless that, at one time, his
steward complained to him, that, although there were many
claimants and objects of the royal beneficence, there was
nothing for them, as all the revenues appropriated to such pur-
poses were exliausted. Cormac, in this extremity, asked the
steward's advice as to the best means of replenishing his stores.
The steward, without hesitation, said that the only chance of
so doing was in demanding from Minister the cattle revenue of
a second province ; that it contained two distinct provinces, but
that it had always escaped paying tribute but for one, and that
he ought to call on them for the tribute of the other.
Cormac apjieared to be well pleased Avith this suggestion, and
immediately despatched couriers to Fiaclia Muilleathain, the
king of Munster, demanding tribute for the second division of
that province. The king of Munster received the monarch's
message in a fair spirit, and sent the courier back with an offer
of ample relief of Cormac's present difficulties, but denying his
right of demand, and refusing to send a single beef in acknow-
ledgment of it. Cormac having received this stubborn message,
mustered a large army and all his most learned Druids, marched
into the heart of Minister, and encamped on the hill then called
Drom Damhghaire, or the " Hill of the Oxen".
Having estabhshed his encampment, he consulted his Druids
on the best and most expeditious means of bringing the men
of Munster to terms. The Druids, after debate among them-
selves, assured the monarch that the surest and most expedi-
tious mode of reducing his enemies would be to deprive them
and their cattle of water, and that tliis they were prepared to do
on receiving his permission. Cormac immediately assented, and
forthwith the Druids by their spells and incantations dried up,
or concealed, all the rivers, lakes, and springs of the district, so
that both men and cattle were dying of tliirst all round them.
6° Of the
272 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
Thckingof Munster in tliis extremity took counsel witli his peo-
j)le, and the decision they came to was, not to submit to Cormac, but
FoKBASA, or to send to the island of Dairhre [now called Oilean Daraire, or
(The^" Siege Valencia], on the western coast of Kerry, to Mogh Huith, the most
^Damh"^ famous Druid of the time (who is said to have studied Druidisni
(/haire"). {^ the East, in the great school of Simon Magus), to request that
he would come and relieve them from the terrible distress, which
they well knew had been brought on them by Druidic agency.
The ancient Druid consented to come and relieve them, on
condition that he should receive a territory of his own selection
in that part of the province, with secmity for its descent in his
family for ever. His demands were granted, and he selected
the present barony of Fermoy in the county of Cork (where
some of his descendants survive to this day, under the names of
O'Duggan, O'Cronin, etc.). The Druid then shot an arrow into
the air, telling the men of Mmister that water in abmidance would
spring np wherever the arrow should fall. Tiiis promise was
verified ; a rushing torrent of water burst vip where the arrow
fell ; and the men of Munster and their flocks were relieved.
The Munster men then fell upon Cormac and his hosts, routed
them from C?ioc Luinge^ and followed them into Leinster, scat-
tering and killmg them as they went.
The place in which the arrow fell is still pointed out in the
parish of hnleach Grianan, in the county of Limerick ; and the
well remains still under the ancient name of Tobar (or Tiprd)
Ceann rnoir, that is. Well of Great Head, or Spring; and
a river that issues from it is called Sriith Cheanna mhoir, or
the Stream of Great Head.
This is a wild but most important story, full of information
on topography, manners, customs, and Druidism. It is spoken
of in several of our ancient books, but the only copy of it that I
know to exist was preserved in the Book of Lismore, until that
great book was mutilated in Cork many years ago ; and now there
is a portion of the original staves at Lismore and a portion at
Cork ; but I have a full copy of both parts in my own possession.
Short as I have made the outlines I have given you of these
few specimens of the Historic Tales, I have been unable to
compress within the present Lectvue any intelligible account
of those classes of them which it is my business to bring vmder
your notice. At our next meeting I shall, however, endeavour
to complete this branch of the inquiry I have opened.
LECTURE XIII.
[Delivere<l June 19, 1856.]
The Historic Tales (contiaued). 6. Of the 0««e', " Tragedies", or Deaths.
The Story of the " Death of Conor Mac Nessa". The " Death of Maelfa-
thartaiyh, the son of Ronan". 7. Of the Tana, or Cow Spoils. The " Tuin
bo Chuailync'\ 8. Of the J!)c/u?ia/-ca, or Courtships. The "Courtship of
Euner'\ by the Champion Cachullain. 9. Of tlie Uutha, or Caves. 10. Of the
£r/i</-a2, or Adventures. 11. Of the Sluaii/headha, or military expeditions.
The " Expedition of King Dathi to the foot of Sliahh n-Ealpa (the Alps)".
12. Of the Imramha, or E.Kpeditions by Sea. The " Voyage of the Sons of
Ua Corra". Of the remaining classes of the Historic Tales.
I ALMOST begin to fear you will set me down as a story-teller
myself, and not a lecturer upon the grave subject of the Mate-
rials of our Ancient History, before I shall have completed my
intended notices of the pieces called Historic Tales. You must,
however, always bear in mind that, so far as I have thought it
right to enter into the details of these stories, I have done so
only for the purpose of making the Gaedhlic student as accu-
rately acquainted with their plan and style as the nature of
this general course may admit. I have, however, in no instance
detailed to you even any considerable part of any of these com-
positions ; though they will, in fact, upon examination, be found
to contain far more of valuable historical matter than I could
make you familiar with, if I were even to devote the whole of
these lectures to this subject alone. All that I have attempted
to do is, to give you a sort of general idea by way of syn-
opsis of the contents of a few of these tales; and I have
selected, as specimens of them, those which appear to me most
proper to serve as examples of the classes to which they re-
spectively belong.
The next class of the Historic Tales to which I have to ask
your attention, is that of the Oitte or Aideadha, — "Tragedies",
or Deaths. These stories are the narratives of violent Deaths, or
of any melancholy or tragical occurrences in which the Death of
some remarkable individual forms a principal feature in the tale.
From one of these Oitte, or Aideadha, the '■'' Aideadh Conrur,
Keating has introduced into his history the story of the death
of Curoi Mac Daire, who was killed by the celebrated champion
18
274 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XIII. Cuchulainn, about the first year of the Christian era. But the
~ example I prefer to select is a more important one, because the
oiTTE, or personage whose death is recorded in the tale was one of the
cnie DeaUi ' most remarkable men in all our history, — that Conor Mac Nessa,
of Conor Biac q£ "whom I have already more than once spoken. This tale is
also particularly interesting to Christians, as you will find, in
respect of the immediate cause of the death of the pagan king ;
for, though there are several ancient versions of the story, the
connexion of the disaster with the crucifixion of our Lord is
uniformly recorded. This tale is mentioned in the list, in the
Book of Leinster, as the Aideadh ChoncJwbhair, and to some
version of this story also Keating had recourse in the compilation
of his history. The copy of the tale, the principal contents of
which I am about shortly to narrate to you, is preserved in the
Book of Leinster.
Conor Mac Nessa was king of Ulster at the period of the Incar-
nation of our Lord. He was the son oi Faclitna, king of the same
province, but who was slain while Conor was yet an infant.
Conor's accession to the provincial throne was more a matter
of chance than of hereditary claim, because Fergus Mac Rossa
was actually king at the time. Conor's mother, Nessa, (from
whom he derived the distinctive appellation of Mac Nessa,)
was still a woman of youth and beauty, at the time that her
son came to be fifteen years of age, and Fergus, then the king
of the province, proposed marriage to her. Nessa refused to
accept Iris offer, excepting on one condition — namely, that he
should hand over the sovereignty of Ulster, for one year, to her
son Conor, in order that his childi'en after him might be called
the childi'en of a king. To this singular condition Fergus was
but too glad to accede, and Conor accorchngly took upon him
the sovereignty of Ulster, which, young as he was, he adminis-
tered with such wisdom, justice, and munificence, that, v/hen
the year was expired, and the time for resigning the kingly
office to its original holder had arrived, the Ulstermen raised a
formidable opposition to the act; and, after much contention
and diplomacy, the difficulty was disposed of by each one retain-
ing what he had, — Fergus his wife, and Conor the kingdom;
and so, as we are informed by history, Conor continued long to
rule the people of Ulster with wisdom and justice, to defend their
rights with vigilance, and to avenge their wrongs Avith bravery,
wherever and whenever the encroachments of the neighbour-
ing provincial powers required it.
It was under the fosterage and example of this prince that
the renowned order of knighthood, so well known in song and
story as the Knights of the Royal Branch, sprang up in Ulster ;
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 275
and among the most distinguished of the order I may name to lect. xiii.
you the celebrated Conall Cearnach, Ciichnlainn, the sons of ^^ ^^^^^^
Uisneach (^Naoisi, Ainle, and Ardan\ Eoglian Mac Durthacht^ oitte, or
Duhhthach Dael Uladh, oiid Laeghaire Buadhach, as well as Cor- (The'oeath '
7nac Conloingeas (Conor's own son). Nessa)?^ '*''**^
One of those barbarous military customs which, in one form
or another, prevailed in former times perhaps all over the world,
and which have been preserved in some countries nearly down
to our own days, existed in Erinn at this period. Whenever
one champion slew another in single combat, it is stated that he
cut off his head, if possible ; clove it open ; took out the brain ;
and, mixing tliis with lime, rolled it up into a ball, which he then
dried, and placed in the armoury of his territory or province,
among the trophies of his nation.
As an instance of this strange custom, we have already seen,
in the sketch of Aithirne, the poet (in speaking of the Siege of
Beann Edair, or Howth), that, on that occasion, when the great
Ulster champion, Conall Cearnach^ pursued Mesgedhra^ the
king of Leinster, from Howtli to Claena (in the present county
of Kildare), where he overtook and fought him in single com-
bat, he cut off the king's head after he had killed him, and
extracted the brain. And, according to that story, it appears
that after having put it through the usual process for hardening
and preservation, he placed the ball formed of the royal brain
among the precious trophies of Ulster, in the great house of the
Royal Branch at Emaiiia, where it continued to be esteemed as
an object of great provincial interest and pride.
Now, Conor Mac Nessa, in accordance with the custom of
the times, had two favourite fools at his court; and these silly,
though often cunning, persons, having observed the great
respect in which Mesgedhrcis brain was held by their betters,
and wishing to enjoy its temporary possession, stole it out of
the armoury and took it out to the lawn of the court, where
they began to play with it as a common ball.
While thus one day thoughtlessly engaged, Get Mac Magach,
a famoiis Connacht champion, whose nation was at war with
Conor Mac Nessa, happened to come up to them in disguise ;
and perceiving, and soon recognizing, the precious ball which
they were carelessly throwing from hand to hand, he had little
difficulty in obtaining it from them. Having thus unexpectedly
secured a prize of honour so valuable. Get returned immediately
into Connacht; and as there was a prophecy that Mesgedhra
would avenge liimself upon the Ulstermen, he never went forth
upon any border excursion or adventiu'e withou^t carrying the
king's brain with him in his girdle, hoping by it to fulfil the
18 B
27(3 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XIII. propliecy by the destruction of some important cliief or cham-
/.o ^<.., pion anions the Ulster warriors.
C°. Of the ^ 01 1 p 1 • • ^ 1 1 1 p
oiTTE, or Dliortly alter tins time, Let, at the head 01 a strong party 01
(Tii?Death ' the men of Connacht, carried oiF a large prey and plunder from
NeSa)"' ^^^'^ Southern Ulster ; but they were pursued and overtaken (at
Baile-atli-an-Urchair, now Ardnurchar, in the present county
of Westmeath) by the Ulstermen, under the command of the
king himself [See Appendix, No. XC.]. Both sides halted
on the banks of a stream, which they selected as an appropriate
battle-field, and prepared for combat. Get soon discovered that
the pursuit was led by king Conor ; at once bethought him of
the prophecy ; and immediately laid his plan for its fulfilment.
Accordingly, perceiving that a large number of the ladies of
Connacht, who had come out to greet the return of their hus-
bands, had placed themselves on a hill near the scene of the
intended battle, he concealed himself among them.
Now, at this time, when two warriors or two armies were
about to enafasre in battle, it was the custom for the women, if
any were present, of either party to call upon any distinguished
chief or champion from the opposite side to approach them and
exhibit himself to their view, that they might see if his beauty,
dignity, and martial bearing were equal to what fame had
reported them to be.
To carry out his plan, then, Cet instructed the Connacht women
to invite Conor himself to come forward, that they might view
him. To this request Conor willingly assented in the spirit of
the chivalry of the time ; but when he had come Avithin a short
distance of the presence of the ladies, on the corresponding emi-
nence at his own side of the stream, Cet raised himself in their
midst, and fixed Mesgedhras brain in his Cranntahhaill, or
sling. Conor perceived the movement, and recognizing at once
a mortal enemy, retreated as fast as he could to his own people ;
however, just as he was entering the little grove of Doire da
Bhaeth^ Cet, who followed him closely, cast from the sling the
ball made from the fatal brain, and succeeded in striking Conor
with it on the head, lodging the ball in his skull.
Conor's chief physicians were immediately in attendance,
and after a long examination and consultation, they reported
that it was not expedient to remove the ball ; and the royal
patient was carried home, where he was so well attended by
them, that after some time he recovered his usual health and
activity. He was, however, charged to be careful to avoid,
among other things, all violent exercise, riding on horseback,
and all excitement or anger.
He continued thus for years to enjoy good health, until the
OF THE HISTORIC TALES 277
very day of the Crucifixion, when, observing the eclipse of the lect. xnr.
snn, and the atmospheric terrors of that terrible day, he asked ^.^ ^^^^
Bacrach, his druid, what the cause of it was. (mtte, or
The di'iiid consulted his oracles, and answered by informing (Tii'J'ileat'ii "
the kiag that Jesus Clirist, the Son of the living God, was at Ness'!!)"' *^'^
that moment suffering at the hands of the Jews. " What crime
has he committed ?" said Conoi-. " None", said the druid. " Then
are the slaying him innocently?" said Conor. "They are", said
the druid. Then Conor burst into sudden fury at the words,
drew his sword, and rushed out to the wood of Lamhraidhe,
wdiich was opposite his palace door, where he began to hew
down the young trees there, exclaiming in a rage: " Oh ! if I
were present, it is thus I w^ould cut down the enemies of the in-
nocent man !" His rage continued to increase, until at last the
fatal ball, which was lodged in liis skull, started from its place,
followed by the king's brain, and Conor Mac Nessa fell dead on
the spot. This occuiTcnce happened in the fortieth year of his
reign ; and he has been counted ever since as the first man who
died for the sake of Christ in Ireland.
This curious tale seems to have always been believed by the
Irish historians, and from a very early date. In one version of
it, however (that in the Book of Leinster), it is stated that pro-
bably it was not from his druid that Conor received the infor-
mation concerning the crucifixion of our Lord, but from Altus,
a Roman consul.
Of these Oitte, Aideadha, or Tragedies, I may just mention TJj^p'^^^sedy
one other very curious one (also recorded in the Book oi Maeifaawr-
Leinster). I mean the AiJeadh Maeilfathartaigh Mic JRonain, slnain?"
or death of the Prince Maelfotharty, the son of Ronan, king of
Leinster, about the year a.d. 610.
This king had, as it is stated, married in his old age a very
young northern lady, whom he brought home to his Leinster
palace, there to see, for the first time, his son, with whom she
luihappily fell in love. The prince refused and shunned her :
and the lady in revenge, alter several endeavours to procure his
death, spoke to the king in such a manner as to excite his jea-
lousy against his son, and enraged him so much that Afuelfathar-
taigh was soon afterwards killed with spears, himself and his
grayhounds, in his father's house and by his father's orders.
The characters in this tale are all historical, and the tragedy
is narrated, as well as the whole story of the causes that led to it,
at full length.
The next division of liistorical tales that I would have had to 7°.^of the
notice, would have been the Tana, or Cow Spoils; but as you "cVw-
" spoils".
278 OF THE HISTORIC TALES-
LECT. XIII. liave already had a specimen in one of wliich I gave you a
o rather copious description in a former lecture (I mean the Tain
Tana, or 5(5 ChucdlgnS, which is indeed the chief of them), I shall pass
Spoils". them over for the present, and proceed to take up an example
of another class of these tracts ; that, namely, which consists of
8°. Of the stories of the more celebrated Tochmarca, or Courtships and
or **' cour't'-' Espousals, in ancient Irish histoiy. Of this class of tales, one of
Courtsiin of ^^ most remarkable, and the best preserved, is the Tochmarc
Eimer, by Eimhire, — the tale of the Courtship of the great Ulster champion
Cuchulainn and the lady Eimer, the beautiful daughter oi For-
gall Monacli, a nobleman who in his day held a court of gene-
ral hospitality (similar to that of Da Derga before mentioned)
at the place now called Lusk, in the county of Dubhn.
Of the champion Cuchulainn, the hero of this tale, we have
spoken at some length in a former lecture, when treating of the
Tain b6 Chuailgne. I need only add here that, according to all
the accounts, the beauty and symmetry of his person are de-
scribed to have been in full accordance with his noble carriage
and bearing, and worthy of his precocious valour and renown.
The men of Ulster, it appears, paid Cuchulainn a very pecu-
liar compliment ; for, presided over by their famous king Conor
Mac Nessa, they held a special assembly to devise the best means
of providing for their yoimg champion a partner for life, worthy
of his rank in life, his manly perfections, and his personal and
military accomplislunents. The decision to which they came
was, to send envoys all over Erinn to visit the courts of the
princes and nobles, in order to discover the most beautiful and
accomplished lady among their daughters, so that Cuchulainn,
in accordance with the custom of those times, should go and
court her.
In accordance with this decision, persons properly qualified
for so delicate a mission were sent forth from Emania (the palace
of Ulster) ; but alter an extensive and close search among the
higher classes of the day, they returned home without being for-
tunate enough to succeed in the object of their embassy, — in fact,
Feramorz himself was not one of them.
Cuchulainn, however, nothing dispirited by the failure of the
sohcitude of his friends in his behalf, resolved to go and try his
own success in a matter that concerned him so much, and which,
after all, should depend for its final accomjslishment on his own
personal examination and approval ; and having heard, it would
appear, of the beauty and accomplishments of the lady Eime7\
he ordered his chariot, and, accompanied only by his faithful
charioteer, Laegh, he set out from Emania, and, passing by the
many princely and noble mansions that lay in his jo^irney.
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 279
Stopped not until he ch-ew up on the lawn of the court of her lect. xin.
father, Fore/all, at Lusk. ^ _ soTofthT"
Here he had the good fortime to meet the beautiful object of tochmakca,
his visit, in the pleasiu'e-ground of the mansion, enjoymg her siiips".°^"The
customary sports, surromided by the fair daughters of the neigh- ^^^l^f^^y°^
homing chiefs and men of jNIeath, whom she was accustomed to Omhuiainn).
instruct in the lady accomplishments of the times (for the lady
Elmer is stated to have been preeminently endowed with " six
natural and acquired gifts, namely, the gift of beauty of person,
the gift of voice, the gift of music, the gift of embroidery and
all needlework, the gift of "wisdom, and the gift of virtuous
chastity"). Cuchulainn immediately (but in an obscure style
of speech) revealed his name and the reason of his unceremo-
nious visit to Elmer; but the yomig lady declined to accept his
addresses, alleging as her only reason that she was a younger
daughter; and then, laimching forth in a strain of charming
eloquence on the beauty, accomplishments, and virtues of her
elder sister, she recommended her suitor to seek her father's
consent for liberty to pay his court to that lady. Cuchulainn,
however, declined this recommendation, and not wisliing to be
seen by Elmers father or brothers in private conversation with
her, he soon after took a hurried leave, and departed for his home.
Forgall soon came to hear of the visit of this remarkable and
unknown stranger to his daughter, and discovered at once from
his description who he was. Not desiring, however, to form an
alHance with a professional champion, and knowing well that
his designs on Elmer would be renewed, he immediately deter-
mined on obstructing them.
For this purpose, he clad himself and two chosen attendants
in the attire of Scandinavian messengers, and supplying himself
with various articles of value, they went northwards to Emania,
and presented themselves at the court of King Conor, as mes-
sengers sent to liim with presents and gifts from the king of
Scandinavia. The strangers were well received and highly feasted
and honoured for three days, after which they were introduced
to the chief heroes of the Royal Branch, such as Conall Cear-
nach, Cuchulainn himself, and others, who showed them various
specimens of their mihtary education. Forgall bestowed great
praise on the accomplishments of these celebrated warriors, but
remarked that there were some feats of arms in which they ap-
peared to be deficient, and recommended the king to send them
into Scotland to finish their education at the great mihtary
academy of Domhnall, the champion, and the Amazonian lady
Scathach.
So warmly, and apparently so disinterestedly, did he press
280 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XIII ■ tills recommendation, that Ciichidainn made a vow (in a form
go Qf y^g of promise, from which, according to the laws of chivalry of the
TocHMARCA, time, he could not recede), that he would forthwith set out for
ships"!"^(The Scotland, and not return as long as he could find any feat of
mmer'^^"^ arms to leam, in which he happened to be then deficient.
cvchniainn.) Forgall then took his leave of king Conor and his court, and
returned home highly pleased with the success of his plan, as he
had calculated that, should CucJmlainn fulfil his vow, he should
never return, because he could never escape all the dangers that
were sure to beset him in his travels. However, Cuchulainn
paid a hasty but secret visit to his lady love, who, by this time,
had become deeply enamoured of him, and, having told her of
the vow he had made, and of his determination to fulfil it, they
plighted miitual troth and constancy, and he went forth on his
travels.
As Forgall anticipated, Cuchulainn s journey was beset with
dangers and difficulties of all kinds ; but those described in the
tale are chiefly of the romantic and supernatural character.
Although, nevertheless, the story at this point is especially en-
riched with poetic embellishment, still the natural incidents
with which it abounds, and the ciuious sketches of, or perhaps
I should say, allusions to, the manners and customs of the date
of society at a period so very remote (but with which the writer
appears to have been familiar), both in Erinn and in Scotland,
will make ample amends in information of the most sohd cha-
racter, for the exuberant display of the author's fancy, whoso-
ever he may have been.
But to continue: Cuchulainn, having finished his military
education at the school of the lady Scathach, in Scotland, and
having gained great renown by his superiority over his fellow-
students, returned home by way of Ceann Tire, or the Land's
Head [now Cantire, in Scotland], paying a visit to the island of
Rechrainn [now Rathlin], on the north-east coast of Erinn.
Here he met with an incident, which, though not quite new in
character to classical scholars, has, from the circmnstances that
produced it, a peculiar interest for the Irish historian.
On putting into a small bay in the island of Rechrainn, he,
and the few Irish fellow-students who accompanied him, left
their vessels, and, reaching the beach, were surprised to find a
beautiful girl sitting there alone. Ciichulainn immediately
questioned her as to the cause and reason of her strange position,
and the young lady told him that she was the daughter of the
king o^ Rechrainn; that her father was every year compelled to
pay a large and rich tribute to the Fomorians, or pirates, who
infested the Scottish islands ; that, failing this year to procure
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 281
the stipiilatcd amount, lie was ordered to place her, his only lect. xiii.
daughter, in the position in which he now saw her, and that, ^^ ^^^^^
before the night, she should be carried off by the Fomorians; tochmauca,
and whilst this conversation was actually going on, three fierce ships", "aiie
warriors of the Fomorians in fact landed in the bay from their ^""/^^'^^y °*
boat, and made straight for the spot in which they knew the cuc/miainn).
maiden awaited them. Before, however, they had time to lay
rude hands upon her, Ciichulainn sprang forward to encounter
them, and succeeded in slaving them all, receivins^ but a slio-ht
scar on the arm in the combat, which the maiden tied up with
a part of her costly robe. The maiden, so unexpectedly re-
leased from her terrible condition, now ran joyously to her
father, and related to him all that had happened ; but she could
give no particidar account of her deliverer. The father imme-
diately communicated the happy tidings to his people, who,
with the strangers and visitors at his court, thronged around
him with their congratulations, and Cuchulainn among the rest.
The king led the way to the customary ablutions before their
feast, in which he was followed by his household and visitors,
several of whom were boasting of having been the actual
rescuers of the princess; but when it came to Cuchulainn s turn
to bare his arms, she immediately identified him as her deli-
verer, from his having the strij) of her dress wrapped rovmd his
arm. An explanation followed, and the king, with the young
lady's full consent, made an offer of her and her fortune to her
deliverer. This Cuchulainn, however, declined to accept at the
time ; and, bidding farewell soon afterwards to his friends on the
Island o£ Rechrainn, he returned to Emaiiia, where he was joy-
fully received by king Conor and the knights of the Royal Branch.
Cuchulainn took but little rest after his arrival in Ulster, be-
fore he set out for the residence of his faithful lady love at Lusk ;
but Eimers father and brothers having heard of his return, and
expecting a visit from him, fortified themselves and Eimer so
strongly and closely, that for a whole year Cuchulainn failed to
obtain even a sight of her, much less an entrance to her dwel-
ling. Being driven to desperation at last, he scaled the three
circumvallations of the court, entered it, slew Eimers three bro-
thers, killed or disabled their adherents, and took away the
lady herself by force, together with her waitingmaid, and as much
gold, silver, and other treasures as he could carry. Cuchulainn
forthAvith transferred his treasures to his chariot, andturnedhisface
northwards once more ; but an alarm being raised in the country
all round, he was followed by numbers of armed men, so that he
was compelled repeatedly to wheel round and give them combat.
These combats took place generally at the fords of the rivers ;
282 OF THE HISTORIC TALES,
LECT. XIII. and it is remarkable that every ford from tlie Glonn-A th (or the
o ^ Ford of Great Deeds), on the river Ailhhine (now the Delvin),
TocHMXRCA, to Ath-an-Imoit (or the Ford of the Sods), on the River Boyne,
ships*^°"(The took its name from that of some person slain in the course of these
£'j/ner''b' °^ combats, or from some characteristic incident connected with
cuchuiainn). them. Biit bcsides these names (many, or all of which may be
easily identified) there is scarcely a hill, valley, river, rock,
monnd, or cave, in the line of country from Emania (in the pre-
sent county of Armagh) to Lusk (in the county of Dublin), of
which the ancient and often varying names and history are not
to be found in this singularly curious tract. So that, if we look
upon it even but as a highly coloured historic romance, it will
be found one of the most valuable of our large collection of an-
cient compositions, on account of the light wdiich it throws not
merely on ancient social manners and on the miUtary feats and
terms of those days, but on the meaning of so vast a number of
topographical names. And it records too, I may add, very many
curious customs and superstitions, many of which, to this day,
characterise the native Irish people.
The only old copies of this tract with which I am acquainted
are three. One of them, an imperfect one, is in the ancient
Lealhar na h- Uidhre, in the library of the Royal Irish Academy ;
another written partly on parchment and partly on paper, in the
same library, belongs to the time of about the middle of the six-
teenth century ; the third, a fine and perfect one on vellum, in
the British Museum, is in the handwriting of Gillariabhach
O'Clery, the son of Tuathal O'Clery, who died in the year 1512.
Of this copy I have made a careful transcript for my own use, free
from the contractions with which the origmal abounds, and more
accessible for all useful purposes than either of the old, or I may
perhaps say, than any other copies now extant.
Of several Amougst the otlicr remarkable Tochmarca., or Comtships,
brateirrM/i- Still prcscrvcd among our MSS., I may mention the very ancient
" Court- '^ Tochmarc Momera, ^-printed last year [1855] by the Celtic So-
ships". ciety, with the battle of Magh Lena. It contains a singularly
interesting account of the voyage of the celebrated Eoghan Mor to
Spain in the second century, and his marriage there with J/b^w^Va,
the daughter of the king of that country. The name of this
story does not occur in the list of specimens of Scela in the
Book of Leinster.
The Tochmarc 3Iheidhbhe, which does appear in that fist, is
the story of the marriage of the celebrated Meadhhh, [or Meav],
queen of Connacht, with Ailill, prince of Leinster, at Naas ; told
in the Tain h6 Chuailgne.
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 283
The Toclimarc Ailbhe, also in tliat list, is the courtship o^Flnn lect. xm.
Mao Cumhaill, ot" the princess Ailbhe, the daughter of Connac
Mac Airt. This lady Ailbhe is said to have been the wisest other ciie-
woman of her time ; and Finn's courtship is described in the ^naTai, T^''
relation of conversations, in which there is a sort of contest of ", 9°^;'"
ability and knowledge between them.
Of the many Tochmarca still preserved to us, I shall only
mention one more — the Tochnarc Begfolad, or "Courtship of
tlie Woman of little dowry", who was sought in marriage by
Diarmaid Jfac Cearbhaill, monarch of Erinn, in the sixth cen-
tury. This piece is very ancient, though this also does not
occiu' in the incomplete list in the Book of Leinster ; and it is
of remarkable value for the minute descriptions which it con-
tains of the lady's dress, and of the various gold ornaments worn
at the period.
Another class of tales is known by the name of Uatha, or 90. of tiie
Caves. These are tales respecting various occurrences in caves : J^cavcs'"*^
sometimes the taking of a cave, when the place has been used as a
place of refuge or habitation, — and such a taking would be, in
fact, a sort o£ Toghail; sometimes the narrative of some adven-
ture in a cave ; sometimes of a plunder of a cave ; and so on.
Thus the Uath Beinne Edalr (mentioned in the Book of Lein-
ster), is the tale of the hiding of X^za/'/nawZ and Grdinne, — the lat-
ter the intended wife of Finn Mac Ctimhaill, with whom Diar-
maid eloped, — in a cave on JBeinu Etair or Edair (i.e., the hill
of Howth). Again the Uath Chruachan, or " Cave of Cruach-
ain\ is a very curious story of the plunder of the cave of
Cruachain, part of the Story of the Tain Be, or Bo, Aingen,
(Cow-Spoil of Aingen), in Connacht, in the time of Queen
Meadlibh and King Ailill, about the time of the Incarnation.
So the Uatli Belaigh Conglais is the story of Cuglas, a prince of
Leinster in the first century. This prince was a distinguished
huntsman, but one day in hunting, he disappeared in the cave
called since after him, Belacli Conglais (now Baltinglass), and
was never heard of afterwards.
Another class consists of the Echtrai, or Adventures. An 10°. uitiic
Echtra was generally a foreign expedition : it was always a per- 01^" a'ii ''
sonal adventure of some kind. That called in the Book of Leins- "^e^t^'es"-
terthe Echtixi Macha inghine Aedha Ruaidh (or the Adventure
of Macha, the daughter of Aedh [Hugh] the red), is the story of
Queen IVIacha's expedition into Connacht, and her bringing back
as prisoners the three sons of Bithorba, the events of which I have
already related to you in reference to the founding of the palace
of Emania by this Macha (near the present city of Armagh).
284 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. xni. The tales of these two classes are, however, so like in their
Of the P^^^-^ ^^^^ subjects to others, of which I give you examples, that
Ei'HTKAi, or it is imiiecessarj to detain you here by any detailed specimen
of them. I shall pass on then to another and more important
division
" Adven
tures".
11°. Of the 'pj-^Q example of the Sluaigheabha, or Military Expeditions,
EADHA, or wJiich 1 Wish to introduce to you, is that m which the last or the
ExpVdi'-'^ pagan kings of Erinn lost his life, about the year of onr Lord 428.
ExpetfitiOTf "^ This expedition was also (like many of the Irish wars of the
of Baihi to period), a continental one, and the king's army appears to liaA^e
passed quite across the south of France. The story is called, in
the Book of Leinster, the Sluaghid Dathi co Sliabh n-Ealpa, or
the Expedition of Dathi to the Alpine Mountains.
Niall of the Nine Hostages was succeeded in the monarchy
(a.d. 405) by Dathi, tlie son of his brother Fiachra, king of
Connacht; and was, like his uncle, a valiant and ambitious
man. It happened that, in the seventeenth year of his reign,
king Dathi was induced to go from Tara to Eas Ruaidh, the
great cataract of the River Erne (at the present Ballyshannon),
to adjust some territorial dispute which had sprung up among
his relatives. The time at which this journey was undertaken
was the close of the summer, so that the king arrived at his
destination close upon November Eve, a season of great so-
lemnity of old among the pagan Gaedhils.
Dathi, having concluded an amicable adjustment among his
friends, and finding himself on the eve of the great festival of
Samhain, w^as desirous that his Druids should ascertain for him,
by their art, the incidents that were to happen him from that
time till the festival of Samhain of the next year. With this
view he commanded the presence of his Druids ; and Doghra,
the chief of them, immediately stood before him. " I wish",
said the king, " to know my destiny, and that of my country,
from this night till this night twelvemonths". " Then", said
Doghra, " if you will send nine of your noblest chiefs with me
from this to Rath Archaill, on the bank of the river Miiaidh [tlie
Moy], I will reveal something to them". " It shall be so", said
the king, " and I shall be one of the number myself".
They departed secretly trom the camp, and arrived in due
time at the plain of Rath Archaill, where the Druid's altars
and idols were. Dathis queen, Ruadh, had a palace at 3Iul-
lach Ruaidhe, in this neighhourhood, [a place still known under
that name, in the parish of Screene, in the barony, of Tireragh,
and covmty of Sligo]. Here the king took up his quarters for
the night, whilst the Druid repaired to Dumha na n-Druadh (or
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 285
tlie Druid's jNIound), near Rath Archnill, on the south, to con- lect. xiii.
suit his art accordinir to the request of the kinof. ,,„„„,
At the rising of the sun in the morning, the Druid repaired sluaigh-
to the king's bed- room, and said: " Art thou asleep, O king of "jiu^^ary
Erinn and of Albain?"' "I am not asleep", answered the ^-'''"^,^'" ™,
monarch, " but why have you made an addition to my titles : Kxpeditkm
for, although I have taken the sovereignty of Erinn, I have the Alps).
not yet obtained that of Albain [Scotland]". " Thou shaft
not be long so", said the Druid, " for I have consulted the
clouds of the men of Erinn, and found that thou wilt soon
return to Tara, where thou wilt invite all the provincial kings,
and the chiefs of Erinn, to the great feast of Tara, and there
thou shalt decide with them upon making an expedition into
Albain, Britain, and France, following the conquering footsteps
of thy great uncle, Niall, and thy grandunclc, Crimlitliann
M6r\ The king, delighted with this favourable prediction,
returned to his camp, where he related what had happened, '
and disclosed his desire for foreign conquests to such of the
great men of the nation as happened to be of his train at the
time. His designs were approved of, and the nobles were dis-
missed to their respective homes, after having cordially pro-
mised to attend on the king at Tara, with all their forces,
whenever he should summon them, to discuss farther the great
project which now wholly seized on his attention.
Dathi returned home, stopping for a short period at the
ancient palace of Cruachain, in Roscommon. From this place
he proceeded across the Shannon, and then delayed for some
time at the ancient palace c£ Freamhainn, [a name still preserved
in that of the hill of Frewin, in the present parish of Port-
Loman, in the county of Westmeath].
The tale goes on to tell, at this place, an anecdote, having
reference to the raith or building where the party then were,
which is so interesting in itself, and as an example of the kind
of information with wliich these tracts aboimd, that I may so
far digress as to state it to you.
In the course of the evening, when the fatigues of the journey
were forgotten in the enjoyment of the cup and the cheerful-
ness of conversation, the king asked his Druid, Finnchaemh,
who it was that bmlt the noble and royal court in which they
were then enjoying themselves. The Druid answered, that it
had been built by Eocliaidh Aireamh [Monarch of Erinn,
about a century before the Christian era]. He then narrated
to Dathi how that monarch called on the men of Erinn to biuld
him a suitable residence, Avhich should descend to his own
family independently of the palace of Tara, which always
286 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. xiTi. descended by law to the reigning monarch. The men of
^ Erinn cheerfully consented, and, dividing themselves into seven
SLUAinH- divisions, they soon built the great rath and the palace within
"liimluT it- The ground upon which the palace was built was the pro-
?i-'^P'^,'?'- ,^^ perty of the Feara Cut of Teahhtha (or Teffia) ; and although
tions". (The V J .V /' &
Expedition they lormeci one ot the seven parties who contributed to its
theAips)° erection, the monarch had not asked their consent for the site.
This intrusion was so keenly felt by the Feara Cnl, and their
king, Mormael, that, at the follo-sving feast of Samhain, or No-
vember Eve, when invited by the monarch to the solemnity of
the great festival, Maelmo?' attended with forty men in chariots,
who, in the confusion of the night, murdered king FocJiaidh,
unperceivcd by his people, and escaped themselves. The
king's death was not discovered till the following morning, and
the Feara Cul were the first to charge the murder on the secret
agency of the Tuatlia De Danann, by the hand of Siogmall, of
Sidh Neaiinta (in the present county of Roscommon).
So far the Druid's history of the building o^ Freamhainn, and
the death of the Monarch Eocliaidh Airimh. The Feara Cul,
however, did not escape detection ; their crime was quickly dis-
covered, and, in fact, in order to escape the punishment which
awaited them, they fled over the Shannon into Connacht, and
settled on the borders of Galway and Roscommon. Here the
tribe remained for nearly three hundred years, until the return of
Cormac Mac Art from his exile in Connacht, in the year of our
Lord 225, to assume the monarchy, when he inxitedthe Feara Cul
to accompany him as his body-guard. This ser^ace they accord-
ingly performed, and on Cormac's ascending his father's throne
lie gave them a territory north of Tara, nearly coextensive with
the present barony of Kells. And I may observe that since this
settlement of the claim by Cormac, they have been always
known in Irish history as the Feara Cul Breagh, or the Feai^a
Cul of ' Bregia', a territory comprised in the modern county of
East Meath. (This designation seems to have been intended to
distinguish their territory from the original one, called that of
the Feara Cul of Teahhtha or Teffia, which is in West Meath — a
distinction not hitherto accomited for by modern writers. — H.
2. 16. Col. 888. T.C.D.)
Let us, however, return to the story of king Dathi himself On
leaving Freamhainn, IJatlii came to lios-na-Righ, the residence of
his mother, which was situated north-east of Tara, on the bank of
the Boyne. Here he remained for some time, and at last returned
to Tara, at which place he had, meanwhile, invited the states of
the nation to meet him at the approaching feast ol Belltaine (one
of the great pagan festivals of ancient Erinn) on May Day.
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 287
The feast of Tara this yeai was solemnized on a scale of splen- lect. xm.
dour never before equalled. The fires of Taillten [now called ^^^ ^^^^^
Telltown, to the north of Tara] were lighted, and the sports, Sluaigh-
games, and ceremonies, for which that ancient place is cele- "Military
brated, were conducted with unusual magnificence and solemnity. ^^^^^]' (me
These games and ceremonies are said to have been instituted ^f^^^^i^}^^
more than a thousand years previously, by Lug, the king of the the Alps).
Tuatha De Danann, in honour of Taillte, the daughter of
the king of Spain, and wife of Eochaidh Mac Eire, the last king
of the Firbolg colony, who was slain in the first great battle of
Magh Tuireadh. It was at her court that Lug had been fos-
tered, and on her death he had her buried at this place, where
he raised an immense mound over her grave, and instituted
those annual games in her honour. These games were solem-
nized about the first day in August, and they continued to be ob-
served so long as down to the ninth century.
After the religious solemnities were concluded, Datlii, having
now discharged his diities to his gods and to his subjects, turned
his thoughts to his contemplated expedition ; and at a conference
with all the great chiefs and leaders of the nation, found them all
readv to suppoi-t him. Accordingly, without further delay, he
concluded his preparations, and leaving Tara in the charge of one
of his cousins, he marched to Dundecdgan (the present Dundalk),
where his fleet was ready for sea, at the head of the most power-
ful army that had ever, up to that time, been known to leave
Erinn. He did not, however, embark at Dundalk, but order-
ing his fleet to meet him at Cuan Snamha Aighnech (now Car-
lingford), he marched to luhhar Chinntrachta (now Newry),
and from that to Oirear Caoin. On his way to the latter place
it appears he passed by Magh Bile (now Moville), and only at
a short distance, (so that Oirear- Caoin may probably have been
the ancient name of the place now called Donaghadee.) Here
his fleet awaited him, and having embarked all his troops, he set
sail for Scotland, which he reached safely at Port Patrick.
Immediately upon his landing, Datld sent his Druid to Fere-
dach Finn, king of Scotland, who was then at his palace of Tuir-
rin hrighe na JRigJi, calling on him for submission and tribute,
or an immediate reason to the contrary on the field of battle.
The Scottish king refused either submission or tribute, and ac-
cepted the challenge of battle, but required a few days to pro-
pare for so luiexpected an event.
The time for battle at last arrived ; both armies marched
to Magh an Chairthi (the plain of the Pillar Stone), in
Glenn Feadha (the woody glen) ; Dathi at the head of his
Gaedliils, and Feredaah leading a large force composed of
288 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XI ri. native Scots, Picts, Britons, French, Scandinavians, and Hebri-
11° Of the ^can Islanders.
Sluaigh- a fierce and destructive fight ensued between the two parties,
"Military iu which the Scottish forces were at length overthrown and
ions".'" (The I'oi^^tcd witli great slaughter. When the Scottish king saw the
^ro^wi*'"" death of his son and the discomfiture of his army, he threw him-
the Alps), self headlong on the ranks of his enemies, dealing death and de-
struction all round him : but in the height of his fury he was
laid hold of by Conall Gulhcm [the great ancestor of Saint
Colum Cille and of the O'Donnells of Donnegall] , who, taking
him iip in his arms, hurled him against the pillar stone and
dashed out his brains. The scene of this battle has continued
ever since to be called Govt an Chairtlie, the Pillarstone Field ;
and the glenn, Glenn an Chatha, or Battle Glen.
Dathl having now realized tlie object of his ambition, set
up a surviving son of the late king on the throne of Scotland,
and receiving hostages and formal public submission from him,
he passed onwards into Britain and France, in both of which
countries he still received hostages and submission, wherever he
proceeded on his march. He continued his progress, but with
what object does not appear, even to the foot of the Alps, where
he was at last killed, in the midst of his glory, by a flash of
lightning.
The body of this great king was afterwards carried home
by his people, and he was buried with his fathers in the ancient
pagan cemetery at Raith Cruachain, in Connacht, as related in
a very old poem by Torna Eigeas. At this place his grave was
still distinguished by the Coirthe Dearg, the Red Pillar Stone,
down to the year 1650, when Duhhaltach Mac Firhisigh wrote
his first great Book of Genealogies.
There are two copies of the present tract in Dublin, one in
the Royal Irish Academy, and the other in my own collection,
both on paper, and neither of them older than the year 1760;
and although the tract has so far suiFered at the hands of
ignorant transcribers, as to be much corrupted in style and lan-
guage, still I have found in it many genuine illustrations of
ancient manners, customs, and ceremonies, to which other very
ancient and better preserved pieces contain but allusions more
or less obscure.
12°. Of the The next and last class of the Historic Tales, of which I
"^xp^efii- '^^ shall give you an example at any length, is that of the Imramha,
se°a". ''^Tiie ^'^ Expeditions by Sea, which, as I have abeady explained to
E.xpedition you, are to be distinguished from the Longeas, in so far as the
oiua Corra). ImramJi was a navigation undertaken voluntarily, and generally
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 289
in search of something, while the Lougeas was a voyage entered lect. xm.
upon invohmtarily, as in the case of" banishment or escape from j.,^ ^^^^^^^
pursuit. You have had a specimen of the Lougeas in the story imramha, or
o{ Labhraidli Lomgseach. The example of an Itnramh which I tions by''
have selected is a story of a mvich later period, in the Christian Ix^peaitSn"
times — namely, about the sixth century; so that it is the last in °^!'^^,?°°*.
the chronological order of my examples. It is the Imramh Ua
Corra^ or the Navigation (or Expedition) of the sons of Ua
Corra into the Atlantic Ocean.
Of tliis class of our ancient tales, the number that have come
down to us is but small, but they are very ancient ; and though
indefinite in their results, and burdened with much matter of a
poetic or other romantic character, still there can be no rational
doubt that they are founded on facts, the recital of which, in the
original form, would have been probably found singularly valu-
able, though, in the lapse of ages, and after passing through
the hands of story-tellers, whose minds were full of imagination,
these tales lost, in a great measure, their original simplicity and
truthful cliaracter, and became more and more fanciful and ex-
travagant.
That such tales as these were numerous in the ancient history
of Eiinn may be very clearly seen from the Litany of Aengus
CeiU De^ where several of them are mentioned. At present, I
know of but four sucli pieces remaining in our ancient manu-
scripts, of all of which, however, we have copies of considerable
antiquity and detail. ' These are the Navigation of Saint Bren-
dan; the Navigation of the sons of Ua Corra; the Navigation
€>{ Stwdgiis and Mac Riaghla; and the Navigation o£ Maelduin.
(One of these pieces, the Navigation of Saint Brendan, has
been introduced to the world in full detail, and in beautiful
verse, by my distinguished friend, our Professor of Poetry,
Denis Florence INIacCarthy, in the Dubhn University Maga- .
zine for January, 1848). \
Saint Brendan's voyages, for he made two, were performed
about the year 560; the voyage of the sons of Ua Corra,
about the year 540 ; the voyage of Snedgus and Mac Riaghla
{two priests of the island of lona), about the middle of the
seventh ; and that of Maelduin, in the eighth century. As the '
early history of the sons of Ua Corra, and the cause of their
wanderings at sea, are more circtunstantial and curious (though
their story, too, is tinged with a little of the fabulous) than
any of the rest, excepting Saint Brendan's, I have selected
this tale as an example of which to give you a short sketch.
Conall Dearg Ua Corra was an opulent landholder and
farmer of the province of Connacht. He had to wife the
19
290 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XIII. datigliter of the AircMnnecli, or lay impropriator of tlie church
ofti lands, of Clothar; with whom he Hved happily for some years,
iMRAMHA, or keeping a house of hospitable entertainment for all visitors
tiraYby' and strangers. Not being blessed with children, however,
Ixpedition'^ though praying ardently to the Lord for them, they became,
of the Sons jjut particularly the husband, impatient and discontented;
' and, so far did his despair carry him, that at last he renoimced
God, and persuaded his wife to join him in prayer and a three
days' fast to the Devil, to favour them with an heir to their
large inheritance.
It would seem that the evil spirit heard their petition, for, in
due time after, the wife brought forth three sons at one birth.
These sons gi'ew up to be brave and able men, and, having heard
that they had been consecrated to the Devil at their birth, they re-
solved to dedicate their lives to his service. As if for that special
end, they appear to have collected a few desperate villains about
them, and to have commenced an indiscriminate war of plunder
and destruction against the Christian churches of Connacht and
' their priests, beginning with the church of Tuaim da Ghualann
^A [Tuam], and not ceasing till they had pillaged or destroyed more
than half the churches of the province.
At last they determined to visit also the church of ClotJiar,
to destroy it, and to kill their grandfather, the AircMnnecli of
the place. When they came to the church, they found the old
man on the green in front of it, distributing with a bountiful
hand meat and drink to his tenants and to the benefactors of
the church. Seeing this, liis persecutors altered their plans,
and put off the execution of their murderous pm'pose till the
more favourable time of night.
The grandfather, though suspecting their evil design, received
them with kindness, and assigned them a comfortable resting-
place ; and, after having fared heartily, they retired to bed, in
order to lidl siispicion, at the usual time. Loclian, the eldest
of the three brothers, had, however, during his sleep, a strange
vision, which ended by seriously affecting their design. He
was shown in a dream, in vivid colours, the glories and joys of
Heaven, and the torments and horrors of Hell ; and he awoke
deeply affected by what was thus disclosed to him.
When the three brothers, then, arose at the hour of the
night appointed to execute their piu'pose, Loclian addressed
himself to the other two, related to them his vision, told them
of his newly-born fears, and, in fine, persuaded them that they
had been hitherto serving an evil power, and making war on a
good master. The brothers were powerfully struck with what
they heard ; and so complete was the transformation of mind
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 291
suddenly wrouglit in them by it, that at last they all agreed lect. xm.
to repair in the morning, in a spirit of sorrow and penitence,
to their grandfather, to seek his prayers and pardon, and to imramha, or
ask his advice as to what they should do to amend their lives, tiMTs^by''
and make reparation for the past. ^^ '^J^''®
TTn 1 • Til 11 Expedition
VVnen the mornuig came, accordingly, they presented them- of the sons
selves before the Aircldnnech, acknowledged their wicked inten-
tions, and took counsel with him as to their futiu"e conduct.
The course he ad\'iscd them to take, and on which they deter-
mined, was, that they should repair at once to Saint Finnen of
Clonard, who was then the great teacher, and, as it were, the
head of all the schools of divinity in Erinn, and submit them-
selves to his spiritual direction.
For this purpose they took leave of their friends, put off their
habiliments of warfare and offence, turned their spears into pil-
grims' staffs, and repaired to Clonard.
Wlien the people of Clonard perceived them coming, being
well acquainted with their wickedness, they lied for their lives
in all directions, with the exception of Saint Finnen himself,
who went out calmly to meet them. Seeing this, they hastened
to meet the holy priest, and throwing themselves on their knees
before liira, they besought his pardon and spiritual friendship.
" What do you want?" said the priest. " We want", said they,
*' to take upon us the habit of religion and penitence, and hence-
forth to serve God". " Your determination is a good one", said
the priest; " let us come into the town where my people are".
They entered the town with him, and the saint having taken
counsel of the people respecting the penitents, what they decided
on was, to place them for a year under the sole care and instruc-
tion of a certain divinity student, with whom exclusively they
were to hold any conversation during that period.
Having finished their year in this manner, in the solitary prac-
tice of religious exercises, and the study of the Christian doc-
trines, to the satisfaction and edification of their instructor and
the entire congregation, the three brothers again presented them-
selves before Saint Finnen, and besought his benediction and
his penitential sentence for their former crimes.
The saint gave them his benediction, and then said: " You
cannot restore to life those innocent ecclesiastics whom you have
slain, but you can go and repair and restore, as far as it is in your
power, the many chiu'ches and other buildings which you have
desecrated and mined".
The sons of Ua Corra at once rose up and took an affectionate
leave of Saint Finnen and his pious and learned flock ; and as
the church of Tuaim da Ghualann [Tuam] was the first that
19 b
292 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XIII. suffered from tlieir wicked depredations, tliey determined tliat it
should be the first to receive the benefit of their altered disposi-
12°. Of the . J-
Imramha, or tions.
timis'^y:" Thither accordingly they went, and they repaired the ruined
IxVeditiorf church, and restored it to its original perfection. Aaid thus they
of the Sons proceeded on, from place to place, until at last they had repaired
" and restored all the ruined chiu'ches but one, after which they
returned to Saint Fiimen.
The saint asked them if they had finished their work. They
answered that they had repaired all the churches but one.
" Which is that?" said Finnen. " The church o^ Ceann Mara\
[Kin vara, at the head of the bay of Gal way], said they. "Alas !"
said the saint, " that was the first church which you ought to
have repaired, — the church of the holy old man, Coman of
Kinvara ; and return now", said he, " and repair every damage
that you have done in that place".
The brothers obeyed, they went back and repaired the church,
and after this, taking counsel with Saint Coman, they built
themselves a great ciiracli or canoe, covered with hides, three
deep, and capable of carrying nine persons, in which they deter-
mined to go out upon a pilgrimage upon the great Atlantic
Ocean.
When their vessel was ready to be launched, several person.^
besought permission to accompany them ; and among others, a
bishop, a priest, and a deacon, as well as the man who built the
canoe, and also (the story tells us) a certain musician. These
five they received of the party.
With this company then the three sons of Ua Corra went
out upon the waters in the Bay of Galway ; and after having
cleared the islands and headlands of the bay, deeming it useless
to attempt to steer their course in any particular direction, they
drew their oars on board, and committed themselves passively
to the mercy of the waves and the direction of God.
The adventurers were di'iven by the wind from the land into
b the solitudes of the great Atlantic Ocean ; and the story goes on
to describe how, after forty days and forty nights, they came to
an island which was full of people, all of whom were moaning and
lamenting. One of the wanderers went on shore for the pur-
pose of learning the name of the island and the character of its
inhabitants, but no sooner had he joined these strange people,
than he too began to moan and lament like the rest ; and this
induced his companions to depart without him.
After this the tale becomes altogether wild and fabulous, al-
ways, however, tending to a certain moral conclusion. The
wanderers pass occasionally into the region of spirits, and are
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 293
brouglit into contact with tlie living and the dead ; and the in- lect. xiii.
cidents of their voyao-e are made to tell, ne2:atively, on some of ~
JO ^ ^ '^p ' r* j-\ •12*' Of the
the immoralities and irregularities of Christian life. On one is- imramha, or
land, for instance, they found a solitary ecclesiastic, who told ti^ifj'^y'"
them that he had been expelled from the community to which sea'. (The
111 IP ^ • T ' • 11 1 Expedition
he belonged tor neglecting his matins ; that he set out on the of the sons
sea in a boat, and so was cast ashore on this island alone. On ° " '"^'^" '
another island they found a man digging with a spade, the
handle of which was on fire: and on asking him the cause of so
strange a circumstance, he told them that when on earth he was
accustomed to dig on Sundays; and this was the punishment
awarded to liim. On another island they found a burly miller
feeding his mill with all the perishable things of which people
are so choice and niggardly in this world. On another they
found a man riding a horse of fire, who told them that he
had taken his brother's horse, and ridden it on a Sunday. An-
other island they found peopled with smiths, and artificers in
the precious metals, and men of every trade, all shrieking and
moaning under the incessant attacks of huge black birds, which
tore the flesh from their bones with their bills and talons ; and
they learned that these people were thus made to suffer for all
the falsehoods and frauds which they had been guilty of in this
world.
At length the voyagers approached a land which they learned
from some fishermen on its coast was Spain. Here they landed,
and the bishop built a church, which, however, he soon after-
wards resigned to the priest, and went on himself to Rome, ac-
companied by a certain youth, who was one of the wandering
party. This bishop subsequently returned to Erinn from Rome,
accompanied by the same youth, who is said to have related
the whole adventure, under the bishop's correction, to Bishop
Saerbhreathach [a name Latinized Justinus, and now called
Justin] ; Bishop Justin related it to Saint Colman, of Arann <^
Island ; and upon this relation Saint Mocholmog wrote the poem
[see original in Appendix, No. XCI.], which begins: —
The Ua Corras of Connacht,
Undismayed by mountain waves.
Over the profound howhng ocean,
Sought the lands of the marvellous.
From the conclusion of this tale we may fairly infer that ita
composition belonged originally to the great island of Arann,
on the coast of the county of Clare, and in the bay of Galway ;
and, although the narrative, in the latter part of it, is wild and
fabulous, there is Httle doubt that this and many similar voy-
294 OF THE HISTORIC TALES.
LECT. XIII. ages were actually undertaken by several parties of Ciiristiaii
i'" Of the pi%ri^iis, in the early ages of the Church in Ireland. And this
iHRAMHA, or fi.ict, as I have abeady stated, is fully borne out by the Litany
tioiiYby'' of Aengus Ceile De, written about the year 780 (of wliich more
ExpecViti^m^ on a future occasion), in which he invokes the intercession of
ofthesona the SOUS of Uci Corrci and of their company, as well as of
oiUaCorra). ^ r\ • o •^ • • ,
several other companies oi pilgnm navigators.
At the time of the dehvery of tliis lecture I was acquainted
but with two copies of this curious tract, both on paper, one in
the Royal Irish Academy, and the other in my own possession.
Since then, however, a copy of it, somewhat damaged indeed,
but full and valuable, has come imder my observation ; one,
namely, which is preserved in the old vellum ^' Book of Fer-
moy", before refen-ed to as having been purchased by the Rev.
Dr. Todd, at the sale of the books of the late William Monk
Mason, in London, in 1858. The copy in my possession ap-
pears to have been transcribed from the same original.
Of the re- xiic Other divisions of the Tales mentioned by the early
maining . j J
classes of the wiitcrs, 1 iiecd uot Stay to enlarge on.
tales!'**^ Of the Fessa (Feasts or Banquets), we have a great number,
some of which I shall have presently to allude to in connexion
with the Fenian and purely imaginative tales.
The AitkidhS were Elopements. Of these an excellent ex-
amjale is within the reach of all of you, in the celebrated story
of Deirdre and the Sons of Uisneach, an edition of which
(with a translation) was published here in 1808, by the Gailic
Society of DubHn, of which copies may still bo easily pro-
cured. This was the tract named in the Book of Leinster as
the Aithid Dheirdri re Macaibh Uisnigh (the Elopement of
Deirdre with the sons of Uisneacli).
The Serea, or Loves, were love-stories, such as that eventful
story of Queen Gormlaith, the principal part of which I had
occasion to describe to you in a former lecture.
The Tomhadhma were the stories of the bursting out of
Lakes, and the irruptions of the Sea, and the consequences of
the inundations caused by them. Thus the Tomhaidhm LocJia
n-Echach, or Bursting out of Loch Neagh, is the account of
the iiTuption which first formed that great loch, about the
second century; in which irruj)tion JEochaidh Mac Maireda,
the son of the king of Fermoy, in Minister, was drowned with
his people. It is from him that Loch Neagh takes its name :
Loch n-JUchach, the Lake of Eochaidh.
The Tochomladh was an Immigration or arrival of a Colony ;
and under this name the coniino- of the several colonies of Far-
OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 295
thalon, of Nemedh, of the Firbolgs, the Tuatha De Danann, the lect. xm.
Milesians, etc., into Erinn, are all described in separate tales. It of there-
is probably from the original records of these ancient stories that maining
the early part of the various Books of Invasions has been com- historic
piled. _ ^'^'=''-
Lastly, the Fis, or Visions, were stories of prophecies declared
in the form of visions seen by various personages. Of the more
remarkable prophecies, as they are called, I shall soon have oc-
casion to speak to you at greater length.
I beheve I have now laid before you a somewhat intelligible
though very short sketch of what the student of history may ex-
pect to find in the various classes of the Historic Tales of the
Ollamhs and Poets of Erinn. Their value and bearing upon
oiu' history I have already attempted to indicate, and I hope
even the slight descriptions my space allowed me to give of
these compositions, have been sufficient to prove to you their
importance.
LECTURE XIV
[Delivered July 7, 1856,]
Of the ancient Imaginative Tales and Poems ; and of the use to be made
of them in serious historical investigation. Of the Fenian Poems and
Tales. Of the compositions of Oisin (Ossian). Of Fergus. Of Caeilte.
The " Dialogue of the Ancient Men". Description of the dwelling of Crede,
the beautiful daughter of Cairbrc, Kuig of Kerry. The Story of the " Pursuit
of Diarmaid and Grainne". The Story of the " Battle of Ventry Harbour".
The present course of Lectures lias been confined, as you are
aware, to tlie subject of the materials of positive history to be
found among existing ancient Lish MSS. Other remains of
our ancient literature have also come down to us, and in very
considerable quantity — literature, namely, of a pm-ely imagina-
tive character ; and with the compositions of this class we have
at present but little to do, though at a future period I hope to
have an opportiuiity of making you acquainted with their con-
tents. Even in ancient writings of pure fiction, however,
little as at first sight you may suspect their importance to the
student of mere history, much will be found of very great
value in any inquiries into the life and institutions of our an-
cestors in those remote ages. And as the true history of
ancient Erinn can never be written or understood, without an
accurate acquaintance with that life, as well as with those insti-
tutions, it has appeared to me, that the sketch I have been en-
deavoiuing to lay before you of the materials of our history
would be incomplete, were I to omit to call your attention to
the uses which may be made even of the most fanciful tales of
piu'e imagination which are to be fornid in the ancient GaedhUc
books. It is of this subject, then, that I propose to treat,
though very shortly indeed, in the present Lecture.
In the composition even of the wildest tales, you will almost
always find that the imagery and incidents made use of by the
author are drawn from the life and scenes actually passing
around him, or else from those which he has learned from
minute and vivid descriptions, handed down to him from earHer
times in his own language. This is indeed almost a necessary
condition of every novelist's success ; equally so whether he be
the story-teller of the Arabian desert, the SeancliaidM of ancient
OF THK IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 297
Erinn, or a raoclern Gaedliel, writing in tlie nineteenth century lect. xiv.
in tlie Eno'lisli lano-ua<xe, such as Gerald Griffin or Sir Walter _ . ,, ...
o T-> 1^1111 T 'in lusto-
fecott. Uut the farther back the author we examine has liou- ncai use to
rished, the more hkely will it be that his short and simple the°iMA6iNA-
poem or tale should have been framed out of materials actually "^^Jo^o^m.
present to his eye, or existing within his knowledge in the so-
ciety in which he lived. Wliatever be the names, the deeds,
the suiFerings, of his heroes and heroines, — and even though the
romantic visions of fairyland may be called in to add wonders
to the adventures narrated, — still the mere details of life, the
customs and action of society (without which no story can be
made to move along), must be cbawn by the author from the
manners and institutions existing around him, or, at farthest,
from those with which he has been familiarized by his fathers
immediately preceding him, and which still live in the popular
memories of his time. If this were not so, the poet's hearers
would not understand him, the story-teller's tale would cre^+e
no interest among his audience. And so it is that, ev^n in
these purely imaginative fictions, we may expect to find (and
examination proves that we do find) abundance of minute and
copious information upon those little details of ordinary Hfe, —
upon the buildings, upon the interiors of the homes, upon the
dresses, the food, the etiquette and courteous forms, and the
mode of speech, of our remote ancestors, — which no historical
records can give, but without wliich no historical records can
be made to supply us with the true life and meaning of history.
So far, therefore, as these necessary details are concerned, we
must count gTeat part of even the pui'ely imaginative literature
of ancient Erinn as containing much that claims a place among
the materials of history.
Of the serious use which may in this manner be made of
genuine national compositions, though of the class of mere
fiction, a remarkable example occm-s to me, wliich may explain
the -^aew that I take of this subject, better, perhaps, than any
lengthened argument. You are all probably familiar with the
celebrated Eastern tales, commonly called those of the "Arabian
Nights". It is scarcely possible to conceive any stories more
entirely based on and even made up of fiction, and that fiction
so purely imaginative, so ahnost exclusively conversant with
the impossible, as to present very little indeed soberly capable
of belief at all. And yet these stories, necessarily embracing
as they do a vast amount of description and allusions con-
nected with Arab life and manners, — these stories have been
made the occasion and foimdation of, perhaps, the most soHd
and valuable work on Eastern life in the English language.
298 OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS.
LECT. XIV. I allude of course to the large (noted) edition of the "Arabian
^, .V a.- . Niffhts" published by Mr. Lane, the well-known Eastern tra-
Of the histo- ,Y \^ ..•'.-,. ■/ .
Ileal use to velier. JN ow it IS precisely m the same way that similar tales
the"iMAGiNA- of ancient Erinn would be foimd most valuable as illustrating
Aiof Poems ancient Gaedhlic life, if we were fortimate enough to possess so
great a body of the earlier works of this class in proper pre-
servation, or even of rehable copies of such works.
Of those which we do possess, many contain somewhat more
of truth than the Arabian Nights, because the personages intro-
duced are often historical. Many, however, being meagre in
extent, and little conversant with details of life, will be found
to suggest little of importance to the student of mere history ;
and these I shall therefore entirely pass over here. The re-
mainder, however, appear to me to be of so much importance,
in the manner and for the reasons I have shortly attempted to
explain, that I feel boimd to assert that, without a careful exa-
mination of their contents, no one, in the present state of know-
ledge, can attain an adequate acquaintance with early Irish life,
much less presume to address himself to the task of contributing
to what may become a satisfactory history of Erinn.
But, besides so much valuable information upon life and man-
ners, as almost all the class of writings contain of which I am
now speaking, there are some other points also upon which the
imaginative tales in the ancient Gaedhlic embrace matter of
sohd importance and authority. They frequently embody or
allude to historic traditions, believed or partly believed in the
time of the authors, and sometimes in the very statement of
them supplying links wanting in the chain of history, in the
allusions and references made in them to more serious works
now lost. Every such tradition must, of course, have had some
foundation ; and every such tradition, when found in any writ-
ing of great age, deserves, and ought to command, diligent atten-
tion at least, and careful inquiry. Very many of the Imagina-
tive Tales, again, contain the most valuable records as to places ;
often describing to us minutely the situation of cities, forts,
graves, etc., well known in history, but whose topography could
not otherwise be made out. And many a blank has been filled
up, and many a mistake has been corrected, by the informa-
tion respecting localities and the derivation of their names,
found in tliis class of our literature.
Without enlarging further, then, upon this subject, I think I
have now said enough to explain to you why it is that in treating
of the manuscript materials of ancient Irish liistory, I could not
altogether pass over the Imaginative Tales found among our
ancient Gaedlilic MSS., at least that class of them in which are
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 299
to be found those descriptions of information to which I have lect xiv.
referred.
The purely imaginative literature of the ancient Gaedliils, of the earlier
still existing in the MSS. which have been handed down to us ginative
in safety, may be di\dded into distinct classes, some of which fenian^^^
are compositions yet more ancient than the others. The earliest ^°^^^-
of all — if we regard merely the authors to whom they are attri-
buted— are the poems or metrical tales called the Fenian Poems, I
many of which are attributed to Oisiii and Fergus, the sons of /
the celebrated F'lnn Mac Cumhaill^ some of them to Finn Imn-
self, and some to his cousin Caeilte. After these may be placed
the prose recitals, probably founded on similar poems now lost,
but probably also themselves compositions of as early a date : I
mean those stories commonly called Fenian Tales, Finally,
after the Fenian Poems and Tales, in point of date, we find a
great number of romantic legends and tales, both in prose and
verse, many of wliich were certainly composed at a very remote
period, but of which the various dates of composition extend
down almost to our own tunes. And it is within my own me-
mory that in Clare, and throughout JNIunster, the invention and
recital of such romantic tales continue to afford a favourite
dehght to the still Gaedhhc-speaking people.
It is obvious that, so far as concerns the historical value of
such illustrative details as I have stated to exist in this class of
literature, we may pass by at once almost all the tales which are
known or may be believed to have been composed after the
intimate contact of the pure Gaedhil with the Norman and
Enghsh settlers, in whatever parts of the island such intimate
contact took place. For as soon as any portion of the people
became for a while intimate with foreign races and foreign
modes of Hfe on their owm soil, their literature, it may be sup-
posed, would probably become tinged with foreign ideas, and
would therefore become of little value in illustration of the Hfe
and history of the Gaedhils. In selecting for study, then, those
of our Imaginative Tales which appear to contain valuable mat-
ter for the historian, I would pass over altogether all those of
the last three centuries in every part of the country, and all
those of date before that period, composed in any part of the
island in immediate contact with foreign society and manners.
Of com'se, m the particular case of any separate piece, care must
also be taken to investigate those circumstances upon which
ought to depend its authenticity for the purposes of our inquiry.
With these preHminary remarks, then, I proceed to offer some
observations to-day upon those portions of the imaginative lite-
LECT. XIV.
Of the
Poems, etc.
300 OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AKD POEMS.
rature of ancient Eiinn -wliicli we yet possess, and from wlaicK
solid and reliable information is to be obtained. And, in the
examples wliicli I sliall bring under yom* notice, I shall select
ascribed to' fcom the carlicst and most characteristic of these interesting com-
positions.
Several writers on Irish history have been rather puzzled
about the antiquity of the poems and legends ascribed to Oisin;
and the Rev. Charles O'Conor, in the Bihliotheca Stowensis
(vol. i. p. 165), says that,
" All the most ancient poems on the subject of Tain Bo
Clmailgne^ and the wars of Cuchnlainn, and on the wars of
Conn of the Himdxed Battles, and of Fingal, and of Oscar, and
of Oisin, or Ossian, are in this style of poetry, [He refers to a
specimen.] They are romances of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries; the few historical facts in them are gleaned from
Tighernach and from the Saltair of Cashel".
Now part of this opinion belongs to the reverend doctor him-
self, and part to his [in these matters] more learned grandfather,
Charles O'Conor of Belanagar, who, in his observations on Mr.
Mac Pherson's dissertations and notes on the poems of " Fingal"
and " Temora", speaks as follows:
" That the poems of Fingal and Temora have no foundation in
the history of the ancient Scots, is an idea that we are very far
from establishing. They are evidently fomided on the ro-
mances and vulgar stories of the Fiana Eireann. The poet,
whoever he was, picked up many of the names of men and
places to be found in those tales, and invention made up the
rest. In digesting these poems into their present forms, chrono-
logy was overlooked, and the actions of different ages are all
made coeval. Ossian, an ancient bard of the tliird century, is
pitched upon as a proper author to gain admiration for such
compositions, and the more (it should seem) as he was an illi-
terate bard".
Mr. O'Conor does not fix upon any probable date for these
Fenian poems, for two reasons : first, because he could not find
satisfactory data for doing so; and, secondly, because, as he
could not find such data, he loould not do so. His learned
and reverend grandson, however, was not so fastichous ; for it
appears to have been a rule with him to dispose of everything
for which he could not find a positive date, by placing it arbi-
trarily witliin the period — " from the thirteenth to the sixteenth
century".
It is now too late to discuss whether Oisin was an ilhter-
ate bard or not; but the Rev. Dr. Keting, in his History of
Erinn, at the reign of Cormac Mac Art, quotes an ancient
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 301
authority, which I have not yet had the good fortune to meet, lectxiv.
for the quaUfications which it was indispensable for a man to q^ ^j^^
possess before he could be received into the select militia, of ^"'^.'."5' '^t^--
which Finn Mac Cumhaill was the last commander ; and one otsin.
of those qiuiHfications was, that the candidate should be a poet
(that is, educated to compose regular verses), and should have
learned the twelve Books of Poetry. C_
It is impossible to fix any precise, or even probable, date for
these Fenian poems now ; and all that can be done, in answer
to the arbitrary statements of Dr. O'Conor and others, relative
to the date of their compositions, is to trace them back as far as
knowm manuscripts of ascertained dates will carry us. Of these
ancient authorities, the Book of Leinster, so often referred to in
the course of these lectures, is the oldest and most authentic.
It was compiled, as you will remember, in the early part of the
twelfth century, and, certainly, from more ancient books. Its
authority, so far, must be received as unexceptionable ; and to it
I shall, in the first instance, refer, for the refutation of Dr.
O'Conors arbitrary opinions on these poems. I may, however,
I think, safely assert that the style, language, and matter of
these poems will, in the opinion of any competent Irish scholar,
carry their composition several centuries farther back.
If the people of Scotland could show such poems as those to
be found in the Book of Leinster and the other books which I
shall follow, relating to Finn Mac Cumhaill and Oisin, and
connecting them as much with Scotland as they do with this
country, then, indeed, might they stand up boldly for Mac
Pherson's forgeries and baseless assertions; and there is little
doubt but that they would have long since presented them to
the world in print.
The ancient Hterary remains which have for a long time of the
passed under the names of Fenian Poems and Tales are of poems\nd
four classes. tales.
The first class consists of poems ascribed directly, in ancient
transcripts, to Finn 3fac Cumhaill; to his sons, Oisin and
Fergus Finnhheoill (the Eloquent) ; and to his kinsman Caeilte.
The second class consists of tracts made up of articles in prose
and verse, ascribed to some one of the same personages, but
related by a second person.
The third class consists of miscellaneous poems, descriptive
of passages in the fife of Finn and his warriors, but without
any ascription of authorship.
The fourth class consists of certain prose tales told in a ro-
mantic style relating to the exploits of the same reno^vned
captain, and those of his more distinguished companions.
302
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS.
tECT. XIV,
The Poems
ascribed to
Finn Mac
Cuinhaill.
The poems ascribed, upon anytliing like respectable autliority,
" to Finn Mac Cumhaill are few indeed, amounting only to five,
as far as I have been able to discover ; but these few are found
in manuscripts of considerable antiquity — namely, the Book of
Leinster, which, as 1 have already observed, was compiled,
chiefly from older books, in the early part of the twelfth cen-
tury ; and the Book of Lecain, compiled in the same way in
the year 1416.
The first of these five poems is devoted to an account of the
exploits and death of GoU Mac Morna, the great chief of the
Connacht Fenians.
This GoU had slain Finn's father, Cumhall, in the battle of
Cnucha, near Dubhn, and was in Finn's early life his mortal
enemy ; but he subsequently made peace with him and submit-
ted to his superior command. In the poem Finn gives a vivid
and rapid account of all the men of note who fell by the hands
of Goll and the Connacht warriors in all parts of Erinn, with the
names of the slain and of the places in which they fell. The
poem consists of 86 quatrains, and begins thus [see original in
Appendix, No. XCII.] : —
" The grave of Goll in Magh Raighne'\
(This Magh Raighne was an ancient plain in Ossory in Leins-
ter ; cm Finclie, or Saint Finche's church was situated in it, accor-
ding to the Festology oiAengus Ceile De, or Aengus the " Cul-
dee". The poem contains a great number of topographical re-
ferences, for which it is particularly valuable.
The second is a short poem, of only five quatrains, on the ori-
gin of the name of Magh-da-Gheisi, or the Plain of the Two
Swans, also in Leinster, beginning [see original in same Appen-
dix] : —
" The stone which I was wont to throw".
The third is a shorter poem of only three quatrains, on tlie
origin of the name of Roirend, a place in Ui Failghe, or OfFaly,
beginning [sec original in same Appendix] : —
"Beloved is he who came from a brave land".
These three (which belong to the ancient lost tract called the
Dinnsenchus) are found in the Book of Leinster only : the fol-
lowing are likewise to be found there, but are also preserved in
the Book o{ Lecain.
A poem of seventeen quatrains, descriptive of Ros-Broc
[Badger- Wood] , the place which is now Teach Moling [Saint
Mullen's], on the brink of the River Bearhha [or Barrow], in
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 303
the present county of Carlow. It begins [see original in same lect. xiy.
Appendix]:— xhePoen^
ascribed to
^^ Ross-Broc tlais day is tlie resort of warriors". Finn Mac
•' Cum/iaill.
In this poem (tlie authenticity of which as Finn's, there is
abundant reason to question), Finn is made to prophesy the
coming of Saint Patrick into Ireland to propagate the tiaiths of
Christianity, and the futiu'e sanctity o£ Ros-Broc when it should
become the peaceful abode of Saint Moling and his monks.
Another poem is on the tragical death of Fithh' and DarinS,
the two daughters of the monarch Tuathal Teclitmar, whose
untimely end was produced by the treachery of Eocliaidli An-
chean, King of Leinster. This poem begins [see original in
same Appendix] : —
"Fearfid the deed which has been done here".
So far the Book of Leinster: but the Book oiLecain contains,
in addition, two other poems ascribed to Finn. One of these
is taken from the tract in the BinnsencJms, on the origin of the
name of a place called Druim Dean, in Leinster. This was a
hill upon which Finn had a mansion. Finn went on an expe-
dition into Connacht, during which he defeated the chieftain
Uinehe in battle at Ceann Mara [now called Kinvara], on the
Bay of Gal way . Uinehe, with twenty-one of liis party, escaped
from the battle, and came directly to Finn's mansion at Druim
Drean, wliich he succeeded in totally destroying. Finn soon
returned home, but finding liis residence destroyed and several
of his people killed, he went with his son Oisin and his cousin
Caeilte in pursuit of the enemy, whom he overtook and slew at
a ford called ever since Ath Uinehe, or Uinehe' s Ford. On
Finn's return from this last achievement, he addi'essed this poem
to the hill on which stood his desolate home [see original in
same Appendix] : —
"Desolate is your mansion, O Druim Dean^\
Of some poems, prophecies, and sayings ascribed in other
manuscripts to Finn Mae Cumhaill, the space I have allotted
me will not allow me to speak in detail ; but I may, however,
take occasion to assure you that it is quite a mistake to suppose
Finn Mae Cumhaill to have been a merely imaginary or mythi-
cal character. Much that has been narrated of liis exploits is,
no doubt, apocryphal enough; but Finn himself is an un-
doubtedly historical personage* and that he existed about the
tune at which his appearance is recorded in the annals, is as
certain as that Julius Caesar hved and ruled at the time stated
304
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS.
LECT. xrv,
The Poems
ascribed to
Fi7in Mao
Cumhaill.
Of Oisin, or
" Ossiau".
The Poems
ascribed to
Oisiii.
on tlie autliority of the Roman historians. I may add here,
that the pedigree of Finn is fully recorded on the unquestion-
able authority of the Book of Leinster, in which he is set
down as the son of Cumhall, who was the son of Trenmdr, son
of Snaelt, son of Eltan, son of JBaiscni, son of Nuada Neclit,
who was of the Heremonian race, and monarch of Erinn
about A.M. 5090, according to the chronology of the Four
Masters, that is, 110 years before Christ. Finn himself was
slain, according to the Annals of the Four jNIasters, in Anno
Domini 283, in the reign of Cairhre Lifeachair.
Oisin (a word which signifies literally the "little fawn"), the
son of Finn Mac Cumhaill, has within the last hundred years
attracted much attention among the most learned men of
Europe. Mr. James Mac Pherson, a Scottish gentleman, gave
to the world, as you are all doubtless aware, about the year
1760, a highly poetic translation of what he pretended to be
some ancient genuine compositions of Oisin. It is no part of
the purpose of this Lecture to review the long and learned
controversy which followed the publication of these very clever
imitations of what was then, and for a long time afterwards,
believed to be the genuine style of Oisin s poetry ; but I can-
not omit to observe, that of all Mac Phersou's translations, in
no single instance has a genuine Scottish original been found,
and that none will ever be found I am very certain.
The only poems of Oisin with which I am acquainted, that
can be positively traced back so far as the twelfth centmy, are
two, which are found in the Book of Leinster. One of these
(consisting, indeed, but of seven quatrains) is valuable as a
record of the great battle of Gahhra, which was fought in a.d.
284, and in wliich Oscar, the brave son of Oisin, and CairhrS
Lijeachair, the monarch of Erinn, fell by each others hands.
There are two specially important facts -preserved in this poem,
which, whether it be the composition of Oisin or not, is, at all
events, one of very ancient date; namely, the fact, that the
monarch Cairhre fought on horseback, and that the ]30ct, who-
ever he may be, refers to an Ogham inscription on Oscar's
tombstone.
A perfect and very accurate copy of this poem was published
in the year 1854, by a society which, adopting the Scottish in-
stead of the proper Irish form, calls itself the "Ossianic Society".
The second poem of Oisin, preserved in the Book of Lein-
ster, is of much greater extent than the first, as it consists of
fifty-four quatrains, and it is equally, if not more, valuable in
its contents.
Oisin, at the time of writing this poem, appears to have
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 305
been blind, and to have been popularly known by the name of lect. xiv.
Guaire Dall, that is, Guaire "the blind". _ Tiie Poems
The occasion of the poem appears to have been the holding ascribed to
of the great fair and festival games of the Life, or Liffey,
which probably were held on the Cuirrech Life (now known
as the Curragh of Kildare). These games and fairs were of
frequent occurrence in ancient Erinn, down even to the tenth
century ; and among the sports on such occasions, horse racing
appears always to have held a prominent place.
The poet begins by stating that the king has inaugurated the
fair; speaks of the happiness of those who can attend it, and
contrasts their condition with his own, as being incapable, from
old age and blindness, to participate as he had been accustomed
to do in these exciting sports. He then gives a vivid account
of a visit which, iii liis more youthful days, he had made, along
with his father, Finn, and a small band of the Fenian warriors,
to the court oi FiacJia Muilleathan^ King of jMunster, at Bada-
mar (near the present town of Cahix in Tipperary) ; and of the
races of Oenach Clochair [now Manister, near Croom, in the
county of Limerick], which the king had celebrated on the
occasion of Finn's -visit. The winning horse at the coiu'se was
a black steed, belonging to Dill, the son of Dachreca, Avho was
the king's tutor. The king p\irchased the steed from his old
tutor on the spot, and made a present of it to Finn. Finn and
his party then took their leave, and passed into the district
comprised by the present coimty of Kerry, on to the sandy
strand of Beramain [near Tralee]. Here Finn challenged his
son, Oisin, and his cousin, Caeilte, to try the speed of their
choice horses with his black steed on the sandy strand. The
race is won by Finn ; but, in place of taking rest after it, he
strikes into the country southward, followed by his two com-
panions, and they proceed without resting until night comes
on, when they find themselves at the foot of the hill of Bai?'-
nech [near Killamey]. Here night overtook them, and although
they were well acquamted with the locality, and had never
known or seen a house there before, they saw one now, which
they entered without ceremony. This, however, was, it seems,
no other than an enchanted hov;se, prepared by some of Finn's
necromantic enemies, in order to frighten and pimish him for
the death of some friends of theirs by his hands. The wild
horrors of the night in such a place need not here be related ;
nor shall I delay over details ol" more solid interest in the story,
such as the various incidents of Finn's visit to Munster on this
occasion, and the very ciurious topographical notices of liis pro-
gress. For all these things I must refer you to the poem itself
20
306
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS.
The Poems
ascribed to
Oisin.
The Poems
ascribed to
Fergus
Finnbheoil,
LECT. XIV. This, howevei:, is not very difficult of study; and you will
gain some assistance from a free metrical translation of it, made
by our distinguished covuitryman. Dr. Anstcr, wliich was pub-
lished in the Dublin University Magazine for March and
April, 1852.
The next of the Fenian poets is Fergus Finnbheoil (Fergus
"the Eloquent"), son oi Finn Mac Cumhaill.
Of this early bard's compositions, I have met but one ge-
nuinely ancient poem. It occurs in the lost Book of Dinnsen-
chus, copied into the Books of Lecain and Ballymote, and pro-
fesses to account for the name of an ancient well or spring
named Tipra Seangarmiia, situated in the south-eastern part of
the present county of Kerry, and in which, I believe, the river
Feile [Feale] has its source. It would appear from this poem that
the spring oi' Semigarmnin issued from a cleft in a rock, or rather
from a mountain cavern. Oism, the brother of Fergus, with
a few followers, were, it would appear, while out hunting, in-
veigled into this cleft or cavern by some of its fairy inhabitants,
and detained there for a whole year. Durmg all this time Oisin
was accustomed to cut a small chip from the handle of his spear,
and cast it upon the issuing stream. Finn, his father, who had
been in search of him all the time, happening at last to come to
this stream, saw a chip floating down, took it up, and knew
immediately that it was part of Oisin's spear, and intended for a
sign. He therefore followed the stream to its source, entered
the cavern, and rescued his son and his companions. And this
is the legend which Fergus relates in the poem, (Book of Bally-
mote, fol. 202, a. a.) which consists of thirty-three quatrains,
and begins [see original in Appendix, No. XCIIL] :
" The well of Seanc/armain, with all its beauty".
The Poems The next and last of the ancient Fenian bards is CaeiltS
caeiM Mac Mac Roucdn, the cousin of Finn, and one of his officers, the most
onam. distinguished both as warrior and poet, but chiefly distinguished
above all the rest in legendary record by Iris singular agility and
swiftness of foot.
Of CaeilWs poems I find but one among our more ancient
tracts, and this was in the Dinnsenchus, in which it is quoted as
supplying an account of the origin of the name Tonn Chliodhna
[or Wave of ChliocUma], which was the ancient name of a strand
and the waves that broke over it, situated in or near the bay of
Cloch-na-Coillte [Clonakilty] , on the coast of the county of Cork.
Tlois poem, like the last, is found in the Books of Ballymote
and Lecain, and is said to have been sung by the author for
Saint Patrick. It is not a legend of Finn or his people, but a
ibed to
Hi Mac
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 307
love story, the heroine in which (Cliodhna, a foreign lady) was lkct. xiv
imfortimatcly drowned on this shore, and from whose name was ^.^^^ j,^^^^
derived the appellation of the Wave o^Cliodhna. The poem is afcii
very ancient, and begins [see original m same AppendixJ : — Ronain
" Cliodhna the fair-haired, long to be remembered".
Having so far described to you such of these very ancient agi*,ative''
poems as I have found ascribed direct!}'' to Finn Mac Cumhaill, Tales
his sons Oisin and Fergus Finnbheoil, and his cousin Caeilte, I of pieces
shall now bring under your notice the second class of our audVrorr^"
ancient imaginative compositions — namely, those tracts which
were made up of articles in prose and verse, ascribed to some
one or more of the personages already mentioned, but related
by a second person.
The most important, perhaps the only genuine, tract of this
class now existing, is that which is well known as the A gallamh
na Seanorach, or Dialogue of the Ancient Men.
Tliese " ancient men" were OisiJi, the son o^Finn Mac Cmnh- ^ogt,e ,?nhe
aill, and Caeilte, the son of CroncJm, son of Ronan, popularly ^^ncient
called Caeilte Mac Honain, a near relative of Oisin.
These two chiefs long survived their brethren in arms, and
are even reported to have lived until the coming of Saint
Patrick into Erinn to preach Christianity, by whom it is said
they were converted and baptized. So in the " Dialogue" just
referred to, then, they are made to give an account to the
Saint of the situation, the history, and origin of the names of
various hills, moimtains, rivers, caverns, rocks, wells, mounds,
shores, etc., throughout Erinn, but more particularly such
places as derived their names or any celebrity from actions or
events in which Finn Mac Cumhaill, or his warriors, had been
personally engaged or in any way concerned. Of this class of
compositions we have at present existing, as I have just ob-
served, but tliis one tract ; and even this, as far as can be yet
ascertained, is imperfect. There is a large fragment of it pre-
served in the Book of Lismore, a vellum manuscnpt wiitten
about the year 1400 ; another large fragment, on paper, in the
Royal Irish Academy [H. and S. Collection, No. 149] ; a more
perfect, but still damaged copy in the Bodleian Library at
Oxford [Rawlinson, 487] ; and, as far as I am able to judge
without having seen the book, an older and more perfect copy
than any of these, if not quite perfect, in the College of St. Isi-
dore, in Rome,
This tract, which might almost be called a Topographical
and Historical Catechism, commences by stating that after the
disastrous battles of Comar, Gabhra, and Ollarbha, the Fianns
20 b
308 OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS.
tECT. XIV. or Fenian forces were so shattered and diminislied in nimibers,
, that the surviving few of them dispersed themselves over the
logue of the country, so that their number was at last reduced to eleven —
Men".'^ namely the two good old chiefs, Oisin and Caeilte, and nine
common soldiers. After having wandered a long time among
the new and strange generation that had sprung up around
them in their native country, the two chiefs agreed to separate
for a time ; and Oisin went to his mother to the (enchanted)
mansion of Cleitech, near Slane, while Caeilte passed over Magh
Breagh (or Bregia) to the south, and to Saint Patrick, who was
then sojourning at Raith-Droma-deii'g , to whom Caeilte related
his unfortunate story. Saint Patrick was very glad to add so
remarkable a personage to his congregation, and readily gave
CaeiltS and his few com]j)anions a comfortable maintenance in his
establishment.
Oisin soon after joined his old friends, and the two chiefs
thenceforth were Patrick's constant companions in his missionary
journeys through the country, always giving him the history of
every j)lace that they visited, and of numberless other places,
the names of which incidentally occur in the course of the narra-
tive, as well as the origin of their names, all of which was
written into a book, for the benefit of futvu'e generations, l)y
Brogan, Saint Patrick's scribe.
The space allotted to these lectures will not allow me to dwell
further on this tract than to lay before you one or two exam-
ples of the nature and style of the countless articles of which it
is composed.
Saint Patrick, with his travelhng missionary retinue, including
Caeilte^ we are told, was one day sitting on the hill which is now
well known as Ard-Patrick, in the county of Limerick. The
hill before tliis time was called Finn Tulach, the Fair (or
Wliite) Hill, and Patrick asked Caeilte why or when it had
received that name. Caeilte answered that its first name was
Tulach-na-Feine ; but that Finn had afterwards given it the
name of Finntulach. " And (continued Caeilte) it was from
this hill that we marched to the great battle of Finntraigh (now
' Ventry' Harbour)". [See original in Appendix, No. XCIV.]
" One day that we were on this hill, Finn observed a favourite
warrior of his company, named Cael ONeamliain^ coming to-
wards him, and when he had come to Finn's presence, he asked
him where he had come from. Cael answered that he had come
from Brugli in the north (that is the fairy mansion of Brugh,
on the Boyne). Wliat was your business there? said Finn.
To speak to my nurse, Muirn, the daughter of Derg, said Cael.
About what? said Finn. Concerning Crede, the daughter of
OF THE IxMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 309
Cairhre, King of Kerry \_Ciaraighe Luaclirci], said Cael. Do lect./xiv.
you know, said Finn, that she is the greatest deceiver [flirt, ^^^^ „ j^.^_
coquette] among all the women of Erinn ; that there is scarcely logue of the
a precious gem in all Ermn that she has not obtained as a token Men-,
of love ; and that she has not yet accepted the hand of any
of her admirers? I know it, said Cael; but do you know the
conditions on wliich she would accept a husband ? I do, said
Finn : whoever is so gifted in the art of poetry as to write a
poem descriptive of her mansion and its rich furnitvire, will re-
ceive her hand. Good, said Cael; I have with the aid of my
nurse composed such a poem; and if you will accompany me, I
will now repair to her court and present it to her.
" Finn agreed to this proposal, and having set out on their
journey they soon anived at the lady's court, which was situated
at the foot of the well known moimtains called the Paps of
Anann, in Kerry. When arrived, the lady asked their business.
Finn answered that Cael came to seek her hand in marriage.
Has he a poem for me ? said she. I have, said Cael; — and he
then recited the very ciuious poem, of wliich the following is a
literal translation :
"A journey I make on Friday:
And should I go I shall be a true guest.
To Credes mansion, — not small the fatigue, —
At the breast of the mountain on the north-east.
" It is destined for me to go there.
To Crede, at the Paps of Anann,
That I be there, awaiting sentence.
Four days and half a week.
" Happy the house in which she is,
Between men and children and women.
Between Druids and musical performers,
Between cup-bearers and door-keepers.
"Between equerries without fear.
And distributors who divide [the fare] ;
And over all these the command belongs
To fair Crede of the yellow hair.
" It would be happy for me to be in her dan,
Among her soft and downy couches.
Should Crede deign to hear [my suit],
Happy for me would be my journey.
" A bowl she has whence berry-juice flows,
By wliich she colours her eye-brows black ;
[She has] clear vessels of fermenting ale ;
Cups she has, and beautiful goblets.
310
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS.
lECT. XIV.
The "Dia-
logue of the
Ancient
Men".
" The colour [of her dtin] is like the colour of lime ;
Within it are coviches and green rushes ;
Within it are silks and blue mantles ;
Within it are red gold and crystal cups.
"Of its Grianan [sunny chamber] the corner stones
Are all of silver and of yellow gold, —
Its thatch in stripes of faultless order,
Of wings of brown and crimson red.
"Two door-posts of green I see;
Nor is its door devoid of beauty ;
Of carved silver, long has it been renowned,
Is the lintel that is over its door.
" CredS's chair is on your right hand ;
The pleasantest of the pleasant it is ;
All over a blaze of Alpine gold,
At the foot of her beautiful couch-
" A gorgeous couch, in full array.
Stands directly above the chair ;
It was made by [at ?] TiUle, in the east,
Of yellow gold and precious stones.
" There is another bed on your right hand,
Of gold and silver without defect, — ■
With curtains, with soft [pillows],
And with graceful rods of golden-bronze.
" The household which are in her house.
To the happiest of conditions have been destined ;
Gray and glossy are their garments ;
Twisted and fair is their flowing hair,
" Wounded men would sink in sleep,
Thovxgh ever so heavily teeming with blood,
With the warblings of the fairy birds
From the eaves of her sunny chamber \_GTiandn'].
" If I am [i.e., have cause to be] thankful to the woman.
To Crede, for whom the cuckoo sings,
In songs of praise she shall ever live,
If she but repay me for my gift.
" If it please the daughter of Ccdi'h^S, — '
She will not put me off to another time, —
She will herself say to me here :
' To me your journey is greatly welcome'.
" An hundred feet spans CredS^s house
From one angle to the other;
And twenty feet are fully measured
In the breadth of its noble door.
L,ECT. XIV.
The "Dia-
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS 311
" Its portico is thatched
With wings of birds both bhie and yellow ;
Its lawn in front, and its well, iogueofthe
Of crystal and of carmogal. Men".
" Four posts to every bed [there are],
Of gold and silver finely carved, —
A crystal gem between each post, —
They are not of unpleasant heads. [See Appendix.]
" There is m it a vat of royal bronze.
Whence flows the pleasant juice of malt ;
An apple-tree stands overhead the vat
With the abimdance of its weighty frmt.
" Wien Crede's goblet is filled
With the ale of the noble vat,
There di'op down into the cup directly
Foiu' apples at the same time,
" The fom- attendants [distributors] that have been named,
Arise and go to the distiibution ;
They present to fom- of the guests around,
A drink to each man, and an apple.
" She, who has all these things, —
Within the strand and the flood, [see Appendix]
Crede of the three-pointed-hill, —
Has taken [z'.e., wonby] a spear's cast before the women of Erinn.
" Here is a poem for her, no mean present.
It is not a hasty rash composition :
To Crede now it is here presented —
May my journey be brightness to her".
The yoimg lady was, it seems, delighted vnih. this poem,
and readily consented to become the wife of the gifted Gael;
and their marriage, we are told, took place soon after. Their
happiness was, however, of short duration ; for Gael was almost
immediately called away to the great battle of Ventry Harbour,
where he was killed in the midst of victory, fighting against
the host of foreign invaders. Grede had followed him to the
battle-field, and received his last sighs of affection for herself,
and of exultation for having died in his country's cause. He
was biiried by his comrades on the south side of the harbour
in a place which was (after him, it is said) called Traigli Caeil,
or the strand of Gael. Crede composed an elegy for him,
wliich is valuable to us, among other things, as containing
some curious allusions to ancient customs, as well as a descrip-
tion of the grave of her lover and the manner of his interment.
I think I need offer no apology for detaining you so long
312
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS.
LECT. XIV.
The "Dia-
logue of the
Ancient
Men".
Of others
of the
Ken I AN
TOEMS.
with tlie details of tliis singularly interesting little poem. I
sliall only give you, in a few words, one other example of the
varied sort of information wliich Avill be found in the tract at
present imder consideration, and then pass from the " Dialogue
of the Ancient Men" for the present.
Saint Patrick, we are told in it, receives an invitation from
the king of Connacht to visit his coimtry. He sets out from
Ard Patrick, passes through Limerick, Cratloe, Sliabh Echtghe.,
and many other places, into Ui Maine, and to the court of the
king of Connacht at Loch Croine (in the present county of Ros-
common), where he was joyfully and reverently received.
One day that they were seated on a green mound in the
vicinity of the palace, a young Munster warrior, who was at-
tached to the king's court, put the following questions to Caeilte
with Patrick's consent. Where did Oilioll Ohdm, [the cele-
brated king of Munster,] and his wife Sadkbh, die, and where
were they biuied ? Where did their seven sons die in one day ?
Who were the parties that fought the battle of Cnoc Stwihna,
in Tipperary? Where and how did Comiac Cas [another
son of Oilioll Oluini] die ? etc. Caeilte answers all these ques-
tions, and tells how the battle of Cnoc Samlina was fought
between Eochaidh Ahradruadh [the Red Browed], King of
Leinster, and Cormac Cas; how the latter received a fearful
wound in the head ; and how after hngering for thirteen years
in great agony, he died at Dun Tri-Liag, that is, the ^Dun (or
fort) of the three pillar stones [now Duntrileague, in the county
of Limerick], which was specially built for his particular accom-
modation ; together with many other similar details.
From the nature of these questions, and the copious answers
which Caeilte is always made to give, it Avill be seen that tliis,
as well as the other articles in this valuable tract, must be full
of curious and really valuable historical information.
Besides the pieces of which I have abeady spoken, a large
collection of Fenian poems, chiefly ascribed to Oism, bvit some
of them also to his brother poets, is to be foimd in our paper
MSS. of the last 200 years; most of these manuscripts being
transcripts, as I have abeady observed, from books of much
older date. These poems are generally given as dialogues be-
tween Oiain and Saint Patrick ; but they seldom contain much
matter illustrative either of topograjahy or social manners.
The most popular, as well as the largest, of this class of
poems is that which is known as Cath Clmuic an Air, the battle
of the Hill of Slaughter ; but as no details of topography are
given in it — not even the situation of the Hill of Battle — and
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 313
as tlie foes were little more than three or four foreign champions, lect. xiy.
the piece is of little historic value.
The next and last class are the Prose Tales, of which the of the
following are the chief, if not all, that are at present known : ^H^^
the Toruigheacht DJiiarmada is Ghrdine, or Pursuit ofDiartnaid i" ^^'°^^-
and Grainne; the Cath Finntrdgha, or Battle of Ventry Har-
bour (in Kerry) ; the Bruigliean Chaei'thainn, or Mountain-ash
Court; the Imtheacht cm Ghilla Deacair, or Flight of the
Slothful Fellow; Bruigliean Cheise att Chorccinn, or the Court of
Ceis Corann; the Bruigliean Eochaidh Big JDeirg, or Court of
Little Red Eochaidh; the Bruigliean hheag na h-AhnhainS,
or Little Court of Almhain (or Allen) ; and the Feis Tiglie
Chondin Chinn t-Sleibhe, or Feast of Conan's House of Ceann
SleibheS''^
Of these, the only tale founded on fact, or, at least, on
ancient authority (though romantically told), is one in which
Finn himself was deeply interested. It is the pursuit of Diar-
9naid and Grainne. The facts on which it is founded are
shortly these.
Finn, in his old age, solicited the monarch Cormac Mac The Taic of
Art for the hand of his celebrated daughter Grainne in mar- of^'-^^!^'^^"'*
riage. Cormac agreed to the hero's proposal, and invited Finn '""'<? ""^
to go to Tara, to obtain from the princess herself her consent
(which was necessary in such matters in those days in Erinn)
to their union. Finn, on this invitation, proceeded to Tara,
attended by a chosen body of his warriors, and among these were
his son Oisin, his grandson Oscar, and Diarmaid O'DuihlmS^
one of his chief officers, a man of fine person and most fasci-
nating manners. A magnificent feast was of covirse provided,
at which the monarch presided, surrounded by all the great
men of his court, among whom the Fenians were accorded a
distinguished place.
It appears to have been a custom at great feasts in ancient
Erima for the mistress of the mansion, or some other distin-
guished lady, to fill her own rich and favourite diinking-cup
or glass from a select vessel of choicest liquor, and to send it
round by her own favourite maid in waiting to the chief
gentlemen of the company, to be sent roiuid again by them to
a certain nmnber (which was, I believe, four), in their im-
mediate vicinity, so that every one of those invited should
in turn enjoy the distinction of participating in this gracious
favour. On the present occasion the lady GrainnS did the
«*) The first and last named of the above-mentioned tales have been pub-
lished since this Lecture was delivered by the Ossianic Society.
I.ECT. XIV.
314 OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS.
lionours of her royal fatlier's court, and sent round her favourite
cup accordhigly, vmtil all had drank from it, Oisin and Diar-
fenian maid O'DuihhnS alone excepted. Scarcely had the company
Pros'e! '" uttered their praises of the liquor and their profound acknow-
the*^' T>ur-°^ ledgments to the princess, than they all, almost simultaneously,
suit of Diar- fell into a heavy sleep.
GraiwU'.) The liquor was of course dragged for this pui'pose, and no
sooner had Grainne perceived the full success of her scheme,
than she went and sat by the side of Oisin and Diarmaid, and,
addressing the former, complained to him of the folly of his
father Finn, in expecting that a maiden of her youth, beauty,
and celebrity, could ever consent to become the wife of so old
and war-worn a man ; that if Oisin himself were to seek her
hand she shorxld gladly accept him ; but since that could not
now be, that she had no chance of escaping the evil which her
father's temerity had brought upon her but by flight ; and as
Oisin could not dishonour his father by being her partner in
such a proceeding, she conjured Diar maid by liis manliness,
and by his vows of chivalry, to take her away, to make her his
wife, and thus to save her from a fate to which she preferred
even death itself.
After much persuasion (for the consequences of so grievous
an offence to liis leader must necessarily be serioi;s) Diarmaid
consented to the elopement; the parties took a hasty leave of
Oisin ; and as the royal palace was not very strictly guarded on
such an occasion, Grainne found little difficulty in escaping the
vigilance of the attendants, and gaining the open country
with her companion.
Wlien the monarch and Finn awoke from their trance, their
rage was boundless; both of them vowed vengeance against
the unhappy delinquents ; and Finn immediately set out from
Tara in pursuit of them. He sent parties of his swiftest and
best men to all parts of the country ; but Diarmaid Avas such a
favourite with his brethren in arms, and the pecuHar circmn-
stances of the elopement invested it with so much sympathy
on the part of those yovmg heroes, that they never could dis-
cover the retreat of the offenders, excepting when Finn liim-
self happened to be of the party that immediately pursued
them, and then they were sure to make their escape by some
Avonderful stratagem or feat of agility on the part of Diat'maid.
This, then, was the celebrated Pursuit of Dia7'maid and
Grainne. It extended all over Erinn ; and in the description
of the progress of it, a great amount of cmious information on
topography, the natiu:al productions of various localities, social
manners, and more ancient tales and superstitions, is introduced.
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 315
The flight oi Diarmaid aud Grainne is mentioned in several lect. xiv.
of ovii' ancient manuscripts, and the popular traditions through- ~
out the country point to those ancient monuments, \T.ilgarly feman
called Cromlechs, as their resting and hiding places, many of p^olfe.'"
whicli are still commonly, though of course without any reason, [i^*^':.™^°^
called Leahthacha Dhiai-mada is Ghrainne, or the Beds o^ Di- suit of z>/ar-
armaid and Grainne. [See Appendix, No. XCV.] ^oraimu-.^
The next Fenian tale that claims attention is that which is THe Tale of
so populai-ly known as Cath Finntragha, the Battle of the of Finn- '
White Strand (a name now AngHcized Ventry Harbour, — in ve*,"uy"°''
west of Kerry),
That tills is an ancient tale may be inferred from the mention
of it made in the story of the mifortunate lovers Gael and Credo
just mentioned, as well as from a damaged copy of it on vellum,
which is preserved in an old manuscript in the Bodleian Library
at Oxford [Rawhnson, 487] ; but the paper copies of it, wliich
are numerous in Ireland, are very much coiTupted in language,
and interpolated with trivial and incongruous incidents. The
tale is a 2:)ure fiction, but related with considerable force and in
a hig]ily popular style.
The tale commences with the statement that Daire Dornmhar,
according to the author the emperor of the whole world ex-
cept Erinn, calls together all the tributary kings of his empire
to join him in an expedition to Erinn, to subjugate it and to
enforce tribute. He arrives with a great fleet at Glas Cliari^aig
[now the " Skellig Rocks", on the coast of Kerry], piloted by
Glas Mac Dremain, a soldier of Kerry, who had been pre-
viously banished by Finn Mac Cumhaill. Tliis Glas Mac
Dremain, who was well acquainted with his native coast, brought
the fleet safely into the noble harbom- oi' Finntrdigh (or Ventry),
from which place the emperor determined to subdue the coimtry.
Finn had at all times some of his tiaisty warriors, vigilant
and swift of foot, posted at all the harbours of the comitry, for
the purpose of giving liim timely information of the approach
or landing of any foreign foe on the island ; and not the least
important, as well as interesting, part of tliis tale is the list of
tlrese harbours, with their ancient as well as their more modem
names.
At the actual time of this invasion, Finn, -^ath the main
body of his warriors, was enjoying the pleasures of swiroming
and fishing in the waters of the liver Shannon, where a mes-
senger from his warden at Ventry reached him with the impor-
tant news. In the meantime, the news also reached several
cliiefs and warriors of the Tuatha De Danann race, who were
316
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS,
LECT. XIV.
Of the
Fenian
Tales in
Prose. (The
Tale of the
" Battle
of Fuin-
trdigha, or
Ventry.")
The Tale of
the " Flight
of the Sloth-
ful Fellow".
located in Ui Chonaill Gahhra [in tlie pi'esent county of Lime-
rick], and several of" these, simultaneously with Finn, set out
for Ventiy, wliere they all arrived in due time, and imme-
diately entered upon a series of combats with the foreign enemy.
Tidings of the invasion were soon carried into Ulster also ;
and Gall, the son of Fiacha FoltleoAhan, king of that province,
a youth of fifteen, obtained leave from his father to come to
Finn's assistance, at the head of a fine band of young volun-
teers from Ulster. Young Galf's ardour, however, cost him
rather dear ; for having entered the battle with extreme eager-
ness, his excitement soon increased to absolute frenzy, and after
having performed astounding deeds of valour, he fled in a state
of derangement from the scene of slaughter, and never stopped
until he phmged into the wild seclusion of a deep glen far up
the country. This glen has ever since been called Glenn-na-
n-Gealt, or the Glen of the Lunatics, and it is even to this day
believed in the south, that all the limatics of Erinn would re-
sort to this spot if they were allowed to be at large.
The siege, as it may be called, of Ventry Harboru', held for
twelve months and a day; but at length the foreign foe was
beaten off with the loss of all his best men, and indeed of nearly
the whole of Iris airny ; and thus Finn and his brave wai'riors,
as was their long custom (woidd that we had had worthy suc-
cessors to them in after times !), preserved the liberty and inte-
tegrity of their native land.
This tale of the Battle of Ventry is of no absolute value as
historic authority for the incidents related in it ; but the many
names of places, and the various manners and customs tradi-
tionally handed down and preserved in it, render it of consi-
derable interest to the student in Irish history.
The next Fenian tale which requires notice is one which
is well known under the name of the Itntheacht an Ghiolla
Deacair, or "Fhght of the Slothful Fellow".
On one occasion that Finn Mac Cumhaill gave a great feast
to his officers and men, at his own court at Almhain [the
Hill of Allen, in the present county of Kildare], it was deter-
mined to go into Munster on a hunting excursion. The feast
being over, they set out with their dogs and hoimds, and after
having passed through several places of historical celebrity,
which are named in the tract, they arrived at last at Cnoc Aim
[now called Knockany], in the present county of Limerick.
Here Finn took his stand, and setting up his tent on the top of
the liill, he despatched liis warriors and their hounds in various
groups to the long range of mountains which divide the present
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 317
comities of LiiBcrick, Cork, and Kerry. The chase was com- lect. xiv.
menced with ardoiu* and prosecuted with increasing excitement ^^
tlu'ough the momitains ah*eady mentioned, and then into the fenian
game-abounding wilds of Kerry. Pro"a "(The
When Finn had estabhshed his temporary residence on Knock- ™fig°^t*of
any, he placed a scout on the brow of the liill to keep watch, ti^e siotufiu
while he himself, with his few attendants, sought amusement in
a game of chess. While thus engaged, the scout returned with
news that he saw a man of great and miwieldy bulk slowly ap-
proaching them from the east, leading a horse, which he seemed
to be di'agging after Mm by main force- Finn and his party
immediately started to their feet; and although the stranger
was but a short distance from them, so slow was his movement,
that some considerable time elapsed before he reached their
presence. Ha\dng arrived before them at last, Finn questioned
him as to his name, race, country, profession, and the object of
his visit. The stranger answered that his pedigree and coimtry
were imdistinguished and imcertain ; that his name was Giolla
Deacair, or the " Slothful Fellow" ; and that he was seeking ser-
vice imder some distinguished master ; and that being slow and
very lazy, he kept a horse for the purpose of riding whenever
he was sent upon a message or errand. The latter part of the
answer afforded Finn and his friends matter for merriment,
as the horse, from his gaunt and dying appearance, seemed
to be less desirous of carrying any burden than of being carried
liimself.
However, Finn took the " Slothful Fellow" into his service ;
upon which the latter requested and obtained pennission to
turn his old horse out among the horses of the Fenian party.
No sooner, however, had the old horse found himself among
his better conditioned neighbours, than he began to kick, bite,
and tear them at a fearful rate. Finn immediately ordered the
new servant to go and bring his wicked beast away. This the
servant set about doing, but so slow was liis movement that all
the horses in the field would have been torn to pieces before he
could have reached them, though the distance was but short.
Conan Mac Morna, who may be described as the Fenian
Thersites, seeing his own steed attacked by the mahgnant ani-
mal, went boldly up to Mm, caught hold of him, and endea-
voured to lead him off from the field. But no sooner was the
old beast laid hold of, than he seemed to have lost all power of
life and limb, and stir he would not. His owner, however,
ha^dng come up by this time, told Conan that the horse was
not accustomed to move with strangers except when ridden;
whereupon Conan moimted Mm, but neither would he move
318 OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS.
LECT. XIV. then any more than before. The new servant then said that
,,.,, Conan was too liwht for the horse, which was accnstomed to
Of the - .,"., ,_ '
Fenian move onlj With a Weighty load, and pressed the other men of
Pros'e! '"(The Finn's party to mount along with Conan, which they did to the
"FHeh/of number of twelve. The owner now dealt the old horse a smart
the Slothful blow of ail irou rod which he always carried for that purpose.
No sooner had the horse received this blow than he started off
at a rapid speed "with his burden in a western direction towards
the sea, followed by Finn and the few of his party who had re-
mained with him. Having reached the sea, the horse plunged
in, and the waves immediately opened a dry passage far in front,
but closed up after him, the " Slothful Fellow" holding fast by
his tail.
It is sufficient to say that the riders were carried by enchant-
ment to a foreign luiknown country; that Finn and a select
party followed them in a ship; and that after much of wild
and extravagant adventure, they were discovered and brought
home again.
These two last tales that I have been just describing, and
another called the Bruigliean Chaerthainn, still existing, are
mentioned by Dr. Keting, in liis History of Erinn, at the reign
of Cormac Mac Art, as among the many romantic tales written
of Finn Mac Cumhaill and his warriors, existinar in his own
time, say about the year 1630.
to
In describing to you these early Fenian Tales, I have, m
fact, made you acquainted with the general scope of the nu-
merous tales of a purely imaginative character which come after
them in the chronological order of the pieces of ancient litera-
ture which have been presented to us. For my present purpose
it is, therefore, unnecessary to give you any examples oi' the
latter in dcitail. The value of all of them to the student of
mere history, consists only, as I have abeady said, in the records
of ancient topography, and in the glimpses of life, manners, and
customs, which they contain ; and important as they are in so
many other ways to the student of the Gaedhlic language and
literatiu'e, a more minute examination of them must be reserved
till such time as, in another com'se of lectures, it may become
my duty to treat of those special subjects.
Of these Imaginative Tales of ancient date, some older than
those called Fenian, of wliich I have been speaking, some not so
old, I shall, then, at present, only give you the titles of some of
the more important ; and I may particularly name : — The Adven-
tm'es of Brian, the son of Feabhall; of Coiila Ruadh; of Cor-
mac Mac Art, in the land of promise; of Tadlig (or Tcige)
OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 319
Mac Cein; the exile of the sons of Duil Dearmart; the court- lect. x.
ship of Etain; of Beag Fola; and the death of Aithirne. Q^^^j^g^
Copies of these are preserved in veUum ; and of the following ancient
there are copies on paper. The Adventures of Conall Gulban ; tales iu
the great battle of 3Iuirtheimne and death of Cucliulainn; the y^ge.'*"'^
RedRonte of Conall Cearnach (to avenge that death) ; and the
tales called the Three SoiTOAvful Stories of Erinn — namely, the
Story of the tragical fate of the children of Lear; the Story
of the childi-en of Uisnech; and the Story of the sons of Tui-
reann, etc.
These various tales were composed at various dates, but all,
I believe, anterior to the year 1000.
In conclusion, I have only to indicate to you the extent of
our existing manuscript treasures in this department of litera-
ture, by stating roughly, as before, the quantity of letterpress
which they would fill, if printed at length in the same form as
the text of O'Donovan's Four Masters.
The Gaedhhc text of the Fenian poems and tales, then, may
be calculated as extensive enough to occupy about 3000 pages
of such volumes ; and I believe the text of the mass of the other
tales of which I have spoken, would extend to at least 5000
pages more.
You may thus form to yourselves some idea of the amount of
that literature, — small a portion of it as has, in any form, come
down to us, — which awaits yom' study whenever you qualify
yourselves to open its pages by making yourselves acquainted
with that ancient tongue, so long neglected by the present des-
cendants of the Gaedliils of your country. And in estimating
the literary value of the compositions of this class (of which so
very great a niunber remain to us), remember you are not to be
guided by the remarks I have made respecting their merely
historical importance. Perhaps their chief claim, after all, to
your attention would be found to he in their literary merits, and
in the richly imaginative language in which they are written.
Let me, then, always remind you, that in these Lectiu-es I still
confine myself strictly to my subject, — the materials of the An-
cient History of Erinn; and that the subject of our Literature
must be reserved for another course.
LECTURE XV.
[Delivered March 28, 1855.]'
Of the remains of the early Christian period. Of the Domhnach Airgid. Of
the Cathach. Of the Legend of the CMi/e/ac/A. Of the Reliquaries, Shrines,
Croziers, Bells, and other rehcs, still preserved, of the first centuries of
Christianity in Erinn.
We have now brought to a close the too madeqiiate sketch
which the necessary Hmits of a general course Hke the present
permitted, of the nature and extent of the existing MS. mate-
rials for the elucidation of the general History of Erinn ; mate-
rials which, I hope, I have shown to be most abtmdant for the
purpose, if only used with proper judgment, and after the mi-
nute investigation and careful comparison among themselves
which the various classes of these interesting historical and lite-
rary remains of ancient 'times require at the hands of the histo-
rian. There is, however, a special branch of our history con-
cerning which from this place it must be expected that I should
say something more than I have yet done ; and the rather that
the authentic materials out of which it may be easily constructed
in the fullest detail are singularly rich and varied, considering
their great antiquity. I allude to the History of the early ages_
of the Church, from the introduction of Christianity into this
island in the beginning of the Fifth Centmy. The investiga-
tion of our early Christian remains in connection with the His-
tory of the country, appears to me indeed to be a duty which
of necessity devolves on me, when I consider the character of
the Institution in which I have the honour to fill a chair ; and
not the less so, perhaps, in consideration of the distinguished
part in the history of the Church itself taken by our ancestors,
not only at home, but throughout a great part of Europe, in the
early centuries of Clmstianity.
"Hibernia Sacra" and "Island of the Saints" are time-ho-
noured names, of which our country may well be proud ; but few
of us, at present, know on what her claims to such distinctions
* Of the Twenty-one Lectures of the present course, Sis only were delivered in 1855, Six in the spring of 1856,
and the remaining Nine in the summer of the latter year. After the Fourth Lecture had been delivered, however
(in March, 18551, it was thought ad\nsable that, on the occasion of the opening of the Chair of Irish History and
Archajology in the Catholic University, the subject of Christian Archaeology in Ireland should be prominently
introduced; and the Fifth and Sixth Lectures actually delivered were accordingly those which now appear in
their proper place as Nos. XV. and XVI. of the whole series. The dates assigned to Lectures V. to XII. (ante)
have unfortunately been incorrectly printed, in consequence of a mistake in the list furnished by the University
Secretary to the printer (see List of Errata).
OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 321
rest : thoiigli, as I hope to show, abundant evidences of them lect. xv.
yet remain in our all but unexplored manuscript records, as well j^T^turenf
as in the numerous rehcs of ancient art which have been handed the existing
down to us, and in the ruins of the towers, the churches, and the th"ear?y'
sculptured crosses which cover the land, all forming an impe- pe'riod'i"n
rishable and irrefragable monument of the Christian faith of an- Eiinn.
cient Erinn.
In i-emains illustrative of her early Christian times, it may,
without the least exaggeration, be said that Ireland is singularly
rich. The faith and devotion of her people, preserved with
heroic constancy through ages of the most crushing oppression,
have been the theme of many an eloquent pen. But, perhaps,
in no way have these national virtues ever been more strikingly
exhibited than in the transmission to our own days of the nume-
rous sacred relics which we still possess, and of which some can
be traced to a period coeval with the very introduction of
Christianity into the island.
The chief objects of interest to the Christian archaeologist in
Ireland are of two classes. One of these comprises various very
ancient copies of the Gospels, and of some other parts of the
Sacred Scriptures. The other includes a great variety of
examples of ancient ecclesiastical art, especially works in the
metals, the most beautiful of wliich are to be found in ovtr great
national collection, the INIusemn of the Royal Irish Academy ;
such as Shrines, Bells, Croziers, Crosses, etc., etc.
Adequately to illustrate these various relics would require in
itself an extensive course of lectures ; it is not my intention,
therefore, to do more than present you with some short notices
of the most remarkable of them, in the hope that a taste may be
thus awakened amongst the students of this University for the
cultivation of this branch of Irish archeology. It is one whic;h
wins from foreign visitors to our museums the most enthusiastic
expressions of admiration, but which is not yet as extensively
appreciated amongst ourselves as it deserves to be.
Of the ancient Irish copies of the sacred writings, two are of
such extraordinary antiquity, and present such a very remark-
able history, that it will be necessary to give a somewhat de-
tailed accovmt of them. These are, 1°. that known as the Domli-
naeh Airgid; a copy of the four Gospels, once, we have just
reason to beheve, the companion in his hours of devotion of
our Patron Saint, the Apostle Saint Patrick ; 2°. the MS. called
the Cathach, or " Book of Battles"; a MS. containing a copy of
the Psalms, which there is scarcely less ground for supposing to
have been actually traced by the pen of St. Colum Cille.
AlROID.
322 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD.
I.ECT. XV. The DoMHNACH AiRGiD lias been well described by my dear
ofthe ^^^ honoured friend, Dr. Petrie, the most accomplished anti-
DoMHNACH quarian whom Ireland has yet produced, and to whom, in so
eminent a manner, is due the revival of the cultivation of Irish
literature and antiquities.
Tins relic, like many others of its kind which we possess, but
which are of more modern date, presents two separate subjects
for our consideration, — the ancient manuscript itself, and the
shrine, casket, or box in wliich it is enclosed. These latter
are in such cases usually the works of various hands, and of
different centuries, bearmg evidence of the veneration in which
the precious relics contained in them continued to be held by
successive generations, and often containing inscriptions in still
legible characters, recording the pious care of the prince, the
noble, or the ecclesiastic, who restored or repaired the orna-
mental cases in which their predecessors had enshrined the MSS.
The following description of the Domlinacli Airgid is taken
from Dr. Petrie's communication to the Royal Irish Academy
(Transactions, Vol. xviii.) in which collection the Domhnach is
now placed.
" In its present state", says Dr. Petrie, " this ancient remain
appears to have been equally designed as a shrine for the pre-
servation of relics and of a book ; but the latter was probably
its sole original use.
" Its form is that of an oblong box, nine inches by seven, and
five inches in height.
" This box is composed of three distinct covers, of which the
first, or inner one, is of wood, — apparently yew ; the second, or
middle one, of copper, plated with silver ; and the third, or
outer one, of silver, plated with gold.
" In the comparative ages of these several covers, there is
obviously a great diiFerence. The first may probably be co-
eval with the manuscript which it was intended to preserve;
the second, in the style of its scroll, or interlaced ornament, in-
dicates a period between the sixth and twelfth centmies ; while
the figures in relief, the ornaments, and the letters on the third,
or outer cover, leave no doubt of its being the work of the
fourteenth century.
" This last, or external cover, is of great interest, as a spe-
cimen of the skill and taste in art of its time in Ireland, and
also for the highly finished representations of ancient costume
which it preserves. The ornaments on the top consist chiefly of
a large figure of the Saviour in alto relievo in the centre, and
eleven figures of saints in hasso relievo, on each side, in four
oblong compartments.
OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 323
" At tlie liead of tlie Saviour there is a representation of the lect. xy.
dove, or Holj Ghost, enamelled in gold; and over this a small ^^^^^^
square rehquary, covered with a crystal, an.d which probably domhn-ach
contains a supposed piece of the true cross. Immediately over "
this again is a shield, on which the implements of the passion
are emblazoned in blue and red paste ; and above this there is
another square rehquary, similarly covered with crystal, but of
smaller size. The smaller figures in relief are, in the first com-
partment, the Irish saints Columb, Brigid, and Patrick ; in
the second, the apostles James, Peter, and Paul ; in the third,
the Archangel Michael, and the Virgin and Child ; and in the
fourth, a bishop presenting a cumdach, or cover, to an eccle-
siastic— a device which has evidently a historical relation to
the rehquary itself, and which shall be noticed hereafter. There
is a tliird figure in this compartment which I am unable to
explain".
" The rim", continues Dr. Petrie, " is ornamented on its two
external faces with various grotesque devices, executed with very
considerable skill, and the angles were enriched with pearls,
probably native, or other precious jewels. A tablet on the rim,
and at the upper side, presents the following inscription in the
monkish character used in the thirteenth and foiu'teenth cen-
turies :
"'JOHS: O KAEBEI: COMORBANUS: S: TIGNACII PMISIT' ;
or, thus, with the contractions lengthened :
'"JOHANNES O KARBRI COMORBANUS [successor] SANCTI
TIGHERNACn PERMISIT'.
"Another inscription, in the same character, preserves the
name of the artist by whom those embellishments on the outer
case were executed, and is valuable as proving that this in-
teresting specimen of ancient art was not of foreign manufacture.
It Avill be found on a small moulding over one of the tablets :
'"JOHANES: O BARRDAN: FABRICAVIT'.
" The front side of the case presents three convex paterae,
ornamented in a very elegant style of art with figures of gro-
tesque animals and traceries : they are enamelled with a blue
paste; and have, in the centre of each cup, an imcut crystal,
covering relics like those on the top. An interesting feature on
this side is the figure of a cliief or nobleman on horseback, with
sword in hand. It exhibits with minute accm'acy the costume
of the nobihty in Ireland during the fourteenth century.
" The ornaments contained within the rim, on the back, or
opposite side, are lost, and their place has been suppHed by the
recent repairer with figures which originally belonged to the
right and left sides".
21 B
324 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD.
Of the
DOMHNACH
AlRGID.
" On the right hand side, the upper compartment presents a
figure of St. Catherine with those of a monk in the attitude of
prayer on the left, and a boy incensing on the right : these
latter figures are not in rehef, but are engraved on the field of
the tablet. The second, or lower compartment of tliis side is
lost.
" On the left hand side, the upper compartment presents the
figure of an ecclesiastic seated on a chair or throne, his left
hand holding a small cross, and his right hand raised in the act
of giving the benediction ; figures incensing are engraved on the
field. This principal figure probably represents St. Mac Car-
thainn, or St. Tighernach. The under compartment exliibits a
figure of St. John the Baptist holding in his left hand a round
medallion or picture of the Lamb, and in liis right hand a
scroll, on which are inscribed the words, ' Ecce Agnus Dei'. A
figure of the daughter of Herodias, with the head of St. John
on a salver, appears engraved on the field.
" The bottom, or back of the case is ornamented with a large
cross, on which there is an inscription in the Gothic or black
letter. This inscription is of a later age than those abeady
noticed, but I am unable, from its injured state, to decipher it
wholly. It concludes with the word ' Cloachar, the name of
the see to which, as I shall presently show, the reliquary ori-
ginally appertained.
" I now come to the most important portion of this re-
markable monument of antiquity, — the treasure for whose
honour and preservation so much cost and labour were ex-
pended. It is a Latin manuscript of the Gospels ; but of what
text or version I am unable, in its present state, to ofier an
opinion, as the membranes are so tenaciously incorporated by
time that I dare not venture, through fear of injuring, to se-
parate them. These Gospels are separate from each other, and
three of them appear to be perfect ; but the fom'th, which is the
Gospel of St. Matthew, is considerably injured in the begimiing,
and from this two leaves have been detached, which have en-
abled us to ascertain the subject of, as well as the form of letter
used in, the manuscript, — namely, the Uncial or corrupt Roman
character, popularly called Irish, and similar in appearance to
the very ancient manuscripts of the Gospels preserved in the
library of Trinity College. That it is of equal antiquity with
those manuscripts, — which are of the sixth century, — I have
little doubt ; and from evidences which I shall presently adduce,
I think it not unlikely to be of an even earlier age, — perhaps
the oldest copy of the Sacred Word now existing.
" The inscriptions on the external case leave no doubt that
OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 325
tlie Domhnach belonged to the monastiy of Clones, or see of lect. xv.
Cloglier. The John O Karbri, the Comharba, or successsor of ^^ ^^^^
St. Tighcrnach, recorded in one of those inscriptions as the domunacu
person at whose cost, or by whose permission, the outer orna-
mental case was made, was, according to the Annals of the Four
Masters, Abbot of Clones, and died in the year 1353. He is
properly called in that inscription Comorbanus, or successor of
Tighernach, who was the first Abbot and Bishop of the Church
of Clones, to which place, after the death of St. 31ac Carthainn
in the year 506, he removed the see of Clogher, having erected
a ncAv chm-ch which he dedicated to the Apostles Peter and
Paul. St. Tighernach, according to all our ancient authorities,
died in the year 548.
" It appears from a fragment of an ancient life of St. Mac
Carthainn, preserved by Colgan, that a remarkable reliquary was
given by St. Patrick to that saint when he placed him over the
see of Clogher". Thus far Dr. Petrie.
I have myself referred to an authentic copy of the Tripartite
Life of the Saint, in Gaedldic, in my possession, and as every
particular relating to tliis remarkable rehc must be interesting,
I extract the passage in which its presentation to St. Mac
Carthainn is related, of which the following is a literal transla-
tion. [See original in Appendix, No. XCVL]
" St. Patrick", says this ancient author, " having gone into
the territory of Ui Cremhthainn, fovmded many churches there.
As he was on his way from the north, and coming to the place
now called Clochar, [in the modern county of Tyrone,] he was
carried over a stream by his strong man Bishop 3Iac Carthainn,
who, while bearing the saint, groaned aloud, exclaiming Uch !
Uch!
" ' Upon my good word', said the saint, ' it was not usual with
you to speak that word'.
" ' I am now old and infirm', said Bishop Mac Carthainn, * and
all my early companions on the mission you have set down in
their respective churches, while I am still on my travels'.
" ' Found you a chm-ch then', said the saint, ' that shall not
be too near us, [that is, to his own church of Armagh,] for
famiHarity, nor too far from us for intercoru'se'.
" And the saint then left Bishop Mac Carthainn there, at
Clochar, and bestowed on him the Domhnach Airgicl, which had
been given to him, [St. Patrick,] from Heaven, when he was on
the sea coming to Erimi".
And now to return to Dr. Petrie's observations: " On these
evidences", he continues, " we may, I think, with tolerable cer-
tainty, rest the following conclusions :
326 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD.
LECT. XV,
Of the
DOMHNACIl
Air.GiD.
"1. That the Domlinach is the identical reliquary given by
St. Patrick to St, Mac Carthainn.
"2, As the form of the cumdach indicates that it was in-
tended to receive a book, and as the relics are all attached to
the outer and least ancient cover, it is manifest that the use of
the box as a reliquary was not its original intention. The na-
tural inference therefore is, that it contained a manuscript which
had belonged to St, Patrick ; and as a manuscript copy of the
Gospels, apparently of that early age, is found witliin it, there
is every reason to believe it to be that identical one for which
the box was originally made, and which the Irish apostle pro-
bably brought with him on his mission into this country. It is
indeed not merely possible, but even probable, that the ex-
istence of tliis manuscript was unknown to the monkish bio-
graphers of St. Patrick and St, Mac Carthainn, who speak of
the box as a scrinium or reUquary only. The outer cover was
evidently not made to open ; and some, at least, of the relics
attached to it, were not introduced into Ireland before the
twelfth century. It will be remembered also that no supersti-
tion was and is more common in connection with the ancient
cumdachs, than the dread of their being opened.
" These conclusions will, I think, be strengthened con-
siderably by the facts, that the word Domhnach, as applied
either to a church, as usual, or to a reliquary, as in this instance,
is only to be found in our histories in connection with Saint
Patrick's time ; and that in the latter sense, — its application to
a reliquary, — it only once occurs in all our ancient authorities,
namely, in the single reference to the gift to St. Mac Carthainn;
no other rchquary in Ireland, as far as can be ascertained,
having ever been known by that appellation. And it should
also be observed, that all the ancient rehcs preserved in Ire-
land, whether bells, books, croziers, or other remains, have in-
variably, and without any single exception, been preserved and
venerated only as appertaining to the original fovmders of the
churches to which they belonged.
" I also avail myself of this opportunity to add, that, having
been favoured recently by Mr. Westenra with a loan of the
Domhnach for further examination, I requested my friend, the
Rev. Mr. Todd, to examine the detached membranes of the
manuscript, and to give me his opinion respecting the antiquity
of the version, and the age of the writing, as far as the frag-
ments would permit such opinion to be formed.
" I now add his transcript of what was legible, together with
his remarks ; and I am authorized by him to state, that although
he at first thought the contractions used in the fragment, — and
OF THE EEMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 327
especially the ( ;) in the contraction iisq ; — to argue a later date lect. xy.
than the historical evidences indicated, he has since seen reason
to change liis opinion. While this sheet was passing through domhnach
the press, he took the opportunity of reconsidering the subject '■^'^'*'"*
by a careful examination of the valuable manuscripts of the
Gospels preserved in the Library of Trinity College ; and he
now thinks that the contractions of the Domhnach manuscript
might have been in use in the fourth or fifth centuries".
In tliese views of Dr. Petrie I entirely concur*, and I believe
that no reasonable doubt can exist that the Domhnach Airgid
was actually sanctified by the hand of oiu- great Apostle.
This national rehc is now in the rich collection of the Royal
Irish Academy ; and it deserves to be stated that its preservation
in Ireland is clue to the hberahty of the present Lord Rossmore,
who pm-chased it from Mr. George Smith at a cost of £300, Mr.
Smith having procured it in the county Monaghan. At a sub-
sequent period Lord Rossmore resigned his purchase to the
Royal Irish Academy.
The next ancient relic I propose to notice is the Cathach, ^^Jg^^n.
the heir-loom of the great Clann Conaill, handed down from
Saint Cohan CilU through the line of the O^Domhnaill, or
O'Donnells, for a period of 1300 years.
The Cathach consists of a highly ornamented shrine or box,
enclosing a fragment of a copy of the Psalms on vellum, con-
sisting of fifty-eight leaves, written on both sides. All the
leaves before that which contains the 31st Psalm are gone ; but
the leaves from this to the 106th Psalm still remain. The
^vriting is of a very ancient character.
Like that of the Domhnach Airgid, the shrine of the Cathach
is evidently the work of several successive periods. A partial
casing of sohd silver was added so recently as the year 1723 by
Colonel Domhnall O'Domhnaill (or Dormell O'Donnell).
The history of this relic is in all respects very remarkable.
The name given to it has been a matter of perplexity to several ;
and Sir William Betham, who pubhshed an account of it in hia
Irish Antiquarian Researches, says :
" I have not been able to find out why it got the name of
Caah, which is not an Irish word, nor have those learned Irish
scholars I have consulted, discovered a word from wliich this
name has been formed, imless it is a corruption of the word
Cas, a box".
How far this conjecture is from the truth we shall pre-
sently see.
In tracing the history of thia interesting rehc it will be nc-
328 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD-
Of the
Oatkach.
cessary to state, that Saint Colurti Cille was of tlie same race as
tlae Clann Domhnaill, being great-grandson of Conall Gulban,
son o{ Niall Naoi-ghiallach [Niall of tlie Nine Hostages], who
was monarch of Eiinn in a.d. 428.
The manner of the transcription of this copy of the Psahns,
and tlie origin and signification of the name by which the rehc
is still known, are so well given in the hfe of the saint by
Maghnus C Domhnaill, that I may best describe them by giving
you here a pretty full abstract, in translation, of the passage. It
is interesting in another point of view also, as illustrative of some
portions of the life of the saint but little known to the readers
of printed works.
On one occasion St Colum Cillc paid a visit to St. Finneii
of Drom Finn [in Ulster], and while on the visit he borrowed
St. Finuen's copy of the Psalms, Feeling anxious to have a
copy of the book, and fearing that if he asked liberty to take
one he might be refused, he continued to remain in the church
after all the people left it every day, and then sat down and
made a hurried copy of the book, but not before he was ob-
served by one of St. Finnen's people, who reported it to the
saint, who took no notice of the matter until he found the
copy had been finished, and he then sent to St. Coliim for it,
alleging, that as the original was his, and he had given no per-
mission to copy it, the smi'eptitious copy also was his by right.
St. Colum Cille refused to comply with the demand, but
offered to refer the cause of dispute to the monarch of Erinn,
Diarmaid Mac Ferghusa Gerrhheoil. St. Finncn agreed to this,
and both parties repaired to Tara, obtained an audience of the
king, and laid their case before him. The monarch Diarmaid
then gave the remarkable judgment which to this day remains
a proverb in Erinn, when he said, le gach hoin a hoinin, that is,
' to every cow belongeth her little cow (or calf), — and in the
same way, to every book belongeth its copy, and accordingly',
said the king, 'the book that you wrote, O Colum Cille, belongs
by right to Finnen'. ' That is an unjust decision, O Diarmaid\
said Colum, CilU, ' and I will avenge it on you'.
Now, at this very time a dispute occurred between a son of
the king of Connacht, who had been a hostage to the monarch,
and the son of the king's chief steward, on the green of the
king's palace, while at a game of hurling, during which dispute
the young prince struck his antagonist with his hurley, and killed
him. Seeing what he had done, the yoimg prince fied imme-
diately for sanctuary to St. Colum Cille, who was still in the king's
presence. The king was quickly apprised of what had happened,
and gave instant orders to have the youth arrested and forth-
OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 329
witli put to deatli, for lia\ang desecrated tlie precincts of the royal lect. xy.
palace, against the ancient law and usage. The prince was at q^ (j^^
this time clasped in the arms of St. Colum Cille, but he was Cvthach.
torn from his grasp, carried beyond the prescribed boundary of
the court, and put to death. The king knowing well that this
imusvxal insult to Colum CilU would greatly add to his anger,
ordered a guard to be placed on him, and not to allow him to
depart from Tara imtil his excitement had become moderated.
Nevertheless Colum CilU passed out of the com-t without the
king's leave and unperceived by any one, " the justice of God
ha\T.ng thrown a veil of vmrecognition around him". He was
soon missed, however, and a strong guard sent after him to
bring liim back.
Colum CilU, we are then told, dispatched his attendants by
the usual route to the north, but took himself a path over the
mountains north of Tara; and wliilst thus traversing the wild
mountains alone, he composed and sung that remarkable poem
of confidence in the protection of the Holy Trinity, the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, of which a fine copy with
an English translation has been published in the Miscellany of
the Irish Archceological Society. This poem contains seventeen
quatrains, and begins thus [see original in Appendix, XCVII.] :
Alone am I upon the mountain.
O King of Heaven, prosper my way.
And then nothing need I fear,
More than if guarded by six thousand men.
The authority from which I quote then proceeds to say, that
God carried Saint Colum CilU in safety over the mountains,
and into his native country of Tirconnel [now Donnegall] .
Here, we are informed, he complained to his powerful
friends and relatives — for he was of the race of Tir Chonaill
[Tirconnell] directly, and the men of Tir Eoglicmi [Tyrone]
were his cousins. These warlike tribes immediately took up his
cause, and marched with him into a place called Cuil-Dreimne
[between Shgo and Dromcliff], where they were joined by
Eochaidh Tirmcharna, the king of Connacht, whose son had
been so unmercifully put to death by the monarch Diarmaid.
The monarch having been duly apprised of the revolt of his
northern and western provinces, mustered a large force, marched
at their head into Connacht, and pitched his camp in the vicinity
of that of his enemies. A battle ensued on the next day, in
which the royal army was routed with a great loss, and the
monarch returned discomfited to Tara.
The king, however, soon after made his peace with St.
Colum CilU and his friends : but the saint himself did not feel
330 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD.
LECT. XY. easy in Ms conscience for liaving been tlie cause of the blood-
shed at the battle of Cull Drehnne, and, to relieve his conscience,
Cathach. he went to confession to St. Molaisi of Damli-lnis [now ' De-
venish', in Loch Erne]. St, Molaisi then passed upon him the
penitential sentence to leave Ermn forthwith, and never again
to see its land. This penance St. Colum soon performed, by
sailing to the coast of Scotland with a large company of eccle-
siastics, ecclesiastical students, and others. They landed on the
island of /, or Hy, where they estabhshed themselves ; and that
hitherto obscure island soon became the glory of the west of
Europe, rmder the still venerable name of lona.
Lastly, we are told (in the same Life abeady referred to)
that this book was the Cathach (or Book of the Battle) on
account of which the battle "svas fought, and that it was the
chief relic of St. Colum Cille in TiV Chonaill; that it was covered
with silver, and that it was not lawful to open it (the covering) ;
that if carried three times to the right around the army of the
Cinel Conaill, at going to battle, it was cei'tain they would retm-n
victorious ; and that it was upon the breast of an hereditary lay
successor, or of a priest without mortal sin (as far as he could
help), it was proper the Cathach should be carried aroimd that
army. [See same Appendix.]
This sacred relic appears at all times to have received the
greatest veneration from the noble family of the O'Donnells of
Donnegall, who for the last seven hundred years have been the
most important branch of the line of the descendants of Conall
Gulban, the remote ancestor of this and the other great families
of Tirconnell. This Conall, who was the son of the monarch
Niall the Great, was converted by St. Patrick. It has been
stated, on the authority of a tradition in the O'Donncll family,
that at the time of his conversion Conall had received the saint's
benediction, together with a special mark of favour ; for that
the saint inscribed a cross with the spike or heel of his pastoral
staff (the celebrated Bachall losa, or staff of Jesus) on hia
shield, and recommended him to adopt the motto of " Li hoc
signo vinces", which the O'Donnells accordingly retained down
to the time of the dispersion of the clann in the seventeenth
century. This was in fact the belief of the O'Donnells and old
families of Tir Chonaill, from the close of the sixteenth century
down, at least. The behef was first put forth in a poem by
Eoghan Ruadh Mac-an-Bhaird, who took it from the 138th
chapter of Jocelyn's Life of St. Patrick. Jocelyn, however,
does not apply the passage to Conall Gulban. The Tripartite
Life of the Saint applies it to Conall the son of Amhalgaidh,
king of Connacht, who at the same time received from the
OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 331
saint the name of Conall Sciath BhachaU, or Conall of tlie lkct. xv.
Crozlei -Shield. This Conall's race is not now known. ^^^j^^
This hook of St. Coluin Cille must have been encased in Cviuach.
an ornamented shrine at some early period ; hut we find that it
was fiu'ther cared for at the close of the eleventh century, by
Cathhharr O'Donnell, chief of Tirconnell, and Donnell O'Raf-
ferty, abbot of Kells (in Meath), who was one of the O'RafFertys
of Tirconnell, and thus eligible to succeed his family patron-
saint, Colum Cille, in any of the many churches fomidcd by liim
throughout Erinn, one of wliich was the important church of
Kells. This O'Hafierty died in the year 1098 ; and Cathhharr
O'Domiell died in the year 1106 ; so that the magnificent silver-
gilt and stone-set case, which now surmounts the older cases of
tliis most ancient and interesting relic, must have been made
some time before the year 1098, in which this abbot of Kells
died. The authority for these dates is found on the shrine itself,
in the following words [see original in Appendix, No. XCVIIL] :
" A prayer for Cathhharr O'Donnell, by whom [that is, by
whose desire and at whose expense] this shrine was made ; and
for Sitric, the son of Mac Aedha [Mac Hugh], who made it;
and for Domhnall Ua Rohhai'tuigh [Donnell O'Rafferty], the
Comliarha [or Successor] of Cenannus [Kells], by whom it was
made [that is, at whose joint expense with that of O'Donnell
it was made]".
The last mark of devotion conferred on this relic was a solid
silver rim or frame, into which the original slirine fits. This rim
contains an inscription, from which it appears that it was made
in the year 1723, by order of Daniel O'Donnell, who, there is
reason to beheve, foiight at the battle of the Boyne, after which
he retired to the continent. At his death, or some time pre-
viously, it appears, he deposited this important heirloom of his
ancient family in a monastery in Belgium, with a written in-
jimction that it should be kept until claimed by the true repre-
sentative of the house of O'Donnell ; and here it was discovered
accidentally in or about the year 1816, by a Mrs. Molyneux, an
Irish lady who had been travelling on the continent, and who,
upon her retm-n home, reported the circumstance to Sir Neal
O'Donnell of Westport. This gentleman had asserted liis claim
to the chieftainship of his name and race, under the authority
of the late Sir William Betham, Ulster King-at-arms ; and thus
prepared, he appHed for the Cathach, through his brother, the
late Conall O'Donnell, then in Belgium, who succeeded in ob-
taining it accordingly.
From Sir Neal O'Donnell, the Cathach descended to his son,
the present Sir Richard O'Donnell of Newport, county Mayo ;
332 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD
LECT. XV. who with characteristic hberahty has left it for exhibition among
Qj^j^g the many congenial objects of Christian, liistorical, and anti-
cathach. quarian reverence, preserved in the Musemn of the Royal Irish
Academy.
The fragment of the original " Book of Battles", contained in
this shrine, is of small quarto form, consisting of fifty-eight
leaves of fine vellum, written in a small, miiform, but rather
hurried hand, with some sHght attempts at illumination: and
when we recollect that this fragment was written about thirteen
hundred years ago, by one whose name, next to that of our
great apostle. Saint Patrick, has held the highest place in the
memory of the people of his own as well as of foreign countries,
we have reason indeed to admire and reason to be proud of the
intense and tenacious de^^otion which could, imder most un-
favourable circumstances, preserve even so much of so ancient
and fragile a monument.
While speaking of relics so remarkable as those of the
Domhnach Airgid and the Cathach, rendered sacred incur eyes
by the touch of our national apostle and Saint Colum Cille, I
cannot omit altogether to mention that I have met with two
notices of certain objects, likewise said to have been in the
churches of these saints, and bearing their names, though at
periods subsequent to their own time.
The precise nature of these objects I am yet vmable to deter-
mine. But it may not be without use to call attention to the
matter, as it is possible that those more intimately acquainted
with ancient ecclesiastical remains in other countries, may be
able to form some opinion of the probable nature of those to
which I refer. They are mentioned under the name of Cuile-
badh, Cuilebaidh, or Cuilefadh.
Of the relic The very beautiful (but wild and fanciful) legend in which
the Cuilefadh of Saint Colum Cille is described is of great an-
tiquity. Its language is very ancient and difiicvilt, but the whole
presents an excellent example of that combination of highly
poetic imagery, and deep, though simple piety, so common in
om' early Gaedhlic compositions. Wild as this legend may seem,
I cannot myself dovibt that it is but the development of some
record of one of the many voyages of our early missionaries.
It cannot be doubted that at a very early period the Christian
faith was carried by missionaries from our shores far into the
regions of the north. And it is admitted by several "writers that
books and other remains of the early Gaedhlic propagators of the
Gospel were found in Iceland in the eleventh century. Taken
by itself, the legend of the Cuilefadh would be interesting ; but
called tlie
Cuilefadh.
OF THE KEMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 333
as illustrative of tliese observations, and regarding it therefore as lect. xv.
based on fact, it must be considered of real importance ; and, for ^^ ^^^^ ^^j.
both reasons, I think it will be worth while to introduce an caiied the
abstract oi it here.
On the death of the monarch Domhnall, son of Aedh, son of
Ainmire (a.d. 639), liis eldest son, Donnchadh (or Donach),
became king of the Cinel Conaill; and his younger son, Fiacha,
became king of the Fer Rois. Fiacha much oppressed his sub-
jects; and his oppression was at length the cause of his death
at their hands. It is stated that in the second year of his
reign, he held a meeting of his people at the mouth of the
river Boyne, and that dming the holding of that meeting a wild
deer, started by them, was followed by the king's guards ; where-
upon the men of Ross, enraged at such an assertion of " prero-
gative", killed the king himself with liis own weapons. Fiacha s
brother, Donnchadh, came upon them in revenge ; but he stayed
his vengeance until he should consult liis Anmchara (literally,
" soul's friend"), the Comharba (Successor) of Saint Colum Cille,
to whom he sent a message to lona, to ask his advice on the case.
The Comharba of St. Colum Cille sent over two of his con-
fidential clerics, Snedhgus and 3Iac Riaghla, with his advice;
which was, that Donnchadh should send sixty couples of the
men and women of Ross, in boats, out upon the sea, and
then leave them to the judgment of God. The exiles were ac-
cordingly put into small boats, launched upon the water, and
watched, so that they should not land again.
The priests, Snedhgus and 3Iac Riaghla, having discharged
their own duties, set out upon their return to lona. As they
were passing along over the sea, they determined to go of their
own will on a wandering pilgrimage, and leave to Providence
the direction of their course ; praying, at the same time, to be
carried to wherever the sixty banished couples had found a
resting place. They then ceased to work or dii-ect their boat ;
and the wind carried them north-westwards, into the ocean.
The legend then proceeds with a fanciful account of how
they were driven to several wonderful islands, some inhabited,
and some iminhabited. In some they were received with
friendship, in others with hostility. After being carried to
several of these islands, however, the wind at last blew them
to one, in which there was an immense tree, on which vv^ere
perched a flock of beautiful white birds, with a chief bird, hav-
ing a golden head and silver wings. This great bird related
to them the history of the world, from its beginning ; the Birth
of Christ, of Mary the Virgin: His Baptism, Passion, and Re-
surrection; as well as His coming to the judgment. And,
Cuila/adh.
334 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD.
LECT. XY. wlien tlie great bird had concluded, all tlie rest laslied tlieir
Of the relic ^idcs -witli tlicir wings, nntil the blood gushed from them, out
called the of tcrror of the day of judgment. And the great bird gave
one of the leaves of the foHage of this great tree to the priests ;
and tliis leaf was as large as the hide of a great ox ; and he
ordered them to carry it away, and lay it on Saint Colum
Cilles altar. " And it is St. Colum Cilles Cuilefaidh at this day
in Cennanas [or Kells]".
" Sweet was the music of these birds", continues the story,
" singing psalms and canticles in praise of the Lord, for they
were the birds of the plains of Heaven ; and the leaves or body
of the tree upon which they were, never decay. And the
clerics left the island, and were driven by the wind to another
island ; and, as they were approaching the land, they heard the
sweet voices of women singing; and immediately they re-
cognized this music, and said, ' That is the Sianan [or sweet
plaintive song] of the Women of Erinn' : and, having come to
land, they were joyfully received by the women, who spoke to
them in tlieir own language, and conducted them to the house
of their chief, who told them he was the chief of the banished
men of Erinn. The clerics then retmiied safely home".
It is to be remarked that after every little prose article, in
this curious piece on the adventures of the clerics, the incidents
are summed up in verse ; from which it may be inferred that
the whole story was originally written in verse. The tale from
which I have abstracted the account is preserved in the MS.
H. 2. 16, Library of T. CD.
It is fm'ther to be remarked that in the short metrical sum-
mary of this legend, there is no mention that the great leaf, or
Ouilefadh, was placed on the altar of St. Colum Cille at Kells ; and
from this circumstance we may fairly assume that the verse is
older than the prose, and that what was originally a short nar-
rative poem was at a subsequent period broken up and interpo-
lated with a prose commentary. That this was done some time
after the year 1090, before which the Cuilefadh was not at
Kells, will appear quite clear from the following curious entry
in the continuation of the Annals of Tighernach at that year.
[See original in Appendix, No. XCIX.]
" 1090. The sacred relics of St. Colum CilU, namely, the
Clog na High [or Bell of the Kings], and the CuilebaigJi, and the
two gospels, were brought from Tirconnell, and seven score
ounces of silver ; and it was Aengus C Domlmallain that brought
them from the north".
It may be asked, to what place they were brought. This,
OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 335
I tliink, is sufficiently sliowii to have been Kells by the follow- lect. xr.
ing entry, which I take from the Annals of the Four Masters, ^^ ^^^ ^.^j.^
at the year 1109: — called tue
" Oengus O'DomhnaiUain, chief spiritual director and chief
elder of St. Colum Cilles people, died at Kells".
His name, likewise, appears as a witness to a charter of land,
in an entry in the great Book of Kells, in Trinity College.
The Cidlefadli of St. Patrick, or of Armagh, is alluded to in
the Annals of the Four Masters, at the year 1128, where men-
tion is made of a young priest who had been carrying it being
killed by an assault of the O'Rourkes of Briefne, on the Comh-
arba or Primate of Armagh, when returning from Connacht
with Iris offerings.
A third Cuilefadli is spoken of in connection with another
Samt, — Saint Eimlun, from whom the modem town of Monas-
ter-evan takes its name. It is referred to in a vellum MS. of
the year 1463, in the Royal Irish Academy (43. 6; p. 17).
[See Appendix, No. C]
Such are the only notices of this unknown object that I am
acquainted witli.
Tbe Domhiacli Airgid and the CatJiach may be assigned, re- Of varions
spectively, to the fifth and the sixth centmies ; and in every point and ms.
of view they must be regarded as objects of extraordinary inte- "^'"'
rest and great arcliffiological value. Several similar relics, but
of a less considerable antiquity, still exist in various parts of the
country and in the hands of different owners. There are also
some in England and on tlie Continent.
Several forms of shrine are to be met with ; one of the most usual
is in the shape of a square, usually flat, box ; another resembles
in figtu'e the outlines of a church, as in the instance of the beautiful
little shiine in the possession of Mr. W. Monsell, M.P., now de-
posited in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy ; and it is
to this latter more especially, I believe, that the name of Domh-
nach appHes, though the present case of the DomJmach Airgid,
as we have seen from Dr. Petrie's description, is a square box.
Of the other enshrined manuscript relics with which I am
acquainted, I shall only mention a few of the most remarkable.
" Dioma's Book", an illuminated manuscript of the gospels,
made by a scribe of that name (and made it is said for St. Cro-
nan of Roscrea, who died in the beginning of the seventh cen-
tmy), was preserved in that neighbourhood till the early part
of the present centmy. This rehc is now in the library of
Trinity College, which also possesses another shrine and book,
336 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EAELY CHRISTIAN PERIOD.
1.V.CT. XV. those namely of St. Moling of Tigh Moling [now St. Muilins],
in tlie county Carlow.
other shrines Bosicles thosG, WO navG the shrine of St. Molaise, in the
relics. ' possession of Mr. Charles Haliday; another shrine in the pos-
session of the Earl of Dunraven ; and that known as the Mio-
sach, noAv in the College of St. Columba, near Dublin.
The Miosach was one of the three insignia of battle which
Saint Cairnech of TuiUn [now Dulane, near Kells, in Meath],
appointed to the Clanna Neill, ''''i.e. to the clanns oi Conall
and of Eoghan [the O'Donnells and O'Neills] ; the other two
being the Cathach of which I have already spoken, and the
Cloc Phatraic or Bell of St. Patrick. [See Appendix, No. CI.,
for the whole passage from H. 2. 16. T.C.D.] The word Mio-
sach means literally " Monthly", or, " of Months"; and the rehc
was probably a Calendar.
Dr. O'Connor, in the Stowe Catalogue, describes, and giA'es a
plate of, a shrine, then in the possession of the Duke of Bucking-
ham, but now amongst the inaccessible treasures of Lord Ash*
burnham.
A shrine and manuscript are said, by the same authority,
to have been discovered in Germany by Mr. Grace. Dr.
O'Connor supposes this shrine to have been carried to the Irish
monastery of Ratisbon by some of those Irish ecclesiastics who
carried donations thither in 1130 from Torloch O'Brien, king
of Mmister, as stated in the " Chronicon Ratisbonense", or
Chronicle of Ratisbon.
Of the an- Next to this class of venerable rehcs, we cannot pass without
quaries, ' a noticc, howcver brief, the other numerous objects of ecclesi-
Croziers, astical art which have come down to us, svich as Reliquaries,
stiiTr*' ®**=-' Bells, Croziers, Crosses, etc., etc. Many of these articles exhibit
served to us. a high degree of skill in the workmanship, great beauty of
design, and most delicate finish of all the parts.
No descriptions would be adequate to convey to you any idea
of these singularly beautiful remains of our ancient Irish art.
But, fortunately, description is the less necessary, as in the rich
collection of the Royal Irish Academy, which is always open
to the public, some of the choicest specimens of these relics
may be examined at leisure by all interested in antiquarian
studies. And as these remains are of value, not only for their
own intrinsic excellence, but as throwing light on the condition
of the arts in Ireland at remote and but little known periods ;
and as they likewise often furnish valuable testimony of the
genuineness of our manuscript records, which, in their turn,
may be so effectually employed to illustrate the history and
OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 337
uses of several of tliese objects; I trust that many of my lect. xv.
hearers, especially those who are students of this University, Qftj^gj^j,.
will be constant visitors to that great Musemn, which, indeed, cient Reu-
must henceforward be the chief school for the genuine study of Bensr^'
Irish ecclesiastical archaeology, as well as of Celtic antiquities crossS%tc.,
in general. ^tiii pre-
Vr 1 • r> 1 1 • T 1 'M • • served to us.
Many beautiiul and ancient relics, however, stiil remain m
private hands ; and perhaps the most remarkable of all these is
the Bell of St. Patrick with its magnificent shrine, now in the
possession of the Rev. Dr. Todd, and which, we have every
reason to believe, is actually the Finn Faidheach, or "sweet-
sounding", that was once used by the Saint himself, and which
was made for him by Mac Cecht, one of liis three smiths.
Another Bell, which is also believed, and not without reason,
to have belonged to St. Patrick, is in the choice and beauti-
ful collection of Dr. Petrie. It is in bronze, and not enshrined.
Mr. Cooke of Birr, also, was the fortunate possessor of a beauti-
fully enshrined bell, known as the Bearnan Culann, (or the
gapped bell of St. Culann,) since sold by him to the British
Museum. And in the collection of the same gentleman there is a
bronze bell, which he states to have been found in the holy well
o£ Lothra, in Ormond, and which, there is grovmd for believing,
is the bell which Saint Ruadhan of Lothra rang as he made the
circuit of Tara, when he cursed that ancient residence of the
Irish monarchs in the sixth century, after which it was deserted.
INIany other bells of great interest and antiquity still exist,
i\\Q history of which is scarcely less deserving of notice ; but
time will not allow me to dwell on them here.
Several shrines and reliquaries also remain. The chief of them
are : that of St. Manclian of Liath Manchain in Westmeath ;
that of St. Maodhog, which belonged to the ORuaircs of
Breifne, but was lately in the possession of his Grace the Most
Rev. Dr. Slattery, late Archbishop of Cashel ; and the beautiful
shrine of St. Caillin, now, or lately, in the hands of Dr. Petrie.
Another class of ancient reliquaries is that amongst the most
beautiful of which is the Lamh Lachtain, or Shrine of the Arm
of St. Lachtain, in bronze, inlaid with silver, and presenting
four exquisite patterns of tracery inlaid. This beautiful reUquary,
which dates from tiie early part of the twelfth century, has, it is
to be regretted, become lost to Ireland, and passed into English
hands. A somewhat similar reliquary, but not of the same ela-
borate workmanship, is in the possession of the Lord Bishop of
Down, the Right Rev. Dr. Denvir.
Oiu- collections of antiquities contain several beautiful cro-
ziers, many of which are of a very early period. Amongst
22
338 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD.
LKCT. XV. these may be particularly noticed a fragment of tlie crozier of
Of the an Di-UTow, wliicli, pcrliaps, is the oldest we have, and which,
cientReii- there is reason to believe, belonged to St. Colum Cille himself,
?5eii™^' the foimder of the church of Durrow ; it was presented by him
Crosses'%tc. **^ Comiac, liis dear friend and successor.
etiiipre- One Still older, and asserted to have been brought into Ire-
land by St. Patrick, existed in Christ Chm-ch in this city,
till the year 1522, when it was destroyed by an infuriated mob.
This crozier was known as the Bachall losa, or Staff of Jesus,
a name accounted for by a curious legend preserved in the Tri-
partite Life of the Saint. Under this name it is constantly
referred to in ancient Irish writings, [See Appendix, No.
CII.]
A very ancient crozier, said to have belonged to St. Finn-
hharr (of Termonbarry, in Connacht), — and beheved to have
been made by Conlaedh, the artificer of St. Bi'igid of Kildare,
early in the sixth century, — is now in the Museum of the
Royal Irish Academy, as well as a beautiful crozier of about the
year 1120, which, there is reason to believe, belonged to Clon-
macnoise.
In the collection of Dr. Petrie, so often alluded to before,
there are some very beautiful examples of croziers, of exquisite
workmanship, and undoubtedly of very high antiquity. There
is also one in the possession of the clergymen of Clongowe's
Wood College, which, there is reason to believe, was once
the crozier of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin.
Passing over that now at Lismore Castle, and that of St.
JBlathmac, and others in the Royal Irish Academy, the most
highly-finished of all will be found to be that now the property
of his Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, This
crozier bears a GaedhHc inscription, which identifies it with the
Church of Kells, and assigns it to the middle of the eleventh
century.
Various other objects of great interest, — as the Cross of Conga
[Cong] ; the Fiacail Phadraig (the Tooth of St. Patrick) ; the
Mias Tighernain (the Paten of St. Tighernan, dug, it is said,
out of the grave of that saint in an island in Loch Conn, and
now in the possession of the Knox family, of the county of
Mayo), — would require observation, did our limits admit of it.
But it is not to be understood that in this notice of our anti-
quarian remains I mean to do more than call attention to their
great importance, and the aids which they furnish us in so many
ways in the study and illustration of the manuscript remains of
our ancient Gaedhlic literature, and more especially of that part
of it which relates to early Christian times.
LECTURE XVI.
fDelivercd March 30, 1855.]*
Ecclesiastical MSS. Of the Early Lives of the Saints of Erinn. Of the
Tripartite Life of St. Patrick. Of tlie contents of tlie Leahhar M6r Dana
Doighre, now commonly called the Leahhar Breac.
We come now to the ancient books and compositions, — of wliicli
we still have so great a number remaining in the Gaedhlic lan-
guage, some of them, indeed, of extreme antiquity, — relating to
sacred and ecclesiastical subjects. Amongst the most important
of these are the nmnerous tracts known as the Lives of the
Saints, several Martyrologies and Festologies, and many works
in prose and verse on various sacred subjects.
Of the curious and valuable historic tracts, once very nume-
rous, called Lives of the Saints, we have still left to us a good
many. Of these, some are written on vellum ; and some on
paper, copied from ancient vellum books. Amongst those
written on vellum, we have three lives of Saint Patrick ; namely,
one knoAvn as the Tripartite Life, in the British Museum ; one
in the MS. commonly called the Leahhar Breac, but properly
the Leahhar M6r Lima Doighre, in the Royal Irish Academy ;
and a third in the Book of Lismore, at Lismore Castle.
Of the Lives of St. Colum CilU we have also three written on
vellmn, namely, one in the same Leahhar Mor Dilna Doighre,
in the Royal Lish Academy ; one in the Book of Lismore ; and
O'DonnelFs great Life of his Patron Saint and illustrious rela-
tive, now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
Of St. Brigid we have two ancient Lives on vellum ; namely,
one in the same Leahhar Mor Diina Doighre, in the Royal Irish
Academy, and one in the Book of Lismore ; there is another on
paper (about 140 years old) in the Royal Irish Academy.
Of St. Senan, of Liiscathaigh (now called Scattery Island, in
the Lower Shannon), there is a Life on vellum in the Book of
Lismore, and another on paper, which is much more copious
in incidents, in my own possession. This latter copy was made
about the year 1720, from an original now I fear lost, by An-
drew Mac Curtin, a native of the county of Clare, and one of
the best GaedhHc scholars then hving.
* See note at p. 320.
22 b
340 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
r.F.cT. XVI. Of St. Fimien, of Clonard, tliere is a Life on vellum in tlie
Of the an Book of Lismore.
cient Lives Of St. Fi?mchu, o£ Brigohhann, in tlie county of Cork, tliere
of Eiiini!'" is also a Life on vellum in the Book of Lismore.
Of St. Ciarcm, of Clonmacnois, tliere is a Life on velkun
in tlie part of tlie Book of Lismore wliicli is now in tlie city
of Cork; (see ante, p. 197).
Of St. MocJiiia, of Balla, in tlie county of Mayo, tliere is a
Life on vellum in tlie same part of tlie Book of Lismore.
Of St. CailUn, oi Fidhnaclia (in tlie coimty of Leitrim), tliere
is a Life on velltun in tlie Royal Irisli Academy.
Of St. Ceallach, tlie son of Eoghan Bel, King of Con-
naclit, we liave a Life on vellum in tlie Royal Irish Academy ;
and one in my own possession, which I transcribed some years
ago from an ancient vellum manuscript, the property of James
Marinus Kennedy, Esq., Dublin.
Of the Life of St. Moling, of Teach 3foling (now St. Mullins,
in the coimty of Carlow), there is a copy in my own possession,
made by me some years ago, also from Mr. Kennedy's ancient
vellmn manuscript.
Of the Life of St. Brendan, of Clonfert, there is a copy on
vellum in the part of the Book of Lismore wliich is now in
Cork.
We have on paper in Dublin, the Life of St. Patrick by Joce-
lyn, of St. Brigicl of Kildare, and of St. Colum CilU; the Lives
of St. Ciaran of Saigkir (in the King's County) ; St. Declan
of Ardmore (in the county Waterford); St. Fiiian o^ Ard-Fi-
nain (in the county of Tipperary) ; St. Finan Cam of Cinn
Eitigh (in the King's Coimty); St. Finnhharr of Cork; St.
Mochuda of Raithin and Lismore ; St. Maodhog, or Mogue, of
Feaima Mhor, or Ferns (in the county of Wexford) ; St. Caemli-
gJiin (or Kevin) of Gleann da Loclia (or Glendaloch) ; St. Mo-
laise of Damhinis (or Devinis in Loch Erne) ; and of St.
Grellan of Cill ChluainS (in the coimty of Gahvay).
We have in Dublin, — in the Royal Irish Academy, and in my
possession, — copies of all the Lives enumerated in this list ; and
there is in the British Museum another collection of Lives of
Irish Saints, some on vellum, and some on paper.
There is another fine collection of Lives of Irish Saints in the
Burgundian Library at Brussels, collected by the venerable
Friar Michael O'Clery, the chief of the Four Masters, about the
year 1627. Tliis collection consists of 39 different Lives, among
which are a few of those that we have here.
It is only a few years since these remarkable tracts of tlie
Lives of the Irish Saints were looked upon with distrust and
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 341
contempt botli by Protestant and Catliolic writers on Irisli His- lect. xvj.
tory. Even Dr. Laniran, a clear and able, but often too ^_,
1 • • • 1 • T • 1 T-i 1 • -1 TT- • Ofthean-
dogmatic writer, m his Irish Jiicclesiastical History, never misses cient uves ^
an opportunity to scoff at the venerable Father Jolin Colgan's of Erm'n.'" *
credulity m gi^Hng to the world, in liis Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
nian, a few of these Lives in their original simplicity and fidelity
of detail. Dr. Lanigan, as it seems, would have nothing
pubHshed but what might seem to his o"wn mind demonstrably
consistent with probability: he would publish no legends of
miracles and wonders ; and he woidd give no view of the social,
political, and religious state of society obtained tlirough the
medivun of this most valuable class of ancient Irish writings.
Dr. Lanigan woidd expimge from these tracts everything that
was repugnant to what he called "reason"; thus assuming to
himself the very important office of censor, and leaving the
world to rest satisfied with what he decided to be true history.
This mode of treating history has been tried by several wi-iters
and in several coimtries. Ancient records have been digested,
the thread of continuous history carried down from time to time,
unincumbered by collateral details of fable, and all fact clothed
in legendary form rejected. These details, having the brand of
" worthlessness" and " fiction" stamped on them by some great
authority, were deemed unworthy of examination, and in course
of time were allowed to moulder and perish; carrying with
them into oblivion, however, much of the broad plain history
of the ordinary life and acts of the great body of the world's
inhabitants, and leaving in its place only the limited picture
of the world's great personages and rulers.
Colgan and Keating, both of them Irish priests, have been of the
unmercifully dealt with by our writers of the last two hundred of coiKan
years, on the very unfounded assumption that both these truly ''^'^^^ ^^'^'''^'"s
learned men believed themselves everything which appears in
their writings. This can scarcely be called a fair proceeding,
when we remember that Keating never professed to do more
than abstract without comment what he found before him in
the old books ; and that Colgan had not promised or undertaken
to give a critically digested History of the Lives of the Irish
Saints at all. In fact Colgan, like Keating, simply midertook
to publish through the more accessible medium of the Latin lan-
guage, the ancient fives just as he found them in the Gaedhlic.
And it would be more becommg those who have di'awn largely
and often exclusively, on the writings of these two eminent
men, and who will continue to draw on them, to endeavour to
imitate their devoted industry and scholarship, than to attempt
to elevate themselves to a higher position of fiterary fame by
342 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LECT. XVI. a display of critical pedantry and Avliat tliey suppose to be in-
dependence of opinion, in scoffing at the presumed credulity of
cient Lives tliose wliosc labours liavc laid in modern times tlie very groimd-
of Erimf"" work of Irisli history. _
But what, after all, is the reason of the very decided attempt
to throw discredit on the Lives of the Irish Saints ; and why
are they condemned as the contemptible and fabulous produc-
tions concocted in latter ages, that they are often supposed to be ?
No one who examines for himself can doubt that many holy
men, at the first preaching in Erinn of the glad tidings of sal-
vation by Saints Palladius and Patrick, founded those countless
Christian chm'ches whose sites and ruins mark so thickly the
surface of our country, even to this day, still bearing, through
all the vicissitudes of time and conquest, the unchanged names
of their original founders.
Of St. Adam- St. Adamnau, an Irishman, and the tenth abbot of lona after
of St. coilm Saint Colmn CilU, the founder of that great seat of piety and
am. learning, wrote a life, in Latin, of his great predecessor and
patron. St. Adamnan died, according to the Annals of the Four
Masters, in the year 703. This Life, therefore, must have been
written some time in the seventh century, say in about three
generations after the death of Saint Colum Cille; Father Colgan
has published this life in his Trias Thaumaturga, and although
it is as full of wonders as any of the other Lives, yet it certainly
cannot be placed in a list of lives written in the latter ages.^^j
Be this as it may, however, the acknowledged fact that St. Adam-
nan wrote a life of his relative, predecessor, and patron, in three
generations, at most, after the death of the latter, is sufficient
authority for the antiquity of the practice of writing or compil-
ing such works, at this, if not at an earlier period. And as
there were in Erinn in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centimes,
many men as holy and almost as distinguished in their lives as
St. Colum CilU, and as the churches they founded continued
to be occupied and governed by men as eminent and devoted
as St. Adamnan, there is no good reason to doubt that the very
ancient Lives of St. Brigid, St. Ciarrcn of SaigJiir, St. Ciaran
of Clonmacnois, St. Finnhliarr of Cork, St. Finnen of Clonard,
aud many others, were written by their immediate successors in
their respective churches.
The idea of writing the Lives of the Saints of Erinn first ori-
ginated, it woiild appear, with St. Fiacc, the celebrated poet,
who was converted by St. Patrick, and consecrated the first
(46) This most interesting work has been ably edited, since the above Lecture
was delivered, by the Eev. "W. Eeeves, D.D., M.R.I.A,, for the Irish Archaeo-
logical and Celtic Society.
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
343
Bisliop of Leinster. His cliurcli was at SleibhtS (Sletty) in the leot. xvi.
present barony of Idrona and county of Carlow. This bishop ^^ ^^^ ^^
Fiacc wi'ote a metrical life of his great patron Patrick, some cient Lives
time between the years 538 and 558 ; within which period Diar- of Erinn.
moAcl Mac Ferghusa Cerrhheoil reigned as Monarch of Erinn, in ^^jfe^of^st.^
whose time Tara was cursed and deserted, — a fact alhided to as Patrick.)
foretold only in this poem, and which is itself an illustration of
the veracity of our ancient writers in this respect. [See Ap-
pendix, No. CHI.]
We have it on the authority of the Tripartite itself, that St.
Patrick's hfe and miracles were collected by no less than six
different writers, not including Fiacc of Slcibhte; among
whom were St. Colmn Cille who died A.D. 592, and probably
the St. Ultdn who died A.D. 656. We have it on the authority
of the Liber Hymnormn (a composition, I believe, of the tenth
centmy at least), that the Life and Acts of St. Brigid of Kil-
dare were collected and written by St. Ultdn, who died,
probably, as already observed, in the year 656.
It is not to be expected, however, that these curious narra-
tives of the lives and acts of the orio-inal founders of theCatho-
lie Chm-ch of Ireland should have come down to our time m
their primitive form, or without occasional expansions of some
simple facts into fictions ; but that the miracles and wonderful
works ascribed to the saints are mere fables, of comparatively
modern times, certainly cannot be insisted on, since we find the
same or similar acts recorded in the oldest lives of St. Patrick,
St. Brigid, and others, as in those which might be called later
lives. The "Book of Armagh", which is generally believed to
be as old as the year 807, — but which, I conceive, is probably
older than the year 727, — this very ancient book contains an ex-
tract from the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, which records
some wonderful miracles of the Saint, which, if not found in
such ancient authorities as this, would be set down by modern
writers, Cathohc as well as Protestant, as but silly inventions
of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries.
To the truly philosophical writer and reader the Lives of our
Saints will present little that is inconsistent with the necessary
condition of neglected history and biography, but much that is
valuable as presenting a clear, and I doubt not, veritable view of
the actual state of society in all the relations of domestic, political,
and reliofious life, in those remote a^es of our history : and he will
• 1 ••I'll
scarcely feel called upon to discuss the precise time at which the
Almighty withdi'ew the grace of miraculous manifestations from
the chosen propagators of His divine law.
When foreign invasion and war had cooled down the fervid
344: OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
i,ECT. XVI. devotion of tlie native chiefs, and had distracted and broken up
the long estabhshed reciprocity of good offices between the
cient Lives Chiirch and the state, as well as the central executive controlling
of Erton!™*^ power of the nation, the chief and the noble began to feel that the
lands which he himself or his ancestors had oftered to the Church
might now with little impropriety be taken back by him, to be
applied to his own purposes, quieting his conscience by the ne-
cessity of the case. When such a state of things as tliis did
actually come to pass, dviring and after the Danish wars, it was
no wonder if the Airchinnechs (or " Erenachs") of these church
lands, who were seldom if ever ecclesiastics, were induced to
take up the lives and acts of their patron saints, recopy them
from mouldering tomes, and incorporate with the old text fabu-
lous incidents of fearful struggles between the original patrons
and the neighbouring chiefs of liis day, in which the latter were
always sure to come off worst. I do not say that incidents of
this kind were not found in the veiy oldest of these lives, but I
am in a jDosition to show that such incorporations were actually
made in the eleventh and twelfth and even later centuries.
But, as to the genuineness and antiquity of many accounts
of real miracles, full evidence is fm-nished by several ancient
works. Thus, the Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick contains an
account of one which we find copied imperfectly into the Book
of Armagh. The following is the passage which relates this
cm-ious incident, — one which I introduce for the piupose of
illustration, as it shows how even a very old work may be
corrected by one still more ancient. [See original in Appendix,
No. CIV.]
" One time", says the author of the Tripartite, " that St.
Sechnall [Secimdinus] , of Domhnach Sechnaill [now Dun-
shaughhn, in the county of Meath] went to Armagh, Patrick
was not there. He saw Patrick's servants having two chariot
horses unyoked. And Sechnall said : It were fitter to give these
horses to Fiacc the bishop. [The reason for sending the chariot
to Fiacc was, according to the Life, because he had a painful
sore on his leg.] Patrick arrived at these words, and heard
what was said. Patrick then yoked the horses to the chariot,
and sent them forth without any one to guide [or take charge
of] them ; and they went straight to St. MocJda's hermitage in
Louth, where they stopped that night. On the next day they
came to Domhnach Sechnall [Dunshaughhn]. They then went
to cm Aiisaille, from that to Cill Monach, and from that to
SUihhte [in Carlow], to Bishop Fiacc".
Now this legend is quite intelligible in the Tripartite, but in
the Book of Armagh it is not so. And the latter version, I think
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 345
it not improbable, was constructed on the former in some such lect. xvi.
manner as that I have above indicated. ^^ ^^^ ^^^._
The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, to which we have so often ent uves of
made alhision, has been long known to the writers on Irish ec- EHnn'""(Ti°e
clesiastical history, through Father John Colgan's Latin transla- Life^Jfst'^'
tion of it in his Trias Thaiimaturga, published at Louvain in i'atnck.)
the year 1647.
After tliis publication, the original tract appears to have been
lost, as no mention of Father Colgan's, or of any other copy of
it, occurs in any book or writing that I have seen or heard of, nor
did 1 ever know of any person who saw it, or had even heard
of its existence since Colgan's time. To those — and they were
many — who had faith in Colgan's honesty, the total disappear-
ance of this most important tract became a source of uneasi-
ness ; and with others an idea had at length sprung up, though
I beheve not publicly expressed, that it was doubtful whether
Colgan, in his translation, had done justice to the original, and
whether he had not left out many things that might vitiate the
authenticity of the tract, as well as the peculiar religious doc-
trines expressed and implied in it. This state of uncertamty,
however, exists no longer, as an ancient copy of this most
ancient and important tract has been recently discovered by
me among the vast literary stores of the British Museum.
In the month of May, 1849, I was summoned over to give
evidence before the Public Library Committee of the House
of Commons. After having been examined on two successive
days before that body, I determined to pay a short visit to the
British Museum, which I had never before seen ; and on being
properly introduced to Sir Frederick Madden, that learned and
poHte officer at once gave me the most free access to the Mu-
sevun collection of Irish manuscripts. Among the volumes laid
before me, my attention was at once caught by a thin book of
large quarto size in a brass cover, not a shrine, but a mere cover
of the ordinary shape and construction. On examining this
cover, I foimd it composed of two plates of brass, projecting
nearly half an inch over the edges of the leaves at the front and
ends, and connected at the back by a pair of hinges, thus giving
the voliune perfect freedom of opening on a principle not much
put in practice by ordinary bookbinders. The brass was rather
clean, and had a modern appearance. The plates measured
about twelve inches in length, nine in breadth, and three-
eighths in thickness. The front plate had a plain cross etched
on it about eight inches long, with arms in proportion. I im-
mediately guessed that the book within was not one of any
insignificant character, and I hoped indeed that it might be
346 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LKCT. XVI, some one of the many ancient works whicli, I well knew, had
been long misshig. Full of expectation, I opened the volmne,
enVurestf ^^^^ threw my eyes rapidly over the first page; from which,
the Saints of tliough much soilcd and almost illegible, I discovered at once
'Tripartite' that I had comc npon a life of St. Patrick. Being well ac-
pafri°cko*' quainted with all the Irish copies of this Life known to exist
here at home, I immediately found this to be one that was strange
to me, and it at once occurred to me that it was a copy of the long-
lost Tripartite. Under this impression, I called for Colgan's
Trias Thaumaturga, which having got, I at once proceeded
to a comparison ; and, although I am but little acquainted with
the Latin language, I soon found my expectations realized, for
it was unmistakeably a fine old copy of the Tripartite Life of
St. Patrick. The Tripartite occupied originally twenty foHos or
forty pages of this book ; but of these, the second and sixth folios
were cut out at some imknown time long gone by.
The volume, besides our saint's life, contains fragments of
two ancient historical tales, namely, Fledh Bricrinn, or Brickiin's
Feast, and the Tain Bo Chuailgne, mentioned in a former lec-
ture ; but these tracts are written in a different hand from the
Tripartite, and must have been originally part or parts of dif-
ferent books.
The following translation of a notice at the end of the Tri-
partite gives the precise year in which it was transcribed. [See
original in Appendix, No. CV.]
" The annals of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the year that this
life of Patrick was written, were 1477; and to-mori'ow night
will be Lammas Eve, and it is in Baile an Mhoinin I am. It
was in the house of W Troighthigh this was written by Domhnall
Albanacli O Troighthigh, and Deo Gratias Jesus".
There are so many places in Ireland called by the name of
Baile an Mhoinin (that is, the village or place at or of the
little bog), that it would be impossible, with only this mere ac-
cident of the name, to identify it. The O' Troightliighs were,
however, originally natives of the county of Clare, either in or
near Corcomroe; and they were a clann of some note at an
early period in the history of that district, as appears from an
entry in the Annals of the Four Masters, at the year 1002 :
" Conchohhar, the son of Maelsechlainn, lord of Corcomroe,
and Aicher 0' Troighthigh, with many others, were slain by the
men of Umhall".
This Conchohhar, son of Ilaelsechlainn, was the founder of
the family name of O'Conor of Corcomroe.
With the former history of this volume we are quite un-
acquainted. We only know that it passed from us some twenty-
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 347
five years ago, in tlie fine collection of Gacclhlic MSS., sold by lect. xvi.
Mv. James Hardiman to the British INIuscum; and that it forms oftheanci-
No. 93, Efferton, in Mr. Hardiman's catalogue, -where it is ent Lives of
-, ° 1 -r- p r< T. • 1 1 1 11 11' tlie Saints of
set down as, " Lite ot St. Jratnck, and other legends and his- Krinn. aiie
torical tracts on vellum in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries". Lite'T/st.^
The antiquity of this Life, in all its parts, may be well under- ^atnck.)
stood from the fact that, in the middle ages, it required an in-
terlined gloss, by the most learned masters, in order to make it
intelligible to their pupils and to other less learned readers. I
have myself fortunately recovered an ancient copy of those
glossed passages (in MS. H. 3. 18. T.CD.), by which I am
enabled to form an opmion of the antiquity of the text, which
it has not perhaps fallen to the lot of other Gaedhlic scholars to
do. The antiquity of the tract may be also inferred from
JNIichael O'Clery's introduction to his Glossary of obsolete
Gaedhlic Avords, published in Louvain in the year 1643, in
which he classes the old Life of St. Patrick with several other
ancient tracts which required explanations ; explanations which
it had received from various eminent scholars, even down to his
own time : indeed any one intimately conversant with ancient
Gaedhlic writings will perceive at once that tliis tract is one of
great antiquity. Tliis Life is written with frequent alternations
of Gaedhlic and Latin sentences, the latter sometimes explained
by the former ; but, generally, the narration continues on throvigh
both.
There can be httle doubt that the short sketch of St.
Patrick's life, written into the Book of Armagh, was taken
from this tract, for some reason that we cannot now" discover ;
and there can be, I think, as little doubt that the annotations of
Tirechan on St. Patrick's Life, foimd, in Latin, in the same
Book of Aiinagh (and which Tirechan says, he obtained from
the books and from the lips of his predecessor, St. Ultan, whose
disciple he was, and who died, probably, a.d. 656), — there can
be Httle doubt, I say, that these notes were taken, so far, from
St. Ultan's written Life of our apostle, as well as from his verbal
account of some information obtained or remembered by him
after the compilation, as it is mentioned in the present tract, of
our saint's life and acts. [See Appej^dix, No. CVL]
I have said that I do not know of the existence, at present,
of any other copy of the Ti-ipartite Life of St. Patrick, besides
that which I had thus myself the good fortune to identify in the
British Museum ; but, in Colgan's time, there were three copies
of this hfe, " the author of which", says Colgan, " as it would
appear, was St. Eimhin, or Evin" — [Colgan, vol. ii. p. 169].
I shall here quote what he says of those MSS,
348 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LECT. XVI. " We give tliis life", says Colgan, " from tliree very ancient
Gaecllilic MSS., collated with each other, and divided by its
Oftheanci- i • i • i • i o f -i
ent Lives of autlior mto three parts, with a triple pretace, one prenxed to
El?nn?^"(The ^acli ; Concerning the fidelity, the authority, and the integrity,
Life^oTsr' ^^ "^Q^ as the author, of which we shall inform the reader in
Patrick.) the following observations :
" The first thing that is to be observed is, that it has been
written by its first author, and in the aforesaid manuscript, partly
in Latin, partly in Gaedhlic, and this in very ancient language,
almost iin]3enetrable, by reason of its very great antiquity ; ex-
hibiting, not only in the same chapter, but also in the same fine,
alternate phrases, now in the Latin, now in the Gaedhlic tongue.
" In the second place, it is to be noticed that this life, on ac-
comit of the very great antiquity of its style, which was held in
much regard, used to be read in the schools of our antiquarians
in the presence of their pupils, being elucidated and expoimded
by the glosses of the masters, and by interpretations and obser-
vations of the more abstruse words ; so that, hence, it is not to
be wondered at that some words (which certainly did happen)
from these glosses and observations gradually crept into the
text, and thus brought a certain colour of newness into this most
ancient and faithful author; some things being turned from
Latin into Gaedhlic, some abbreviated by the scribes, and some
altogether omitted". # * * 95 * * *
" Fourthly", he says, " it is to be observed, that, of the three
manuscripts above mentioned, the first and chief is from very
ancient vellums of the O'Clerys, antiquarians in Ulster; the
second, from the O'Deorans in Leinster ; the third, taken from
I know not what codex : and that they differ from each other in
some respects ; one relating more diffusely what is more close
in the others ; and one relating in Latin what in the others
was told in Gaedhlic ; but we have followed the authority of that
which relates the occuiTcnces more diffusely and in Latin".
Colgan then proceeds to consider the question of the author-
ship of this Life of the Saint.
He considers it as certain that the author was by birth a native
of Erinn, and by profession a monk or priest. That he was a native
of Erinn he considers proved by his exact and singular skill not
only in the native tongue, but also in the proper names of men,
places, families, and territories. He believes that the author flour-
ished before the end, or about the middle of the sixth century,
and that he was St. Eimliin (Evin), who, Jocehnus (cap. 186)
says, wrote the acts of St. Patrick, partly in the Latin, partly in
the Gaedhlic tongue. As to the age or time in which the writer
flourished, Colgan draws several very ingenious arguments from
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 349
the internal evidences in the work itself. Tlie cliief of these rest lect. xvt.
on passages m which it is implied that, at the period in which they ^^ ^^^^ ^^^.
were written, certain individuals, the dates of whose deaths we ent Lives of
can refer with tolerable certainty to some time in the sixth cen- Eiinn*^ (The
tnry, were then living. Thus we find the following: — " There LTfe'^/sJ®'
is in that place a town called Brettan, where Loarn is [est] Patrick.)
Bishop". Again: — "Patrick came to the Church of Donoch-
more, where JNIimca is Bishop". In anotlier place he says : —
" But this son of Milco is Bishop Guasactus, who is to-day [ho-
die] at Granard in the territory of Carbry", Again, speaking
of St. Fiacc, he observes: " But no one of them rose up to the
servant of God, except Dublitliacli O'Lugcm', arch-poet of the
king and kingdom ; and one young man of his disciples, who
is to-day [hodie] in the church of SleibhW'' [Sletty.]
As far as internal evidence can go, these passages, siippos-
ing them to be genuine, which I see no reason to doubt, cer-
tainly seem to imply that the writer lived in the times of which
he speaks. It must be admitted, however, that this mode of
speaking in the present tense, used by distinguished ecclesiastics
of the fifth and sixth centimes, continued to be used in the eighth
and ninth, as may be seen in the notes upon the Festology of
Aengus Ceile De, though that work itself was written but shortly
before the year 798.
For myself, I can see no reason whatever to doubt any state-
ment to the effect that the acts of so remarkable a personage as
St. Patrick were committed to writing, and that probably by
more than one person, during his own lifetime, and by several
hands in the periods iiiimediately subsequent to it. And
when a work narrating the acts of the saint's hfe is handed
down to our times, accompanied by a very ancient tradition,
and also by written testimony of its authenticity from a
very remote period, I cannot see how we are warranted in
rejecting it as spurious, or in presuming that, at least, the
basis or framework of the narrative is other than what it
purports to be.
Colgan, in summing up his evidence about the Tripartite,
quotes the passage from Jocehnus, in which that writer says,
that St. Eiynhin (Evin) wrote a life of St. Patrick, partly in
Latin, partly in Gaedlilic, and distinguishes this life from those
by Saints Benignus, Mel, Luman, and Patrick Junior. It
appears, therefore, that, at the time in which Jocelyn wrote —
namely, the year 1185, it was beHeved that a hfe of St. Patrick
then existed, which had been written by St. Eimldn (Evin).
Colgan says that he beheves the copies wliich he used were
essentially the same as that seen by Jocelyn.
350 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LECT. XVI. As to the objections wliicli may be urged tbat St. Eimhin
~~ r could not be the author of the Trij)artite, on the ground that
ent Lives of there are cited in it, as the wi'iters of St. Patrick's miracles, the
EHnn!"\The namcs of St. Colum Cille, St. Ultan, St. Aileran or Eleran the
ilfe'^Tsr ^^^s*3, St. Adamnan, St. Ciaran of Belach Duin, St. Colman, and
Patrick.) Others, who lived after the time of Eimhin (Evin), while St.
Eimhin himself is not mentioned at all, he offers a very obvious
explanation — that the passages in which they are mentioned
are interpolations.
It is only natural to suppose that additions were made, at
various times, by the different scribes, or, as we may call them,
editors, through whose hands the original j)assed; or that the
assertion has reference to lives compiled by those writers after
St. Eimhin, each absorbing in his own edition all that had
been written by his predecessor, (such indeed the Tripartite in
its present form appears to be) ; or, possibly, St. Eimhin s Life
had not been accessible to the compiler.
As far as my judgment and my acquaintance with the idiom
of the ancient Gaedhlic language will bear me, I would agree in
Father Colgan's deductions from the text of the Tripartite ; but
I cannot get over the fact that compilers of the seventh century
are mentioned in the tract itself. It is ciuious, however, that
John O'Connell, of Kerry, who wrote a long poem on the
History of Ireland about the year 1650, refers to " St. Eimhin s
Life of St. Patrick", and thus supplies us with an additional
authority in favour of Colgan's opinion.
The first of the three parts gives an account of St. Patrick's
parentage, captivity, education, arrival in Erinn, and mission
to his former master in Ulster, his return to Tara, and conflict
with king Laeghaires Druids, etc. ; and the part ends with
those remarkable words, as if the author had preached as well
as written the tract: " The miracles will be only related so far
this day". [See original in Appendix, No. CVIL]
The second part describes the saint's journey into Connacht,
and his return by Ulster, north and east, after an absence of
seven years ; and it ends with the same words as the first: " The
miracles will be only related so far this day".
The third part describes the saint's mission and travels into
Leinster and Munster, with his retm-n and death at Armagh.
[See observations on the opening passage of tliis thii'd part, in
Appendix, No. CVIII.]
It is much to be regTetted that Father Colgan did not Hve to
pubHsh his Life of St Eimhin, the reputed author of the Tri-
OF THE EAKLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 351
partite Life of St. Patrick ; however, as lie lias fortimately given lect. xyi.
us liis festival, tlie 22nd of December, we are able to identify
liiin and establish his period. cnt Lives of
In the Festology of Aengus CeUe Be (or the Culdee), we Eri„n!'"Sui
find that T\n:iter, at the 22iid of December, beseeching the in- L^f";^^7gt'^'
tercession of St. EimMn^ "the white" or " fair", from the banks Patrick.)'
of the river Barrow. Now, the saint EimMn from the brink
of the river Barrow, was EimJnn, the founder of the original
chiu'ch or monastery of llainister Eiinhin [now Anglicized
Monasterevan], on the brink of the Barrow, in the Queen's
County. This St. EimMn was a Munsterman, and one of the
four saintly sons o£ Eoghan, son oi Murchadh, son oi Muiredliach,
son of Diarmaid, son of Eof/han, son of Ailill Flann Beg, son
of F'lacha Muillethan, son of Eoghan Mor, son of Oilioll Oluiin,
king of Munster, who died a.d. 234. EimMn was thus the
ninth in generation from Oilioll Oliiim, which, by allowing
thirty years to a generation, will make 270 years. This, added
to the year 234, in which Ailill died, Avill bring us down to the
year 504, in which year, then, this St. EimMn was probably
living ; so that he had, very probably, seen and coua^ ersed with
St. Patrick, who had ched only eleven years before this time,
or in 493.
Admitting, however, that the Tripartite Life of our saint was
compiled by St. EimMn, it must be evident to any one that he
could not have had full personal cognizance of all the incidents
in the saint's career which are introduced into the work. He
must have had the assistance of persons who had attended
Patrick in his various missionary travels. And his dividing the
work into three parts, each beginning with an appropriate in-
troduction, and apparently read at fixed periods, — all this would
seem to show that, whoever the writer was, the life was written
and collated at intervals of a year or periods of greater length.
There can, I think, be Httlc doubt that the lives said to have
been written by Colum Cille, Ultan, Adanman, and others,
were primarily drawn from this compilation, and exjianded by
the addition or incorporation of local information, wliich escaped
the original collector or compiler.
In our present limits we cannot go farther into the considera-
tion of this very ancient and important branch of religious and
ecclesiastical Gaedlilic Kterature, which we have comprised imder
the general name of Lives of the Saints of Erinn. The most re-
markable of them is, without doubt, the Tripartite hfe of our
great apostle, whose antiquity and authority we have been just
discussing. But many others of great interest, and also bearing
evidences of great antiquity, remain for consideration at a fu-
ture occasion.
352
OF THE EABLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LECT. XVI.
Of the con-
tents of the
Leabhar
Mdr Diina
Doighre,
called the
J.eabhar
Breac.
We now turn to anotlier class of religious compositions in tlie
Gacdhlic language ; and of these the chief collection is to be
found in the great volume commonly known by the name of
the Leahliar Breac.
We have in the course of these lectures often had occasion
to refer to an ancient GaedliHc MS., generally called Leahliar
Breac, or Speckled Book, preserved in the Library of the
Royal Irish Academy; and as it is in itself a composition
of great interest and importance, and as we shall often have
occasion to refer to it in future lectures, it seems to me that a
brief general notice of it will be appropriate here.
The proper name of this book is Leabhar M6r Dilna Doighre,
or the great book of Dun Doighre.
Dun Doighre was the name of a place on the Galway side of
the river Shannon, some distance below the present town of
Athlone, where the great literary family of the Mac -^Egans
had, from time immemorial, kept schools of law, poetry, and
literature. This book appears to have been written by some
member of that learned family about the close of the foujrteenth
century. It is not a transcript of any one book, but, as will be
seen, a compilation from various ancient books, preserved chiefly
in the churches and monasteries of Connacht, Munster, and
Leinster ; such as Mainister ua g-Cormaic (or Abbey Gormacan,
in the county Galway) ; Leacaoin, in Lower Ormond ; Cluain
Sosta (Clonsost) in the Queen's County ; Clomnacnois, etc.
The volume is written in a most beautiful style of penman-
ship, on fine large folio vellum. The contents are all, with one
exception, of a religious character, and all, or nearly all, in the
purest style of Gaedhhc. Many of the tracts are translations
and narratives from the Latin. Among these are found a Scrip-
ture narrative from the Creation to Solomon; the birth, life,
passion, and resurrection of oiu* Lord ; and the lives, and man-
ner of death of several of the apostles ; various versions of the
finding of the Cross, etc. There are besides these several pieces
ancient sermons or liomiHes for certain days and periods of the
year — such as, sermons for Lent, Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday,
Pentecost, on the institution of the Holy Eucharist, and others of
a similar kind. In these sermons the Scripture text is always
given in Latin, and then freely and copiously expounded and
commented on in pme Gaedhlic; and in the course of these
expositions various commentators are often mentioned and
quoted. Besides these sermons, there are many small tracts on
moral subjects, illustrative of the divine teachings of our Lord.
St. SechnaWs Hymn, in praise of his uncle St. Patrick, is also
to be found there ; as Avell as the celebrated Altus of St. Colum
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 353
CilU; a Lorica by Gildas (wlio is believed to bave been a lect.xvi.
Saxon saint) ; etc., etc. _ _ ^ ofthecon-
Among tbe original Irisli tracts in tbe Leahhar M6r Duna tents of tiie
Doighre, are foimd Pedigrees of the Irish Saints, compiled it is ji/or Duna
believed by Aengus CeileDe, at the close of the eighth century, ^aTied'the
as well as his celebrated Litany of the Irish Saints ; ancient ^f*^"''
abstracts of the Lives of Saints Patrick, Colum CilU, and Brigid
of Kildare ; a curious historical legend of Cathal Mac F'inghuinef
king of Munster in the eighth century, of 3fae Conglinne, the
poet, and of the abbot of St. Finnbarr's monastery at Cork ; the
^lartyrology o£ Aengus CeileDe, written cliiefly at Tamhlacht (or
Tallacht, in the county of Dublin), before the year 798 ; ancient
copies and expositions of the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Com-
mandments ; ancient rules of discipline of the religious order of
the Ceilidhe De, vulgarly called Culdees ; ancient Litanies and
Liturgies, monastic Rules, Canons, sacred Loricas, and countless
other articles of the same tendency, — among them an ancient
rule and law for the obsei-vance of Sunday, or the Lord's day.
The Leahhar Mot Duna Doighre contains also a Life of Alex-
ander the Great, remarkable as being copied from the ancient
Book of the celebrated St. Berchdn of Cluain Sosta (or Clon-
sost), who flourished so early as in the seventh century.
But to enter into more minute details of the contents of this
curious and important volume, would carry me beyond my pre-
sent purpose, nor, indeed, I may add, is it competent for a lay-
man to deal with them in any but a very general manner.
Compiled, as it was, from many and most ancient sources, the
Leahhar Mor Dana Doighre is the most important repertory of
our ancient ecclesiastical and theological writings in existence ;
but it is not by any means our only resource for varied and
valuable information on these subjects.
Besides the Martyrology of Aengus, contained in this volume,
we have the Martyrologies of Marianus Gorman ; the Martyr-
ology of Tamhlacht (or Tallacht) ; the Martyrology of Cathal
MacGuire, now at St. Isidore's in Rome ; and the Martyrology
of Donnegall, compiled by the Four Masters.
Some of my young friends, for whose special instruction in of the study
these matters I am honoured with a chair in this University, may ent*'' jiaJtyr-
here ask, what is the use or benefit of examininsf and studyino' oiogies' and
. . P' n . . other Eccle-
these ancient tracts, which we call Martyrologies ? This is a siasticai
question which may be answered in a few words. Passing Gaeliuiic.*'^
over altogether for a moment the value of such studies in a
religious point of view, we shall take them at their mere anti-
quarian or their purely historical value.
23
354 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LECT. XVI. And we may positively affirm, that it is totally impossible to
know, to imderstand, or to write, eitlier the civil or ecclesiastical
oftheanci- liistory of Erimi, without a deep and thorough acquaintance
orogies''and' with tliosc yet Unpublished and unexplored documents. This
other Eccie- jg fg|^ ^j^j acknowlcdijed by several writers and historic inves-
siastical . 01X1 I*'-
Mss. in the tigators oi our day, oo that 1 have no hesitation m asserting,
that until these national remains are thoroughly examined by
competent and well-qualified persons, we shall have no civil or
ecclesiastical history of our country worthy of the name. But
even as a matter of individual pride and gratification, indeed asf
a matter of intellectual enjoyment, could there be any tiling more
agreeable to a cultivated mind than to know the origin and liis-
tory of those countless monuments of the fervid piety and devo-
tion of our primitive Christian forefathers, which are to be found
in the ruined church and tower, the sculptured cross, the holy
well, and the commemorative name of almost every townland
and parish in the whole island ? Few out of the many thou-
sands who see those places and hear their names know any-
thing whatever of their origin and history ; and yet there is
not one of them whose origin and history are not well pre-
served, and accessible to those who will but qualify themselves
to become acquainted with them, by a proper study of the rich
and venerable old language in which they are recorded.
Besides these martyrologies, and the many tracts on ecclesi-
astical subjects preserved in the Leahhar MOr Di'ma Doighre,
you can scarcely open an ancient Gaedhlic manuscript without
meeting one or more pieces in prose or verse, illustrative of the
great principles, particular doctrines, and moral apphcation of
the Christian religion, as brought hither from Rome, and
preached and established in Erinn by St. Patrick, in perfect
connection with, and submission to, the never-failing Chair of
St. Peter.
Mine is indeed but a poor attempt at placing before you a
view of the extent and variety of this important class of our
ancient writings ; but it ought to be sufficient, in consideration
of the natural duty that every man owes to himself, to his
country, and to his race, to induce a more general and profound
acquaintance with these long-neglected sources of our History.
LECTURE XVII.
[Delivered July 10, ISMJ
Ecclesiastical MSS. (continued). Of the early Ecclesiastical Writings in the
Gaedlilic language. Of the Books of Pedigrees of the early Saints of Eniin.
Of the Martyrologies and Festologies. The Saltalr na Rami. The Mar-
tyrology of IMariauus O'Gorman. The Martj^Tology of Tdmhlacht. The
Fdire, or Festology, of Aeugus Ceile De. Of the Canon of Fothadh.
The still existing materials for our ecclesiastical history are not,
and could hardly be expected to be, as ample as those of the civil
history of the coimtry ; because the causes which led to the ne-
glect, destruction, or dispersion of both, affected the former more
severely. From the year 1170 to the year 1530, this country
was engaged in an incessant war for its civil independence
against a powerful and perfidious foreign foe. From the year
1530 again to the year 1690, she maintained a war for civil
and rehgious liberty against a fierce tyranny, characterized
by robbery as foul and rehgious persecution as unrelenting as
any with which the page of Christian history is stamed. And
from 1690 to 1793 (to come down no farther towards o^xc
own times), she was doomed to be the victim of a system of
plunder still more completely organized and more degrading
to the people, — a system under wliich the robbery of mere
property was even less galling than the brutal "domiciliary
visits" and the various other personal insults and wrongs in-
flicted under the protection of local legal tribunals where
savage injustice invariably reigned, and the ojDpression of a
legion of spies and infonncrs from whom notliing could be
concealed and in whose hands the shghtest evidence of a sus-
picious character became the means of destruction to the per-
secuted Cathohc.
In such a country the hand of the local tyrant, the village
Nero and liis spies, of course fell heaviest of all on the ministers
of God, the natm-al preservers as well as recorders of the history
of the Church. And from about the year 1530, in the reign of
the English King Henry the Eighth, to the year 1793, the
priests of Ireland were ever subject to persecution, suppression,
dispersion, and expatriation, according to the Enghsh law ; their
churches, monasteries, convents, and private habitations, were
pillaged and wrested from them ; and a Vandal warfare was kept
up against all that was venerable and sacred of the remains of
23 b
356 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LECT. xYii. ancient literature and art which they possessed. Wlien, there-
^,„„„„ ,.,„ fore, we make search for the once extensive monuments of
loss and dis- leammg wmch the ecclesiastical ubraries contained of old, we
irish°Eccie- must remember that this shocking system continued for near
ffii^OTfcaf"*^ three hrmdred years ; and that during all that long period the
*P^- '^^™^ clerffv — the natural rei^ositories of all the documents which be-
thelastthree . c-/ i i • r- i /-^i i i • • n
centuries, loiiged to the nistoiy oi the Ohm-ch — were kept m a continual
state of insecurity and transition, often compelled to resort to
the continent for education, often forced to quit their homes
and churches at a moment's notice, and fly for their lives, in the
first instance, to the thorny depths of the nearest forest or the
damp shelter of some dreary cavern, until such time, if ever it
should come, as they could steal away to the hospitable shores
of some Christian land on the continent of Europe. Such were
the times and such the circumstances which led to the destruc-
tion and dispersion of the great mass of our ecclesiastical htera-
ture and history ; for we may be assui'ed, and it is indeed matter
of proof, that whatever else the Irish priest carried with him in
his flight for his life, he rarely forgot, when at all possible, to
take with him his Gaedhlic books, along with the various
articles which appertained to the exercise of his sacred functions.
Thus it was that so large a collection of these expatriated
books passed into Belgium, the chief part of wliich found their
way into the Franciscan College at Louvain. And there must
have been other collections in Belgium besides this ; for I am
acquainted with a manuscript book of historical and religious
poems (of which few are fomid anywhere else), containing more
than 10,000 quatrains, which was either compiled or transcribed
at Ostend in the year 1631, now in possession of the O'Conor
Don ; and another manuscript book of poems, less select, and
not so large, was compiled or transcribed in Lisle and Antwerp,
by the expatriated friar, Fergal O'Gara, in the year 1656, which
is now in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy (No. 22. 5.).
Of the originals of these two books no trace has been yet dis-
covered, nor indeed, I believe, has any extensive search been
yet made for them among the Belgian libraries.
Yet, notwithstanding the losses which our ecclesiastical books
must have suffered under the detestable war so long waged
against their conservators, still a comparatively large and im-
portant quantity of them remains extant, at tliis day, in the
original Gaedlilic, though scattered over Europe, and now
deposited in so many various and remote locahties. And it
appears to me that I could not properly omit to devote a portion
of this course of Lectures to the separate consideration of these
ancient writings, in reference to. the materials which they con-
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 357
tain for tlie elucidation of the history not only of the Church lect.xtii.
in Ireland, but also of the nation itself. Analysis
The most important ancient Ecclesiastical Writings in the of what
Gaedhlic known to me may be conveniently classed under ten tuemostiia-
distinct heads, not all of them, however, of equal importance to the^oaedhiic
the special subject of om- present studies. ''^Tmss^''"
There are, first — Canons and Ecclesiastial Rules, drawn up
for the government and direction of bishops and priests, as well
as of some ancient regular orders.
Second — Monastic Rules of Disciphne, interesting also as
containing a full and clear development of the rehgious doc-
trines behoved and taught in these holy institutions.
Third — A remarkable tract, containing the ancient ritual for
the consecration of a church or oratory.
Fourth — An ancient tract explaining the ceremonies of the
Mass. (This tract contains a clear and beautiful statement of
the Catholic doctrine of the Holy Eucharist.)
Fifth — Forms of Prayers, and Invocations to God and the
Saints ; among which is a beautiful Litany of the Blessed Virgin
Mary.
Sixth — Ancient Homihes and Sermons, with commentaries
upon and concordances of the Evangelists. (Some of these ser-
mons are preserved in pure Gaedhlic, and others of them are
composed of Gaedhlic and Latin, for the better preservation
and discussion of the Scriptural texts and quotations.)
Seventh — Poems, doctrinal and moral, ascribed, on good
authority, to the saints and doctors of the Gaedliil; and
with these may be classed some ancient hymns, in Latin and
GaedhHc, of undoubtedly remote antiquity.
Eighth — Ancient Lives of a great number of our Saints
(such as those of which I spoke in the last Lecture), full of
valuable and otherwise inaccessible information — genealogical,
historical, and topographical.
Ninth — Ancient Tracts respecting the genealogies and pedi-
grees of the Saints of Erinn.
Tenth — Martyrologies or Festologies, in prose and verse;
containing lists of the saints of Erinn, and sometimes of those
of the continent, arranged under their respective festival days ;
and with these, various genealogical, historical, and topogra-
phical illustrations.
The first seven of these divisions are of purely ecclesiastical
and theological interest. The last tlxree are more directly con-
nected with the history of the country ; and it is to these, there-
fore, that I have, in the first place, to direct your attention.
In the preparation of a course of popular lectures like these,
358 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LECT.xYii. where the subject spreads over several centuries or ages, tlie
An- n<T - lecturer finds some difficulty in arranging his treatment of the
mcnt of the different portions in detail, so as that their discussion may come
*" ^^^ ■ within the limits of the time prescribed to him ; and he is there-
fore obliged often to depart from the strict order of chronology,
and to group his subjects rather according to their importance,
and the convenience with which this may be treated in a given
time. This consideration has, I may say, compelled me to
depart from the strict order of chronology in approaching the
subject of the present lecture,
oftheanci- To the aucicnt tracts on the lives of the saints of Erinn,
the saluts^of and tlicir value as genuine materials for the purposes of Irish
Erinn. history, botli civil and ecclesiastical, I have already on various
occasions in the coui'se of these Lectures (but particularly in the
last), drawn your particular attention. As to this copious de-
partment of our literature, then, I shall only say here that every
day's reading and every day's experience convince me more
and more of the importance of recovering and bringing together,
from all sources, every fragment of those most precious relics of
a hterature, a history, and a piety too long neglected, and often
but too hghtly and carelessly talked of among us. To be sure,
there are many things in these ancient and simple biograj^hies
calculated to excite the smile of the philosoplier of the present
day. But is there nothing at first sight wearing the appear-
ance of the absurd or ludicrous, to be found in the records, every
year reverentially published, of the lives and labours in places
unknown to us of contemporary missionaries of our Church. —
nay even of the officers and agents of the Protestant missionary
societies of matter-of-fact England, — in this the second half of
the nineteenth century ? Let no one, then, be afraid or ashamed
of anything that may be found in these ancient and highly inter-
esting tracts ; and believe me when I assure you that, when pro-
perly studied, they will prove valuable subjects for the exercise
of true historical criticism and honourable and candid investiga-
tion ; and they will be found far more available for the purposes
of true history than people generally seem inclined to believe.
ofthePedi- From the lives of the saints we pass to their Pedigrees and
Geneitiogies Gencalogics ; and though this may appear a subject of little
ot Kdmf.""* importance to us, who five at so remote a period (from a thou-
sand or fourteen hundred years after the deaths of these holy
people), yet it will throw some light upon the history of the
time ; and it will be interesting, too, to observe that, in ancient
Erinn, the first, the most ardent, and the most enduring con-
verts to the true faith, were also the most learned, the most
intellectual, and the most noble in the land.
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 359
And, in order that the perpetual memory of those distin- lect.xvii.
guished individuals, male and female, who were first prepared „, ^, „ ..
11 ^ /^ 1 • 1 -1 -t . ..^ . Of the Pedi-
by the grace oi (jrod to receive and retain the true laith m grees and
Erinn, should never be forgotten, the holy men who succeeded ofthe sflnts
them (and who cherished their memories as the original reposi- °^ '^'''"""
tories and preachers of the Christian doctrine, the foundations
of the never- failing Cathohc Chiu'ch in Erinn) took especial
care that their names and their lineage should be handed down
with acciuacy ; and this, not only as a proof of the identity of
the personages, and their connection with still-existing clanns or
tribes, but also as a memorial of the singular fact, in which
our Christian writers took a special pride, that in ancient
Erinn, at least, the first seeds of the Saviour's doctrines were
received, cherished, and perpetuated, not, as in other countries,
by the lowest and most uncultivated, but by the highest and
most learned.
The oldest tract, or collection of the pedigrees of the saints of ^^ ^^^
, , ■*- • ^ i cell *^r6G s
Erinn, of which we have now any recognizable copy remaining, ascribed to
is that which is ascribed to Aengus CeiU De, commonly called cluTm.
Aengus " the Culdee".
The genuineness of this composition is admitted by all wri-
ters of modern times, Protestant and Cathohc ; by Usslier and
Ware, as well as by Colgan, etc. Of this remarkable tract,
there are several copies extant, but whether in the same state
of fulness, or with defections or additions, it is now impossible
to decide, in the absence of any copy so old as Aengus's own
time, which was about the year 780. The still-existing copies
are to be foimd in the groat Book of Genealogies, compiled by
Duhhaltach Mac Firhisigli, as you have abeady learned, in 1650 ;
in the Book of Lecain, compiled in 1416 ; in the Book of Balh-
mote, compiled in 1391 ; and in the Book of Leinster, compiled
between the years 1120 and 1160.
Of all these, the copy in the Book of Leinster, while the
oldest, is also the best and most copious ; and it is the more
valuable that it almost invariably gives references to the situa-
tions of the churches of the holy persons whose pedigrees are
recorded, together with an accoimt of the groups or associates
who occupied those churches at one time, and sometimes their
successors for a few generations.
These pedigrees, however, are not interesting merely as vene-
rable memorials of the persons whose names and hneage they pre-
serve, and as conveying with them (in the form of notes, etc ) so
immense an amount of ecclesiastical topography as they do. They
are also most important in another point of view ; that of fixing,
Avith sufficient exactness, the date of the foundation of all the
360 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LECT.XYir. primitive cliurclies of our country. It is an invariable rule
Of the ^^^^-^ ^^^^ sacred genealogist to carry every pedigree up to some
Pudigifes remarkable personage, whose race and period are well ascer-
Acngics ^ talucd and fixed in the national annals and secular books of
Ct:iMD4. genealogy; and thus, by referring to these pedigrees, you may
easily find the time at which any of the early saints of Erinn
flourished. As, for instance, St. Colum CilU is recorded to
have been the son o£ Feidlimidh, son of Fergus, son of Conall,
son of Niall "of the Nine Hostages", monarch of Erinn, who
was killed in the year 405. Now, by allowing the usual average
of thirty years to each of the four generations from Niall to
Colmn, making 120 years, and adding them to 405, we shall
find that Colum (who Is known to have died in the year 592)
must have been born about the year 520. He was actually
born, as we know from other soiu'ces, in 515.
Of the Mar- "^q come now to the tenth and last of the divisions in which
tyrologies or-,-, iin • t • • -i • t
Festoiogies. 1 havc Classed the ancient ecclesiastical manuscripts — 1 mean
those which are called the Martyrologies or Festologies, in which
the names of the saints are classed under the days of the month
upon which their festivals were observed.
Of these martyrologies I am acquainted with four, of different
dates and different characteristics, besides one which I know to
be in Rome, but which I have never seen. Of the four that I
am acquainted with, there are three in DubHn and one in the
British Museum ; and of these, three are written out on paper,
and one only on vellum ; three are in verse, and one in prose.
The latest of the four, in point of composition, is the one in
the British Museum [Egerton, 185]. It Is a thin volume, of
small quarto size, in verse, written, with the exception of a few
pages, in the well-known, bold, and accurate hand of the great
genealogist, Duhhaltach Mac Firhisigh, about the year 1650.
The volume consists of sixty-seven pages, of five quatrains
or twenty lines each page. It is entitled Saltair na Hami, in
a good modern hand, and the title Is in accordance with the
second quatrain, which begins [see original in Appendix No.
CIX.] :
" The Saltali- of the verses shall be the name
Of my poem : it is not an unwise title".
Of the Sal- This title was given by the author, I should suppose, in imi-
tation of the great Saltair na Rann of Aengus CeiU De; but
there Is no resemblance between the two compositions, for the
work of Aengus consists of 150 poems on the hlstor}^ of the Old
Testament, written in the finest style of the Gaedhlic language
of the middle of the eighth century, whereas the present poem
tail- jta Rann.
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 361
consists but of 312 quatrains, written in tlie inferior Gaedhlic lect. xvii.
of the close of tlie sixteenth century, if not later. ^^ ^^^ ^^^
According to the poet's arrangement, every quatrain com- taimaRann.
mences with the name of a saint, but sometimes there are three,
or even four, quatrains devoted to the one day, according to the
number of festivals that happen to fall iipon it. Every saint
has always a separate quatrain devoted to him.
Although this poem is written in the Gaedhlic language, it
is not, strictly speaking, a Gaedhhc martyrology. All the
Gaedhlic saints that I could discover in it are, St. Patrick, St.
Brigid of Ivildare, St. Ciaran of Saighir, and St. Ciaran of
Clonmacnois. It does not contain a quatrain for every day in
the year, Hke our other metrical maityrologies.
From page 11 to 54, the copy is written in Mac Firbis's
hand, and the remainder in a good but modern hand, but incor-
rect in orthography. The poem begins [see original in same
Appendix] :
" I will make a poem for the people of God".
The next martyrology in the ascending order of chronology. Of the Mar-
is that of Maelmaire Ua Gor7nain, commonly called Marianus J/aeimIir4
\jOiman. ... . (llarianus
This tract, which is in verse, was composed when RudhraidhS Gorman),
(or Roderic) O'Conor was monarch of Erinn ; Gilla Mac Liag
(commonly called Gelasius), Primate of Armagh ; and Aedh (or
Hugh) 0' Caellaidhe, Bishop of Airghicdl (Oriell), — say some
time between the years 1156 and 1173, when Mac Liag died.
O'Gorman, the author, was Abbot of Cnoc na n-Asi^al, or the
Hill of the Apostles [in the present county of Louth] ; and
according to the preface, the reasons which induced him to
write this Martyrology were : in the first place, to seek Heaven
for himself and for every one who should constantly sing it;
and secondly, to svipply the names of a great number of the
saints of Erinn and of the world, which Ae7igics Ceile De left
out of his Festology, and for whom the Chvu-ch had ordained
festivals and Masses; and becavise that Aengus had assigned
to several of those enumerated by him days of commemoration
different from those then appointed for them by the Church.
This poem is arranged in months, and consists of a stanza, of
an unequal number of lines, for every day in the year (but
there are two stanzas for the first day of January) ; and into
each of these stanzas are introduced the names of the saints
whose festival days happen to fall upon the day of the month
to which the stanza is assigned. It happens very freqviently,
too, that there are interlined and marginal notes to the text, re-
362 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LECT.xvrr. ferring to the situations of tlie cliurclies of the saints whose
Of the Mar- ^ames appear in the text.
tyroiogy of The poeui consists of 2780 Inies, begining [see original in
Va Gormain ApPENDIX, No. CX.] :
Gorman!)^ " Upon the high kalends of January,
The submission of illustrious Jesus to the law"
Of the The third of these Martjrologies is that which is generally
oiTamhiaM. known as the Martyrology of TamJilacht, or Tallacht (near
Dublin). It is a j)rose hst or catalogue of the saints of Erinn
and their festival days, as well as often of the names of their
immediate fathers and of their cliurches.
This tract has been generally believed to be the oldest
Martyrology of the Irish saints known ; and it is even stated
in Father Michael O'Clery's preface to Marianus O'Gorman s
poem, that the celebrated Martyrology of Aengus CeiU De
was composed from the Martyrology of Tamhlacht. This,
however, must be a mistake ; for upon examining the Martyr-
ology of Tamhlacht, I find the names and dates of two holy
men in it who must have died many years after Aengus liim-
self, and who do not, of course, appear in his poem. These
are Blothmac, the son of Flaun, monarch of Erinn, who died
for the faith, at the hands of the Danes, in the island of Hi, or
Zona, on the 19tli of July, in the year 823 ; and Feidhlinddh
Mac Crimhthainn, king of Munster, who died on the 18th of
August, in the year 845, according to the Annals of the Four
Masters, but whose festival is placed in the kalendar at the
28th of August. Now, according to the best accoimts, Aengus
wrote his poem in or before the year 798 ; and, as far as I have
been able to ascertain, no saint is found in it who died after
that year. He himself must have died about the year 815 ; so
that it is quite impossible that he could have written liis poem
from this tract, which comes down, at least, to the year 845.
Until lately, the Martyrologies of Tamhlacht and jNIarianus
O'Gorman were unknown in Ireland, except by name. How-
ever, in the year 1847, the [late] Rev. Professor Matthew Kelly,
of Maynooth, procured a copy of the latter tract from the
Burgundian Library at Brussels [since published by the Rev.
Dr. Kelly, just before his death] ; and in 1849 the Rev. Dr.
Todd, to whom our native Hteratm'e is so deeply indebted,
procured from the Belgian government the loan of the book
which contained tliis, as well as O'Gorman's and Aengus's
Martyrologies, (all in Father Michael O'Clery's handwriting),
of which I made accurate copies for his private library.
The Martyrology of Tamhlacht is defective in a few places,
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 363
but it •will be easy to supply these defects from the other mar- LECT.xvn.
tvrolooies.
The last, the most important, and the oldest, I am certain, is QiVa^FiUri
the Martyrology oi Aengus Ceile DL oiogy) of
Of this tract, there are six copies known to exist, four of ^fj"f]^*^
which are on vellum — namely, one in the Royal Irish Aca-
demy, Dublin; two in the Bodleian Library at Oxford; and
one, if not two, in the College of St. Isidore in Rome ; which,
with Dr. Todd's and the Brussels copies on paper, make up
six, if not seven.
The copy in the Royal Irish Academy is preserved in the
celebrated Leabliar M6r Dana DolglirS (commonly called the
Leahhar Breac), which was compiled about the year 1400.
There is a short liistory of the author, and the tract prefixed
to this copy, which commences, as such ancient Gaedhlic docu-
ments usually do, with giving the name of the author, the
time, the place, and the object of the composition. There is,
then, a short disquisition on this arrangement, in which the
usages of the philosophers and the order of the creation are re-
feired to as precedents.
The author's name and pedigree are then given thus: — Aen-
gus, the son of Oengoha, son of Ohlen, son of Fich-u, son o£ JDiar-
onuit, son of Ainmirc, son of Cellar, son of Oengus, son of Akiis-
luagh, son of Caelhad [of the Rudrician or Ultonian race, who
was monarch of Erinn, and was slain A.D. 357], son of Crunn-
badrai, son of Eochaldh Cohai; [and see Appendix, No. CXI.]
The time at which AeD2;us composed his Festology was in
tlie reign of Aedh Oirdnidhe, who was monarch of Erinn from
the year 7Uo to the year 817.
Tliis monarch, in the year 799, raised a large aimy, with
which he marched against the people of the province of Lein-
ster, and proceeded as far as Dun Guar, on the confines of that
province and Meath, where he encamped. The monarch, on
this occasion, compelled the attendance of Conmach, the suc-
cessor of St. Patrick and Primate of Armagh, with all his
clergy, to attend this expedition. When the army rested, how-
ever, the clergy complained to the king of the hardship and
inconsistency of their being called upon to attend on such occa-
sions. The king listened to their complaint, and ofiered to lay
it before his own poet, tutor, and adviser, the learned Fothadh,
and abide by his decision, which was accordingly done. The
poet's views were favourable to the clergy, and he gave his
decision m a short poem of three quatrains, which are pre-
served in this preface, and of which the following may be
364 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LECT.xvii. taken as a literal translation [see original in Appendix, No.
_. „ , (_/-A.ll.J : —
Foihathna THe Cliurcli of tlie Living God,
Touch her not, nor waste,
Let her rights be reserved.
As best ever they were.
Every true monk who is
Possessed of a pious conscience,
To the Church to which it is due,
Let him act as any servant.
Every faithful sixbject from that out,
Who is not bound by vows of obedience,
Has liberty to join in the battles
Of Aedh the Great, son of Niall.
And by this decision the clergy were exempted for ever
after from attending military expeditions. This decision ob-
tained the name of a Canon ; and its author has ever since been
known in Irish history by the name of Fothadh na Canoine, or
FothadJi " of the Canon".
Of the Fmr4 At the time of this expedition Aengus appears to have been
oio^)*of residing at his church, at a place called Disert Bethech, which
cmim ^^7 °^ ^^^® north bank of the river n-JEoir, (or Nore), a few miles
above the present town of Monasterevin, in the Queen's County,
and not far from the place where the monarch Aedh had pitched
his camp. The poet Fothadh, it appears, availed himself of
Aengus's contiguity to show him the poem in which his deci-
sion was expressed, and received his approval of it before pre-
senting it to the king. The two clerical poets entered into
bonds of amity and imion on this occasion ; and Aengus having
then just finished his Festology, showed it for the first time to
Fothadh, who solemnly approved of it, and recommended it to
the perusal and pious recital of the faitliful.
Aengus had received his clerical education at the celebrated
church of Cluain Eidhneach (in the present Queen's County),
after which he travelled into Munster, and founded the church
oi Disert Aengusa (at a place situated near Ballingarry, in the
present county of Limerick), a church, the primitive belfry or
round-tower of which remains even to this day.
On his return from Munster he went to the then celebrated
chm-ch of Tamhlacht (Tallacht, in the coimty of Dubhn), over
which St. Maelruain then presided. Maelriiain had foimded
this chiuxh (which he dedicated to Michael the Archangel) in the
year 769, on a site and endowment which had been offered "to
God, to Michael the Archangel, and to Maelruain', by Donn-
chadh, (or Donnoch), the pious and illustrious king of Leinster.
Here Aengus, for greater humility, presented himself to Maelruain
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 365
as a servant-man seeking for service, and J/ae/v^zmm employed liim lect.xvii.
to take charge of liis mill and kiln (the ruins of which mill and ^^ ^,^g j^^.^.^^
kiln, in their primitive dimensions, I may here mention that I («■ Fest-
have myself seen ; for it is only within the last five or six years Aengtis
that these venerable remains have yielded to "the improving *^^*'^^ '
hand of modern progress"). Here Aengus remained many years
faithfidly and silently discharging the duties of his humble em-
ployment, until at last his learning and character were discovered
by an accident, and he was (of course) obliged to abandon the
lowly condition of life to which he had devoted himself.
Aengus had commenced his poem at Cuil Bennchair in Ui
FailgM (or OfFaly), continued it at Cluain Eidlinech, and
finished it during his servitude at Tamhlaclit.
The cause and object of writing this Festology are stated
thus: — One time that Aengus went to the. church o£ Cuil Benn-
chair, he saw, he says, a grave there, and angels from Heaven
constantly descending and ascending to and from it. Aengus
asked the priest of the church who the person was that was
buried in this grave: the priest answered that it was a poor old
man who formerly lived at the place. What good did he do ?
said Aengus. I saw no particular good by him, said the priest,
but that his customary practice was to recount and invoke the
saints of the world, as far as he could remember them, at his
going to bed and getting up, in accordance with the custom of
the old devotees. Ah ! my God, said Aengus, he who would
make a poetical composition in praise of the saints should doubt-
less have a high reward, when so much has been vouchsafed
to the efforts of this old devotee ! And Aengus then com-
menced his poem on the spot. He subsequently continued it
gradually, and finished it as we have ah'eady seen.
Tliis composition consists, properly, of three parts. The first
is a poem of five quatrains, invoking the grace and sanctifica-
tion of Christ for the poet and his undertaking.
The second is a poem, by way of preface, consisting of 220
quatrains, of which 80 are prefixed, and 140 postfixed to the
main poem.
The third is the Festology itself, consisting of 365 quatrains.
The Invocation is written in the ancient Conachlann, or
what modern Gaedhlic scholars call in English " chain- verse" ;
that is, an arrangement of metre by which the first words of
every succeeding quatrain are identical with the last words of
the preceding one. The following literal translation may not
be out of place here [see original in Appendix, No. CXHI.J :
Sanctify, O Christ ! my words : —
O Lord of the seven heavens !
366 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL JMSS.
LECT. xA'^ii. Grant me the gift of wisdom,
o,„ „,,. . O Sovereign of tlie bright sun!
(or Fest- (J bright Sim, who dost illuminate
Aenlus The lieavens with all thy holiness !
^^^^^^^- O King who governest the angels !
O Lord of all the people !
0 Lord of the people !
0 King all-righteous and good !
May I receive the full benefit
Of praising Thy royal hosts.
Thy royal hosts I praise,
Because Thou art my Sovereign ;
1 have disposed my mind,
To be constantly beseeching Thee.
1 beseech a favour from Thee,
That I be purified from my sins
Through the peaceful bright-shining flock,
The royal host whom I celebrate.
The late Geneial Vallancey and Theophilus O'Flannagan
having met this poem, which is rather conspicuous, in the
Leabhar M6r Dana Doighre (or Leabhar Breac\ and finding
that the name of Christ, in the first line, is contractedly written
with CR and an horizontal dash over them, thought that they
had discovered in it an address to the sun, and a most im-
portant remnant of the worship of that luminary in ancient
Erinn ! The letters CR were the contraction for Creas, which,
the learned general discovered, from the books of the Brah-
mins of Lidia, and the Sanscrit, to be a name for the sun com-
mon to Lidia and Ireland !
These views of the learned gentlemen, as well as a highly
poetical translation of the poor monk's poem, were embodied in
a small printed pamphlet, and addressed, " To the President and
Members of the Royal Irisli Academy, as a proof of the ancient
History of Ireland", by General Vallancey.
I regret that space does not allow me to embody this short
pamphlet with the present lecture, as, perhaps, no better ex-
ample could be found to show the manner in which, among the
last generation, the character of an Irish historian and scholar
could be acquired by the pedantic use of the most fanciful col-
lation of our language and manners with the Sanscrit and
other Eastern languages or dialects. And I am sorry to say
that there are still among us writers who pass for historians and
antiquarians, but who stand much in need of the lesson contained
in this ridiculous example of General Vallancey 's astuteness.
But to return. The Invocation to our Saviour is followed,
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 367
in Aengus's Festology , By tlie first part of the metrical preface, lect.xvii.
consisting, as has been abeacly stated, of 80 stanzas. These ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ,.,.^
verses are in the same measure, and of the same character, as (or *"est-
the Invocation, of which, indeed, they are a continuation. And, Aengus
in fact, the entire work may be treated as one continuous poem, ^^^'^ ^^'
divided into three parts or cantos ; for the last words of the In-
vocation are the first words of the first preface, and the last
words of this preface are the first words of the main poem, and
the last words of the main poem are the first words of the post
or second preface.
The first, in beautiful and forcible language, gives a glowing
account of the tortures and sufferings of the early Christian
Martyrs ; how the names of the persecutors are forgotten, while
the names of their victims are remembered with honour, venera-
tion, and afiTection ; how Pilate's wife is forgotten, and the Blessed
Virgin Mary is remembered and honoured from the uttermost '^
boimds of the Earth to its centre. Even in our own coimtry the
enduring supremacy of the Church of Clnist is made manifest ;
for Tara (says the poet) had become abandoned and desert under
the vain-glory of its kings, while Armagh remains the populous
seat of dignity, piety, and learning ; Cniaclw.in, the royal resi-
dence of the kings of Connacht, is deserted, while Clonmacnois
resounds with the dasliing of chariots and the tramp of multi-
tudes, to honour the shrine of St. Ciaran; the royal palace of
Aillinn, in Leinster, has passed away, while the church of St.
Brigid at Kildare remains in dazzhng splendour ; Emania, the
royal palace of Ulster, has disappeared, while the holy Coem-
gliins church at Gleann-da-locha, remains in full glory; the
Monarch Laeghaires pride and pomp were extinguished, wliile
St. Patrick's name continued to sliine with growing lustre. And
thus does the noble poet go on to contrast the fleeting and for-
gotten names and glories of the men and great estabhshments of
the great pagan and secular world, -with the stability, freshness,
and splendour of the Christian churches, and the ever-green
names of the illustrious, though often humble founders.
The Felire^ or Festological Poem, itself comes next. It con-
sists, as ah-eady stated, of 365 quatrains, or a stanza for every
day in the year. The Circumcision of ovcc Lord is placed at
the head of the festivals; and with it the poem begins, as
follows [see original in Appendix, No. CXIV.] :
At the head of the congregated saints.
Let the King take the front place :
Unto the noble dispensation did submit
Christ — on the kalends of January.
The whole of this the chief poem, as well, indeed, as the
368 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LECT.xvii. first preface, is thickly interlined with an ancient gloss and
commentary, on some difficult or obsolete words or jDassages,
(or Fest- and sometimes witli notes on the situations of the churches of
A°nglf the saints of Erinn, up to the author's time, with occasional
ciiUDL passages from their Lives and Miracles. These notes are
earned all over the margin, and require long and acciu'ate study
to connect them with their proper places in the text.
It will be seen, by and by, that this Festology is not con-
fined wholly to the saints of Erinn.
Our great apostle, St. Patrick, is commemorated at the 17th
of March, in the following stanza [see original in Appendix,
No. CXV.] :
The blaze of a splendid sun.
The apostle of stainless Erinn,
Patrick — with his countless thousands,
May he shelter our wretchedness.
And at the 13th of April, Bishop Tassach, one of Patrick's
most favourite companions, and his chief manufacturer and
ornamenter of crozlers, crosses, shrmes, and bells, and who at-
tended him at his death, is thus commemorated [see original
in Appendix, No. CXVI.] :
The kingly Bishop Tassach,
Who administered on his arrival.
The Body of Christ — the truly powerful King —
And the Communion to Patrick.
In the third division of his work, Aengus recapitulates the
preceding canto or Festilogium ; he explains its arrangement,
and directs the faithful how to read and use it; and he says
that though great the number, he has only been able to enume-
rate the princes of the saints in it; he recommends it to the
pious study of the faithful, and points out the spiritual benefits
to be gained by reading or reciting it ; he says that he has tra-
velled far and near to collect the names and the history of the
subjects of his laudation and Invocation; that for the foreign
saints he has consulted St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, and Eusebius;
and that from " the countless hosts of the illuminated books of
Erinn" he has collected the festivals of the Irish saints. He
then says that, having already mentioned and invoked the
saints at their respective festival days, he will now invoke them
in classes or bands, under certain heads or leaders ; and this he
does in the following order: the elders or ancients, under
Noah; the prophets under Isaiah; the patriarchs raider Abra-
ham; the apostles and disciples xmder Peter; the wise or
learned men under Paul; the martyrs under Stephen; the
spiritual directors under old Paul; the virgins of the world
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 369
under the Blessed Virgin Mavy ; the holy bishops of Rome lect. xvn.
under Peter ; the bishops of Jerusalem under Jacob or James ; .
the bishops of Antioch also under Peter ; the bishops of Alex- (or Festol
andria under Mark ; a division of them imder Honoiati ; a Aenli°s
division of learned men under the gifted Benedict ; all the ^*'*'^ ^^■
innocents who suffered at Bethlehem, under Georgius; the
priests under Aaron ; the monks under Anthony ; a division of
the saints of the world under INIartin ; the noble saints of Erinn
imder St. Patrick ; the saints of Scotland under St. Colum
Cille; and the last great division of the saintly virgins of
Erinn, under the holy St. Brigid of Kildare.
The sacred bard continues then, in an eloquent strain, to be-
seech the mercy of the Saviour for himself and all mankind,
through the merits and sufferings of the saints whom he has
named and enumerated, through the merits of their dismembered
bodies; their bodies pierced Avith lances; their womids; their
groans ; their relics ; their blanched countenances ; their bitter
tears; through all the sacrifices offered of the Saviour's own
Body and Blood, as it is in Heaven, upon the holy altars;
through the blood that flowed from the Saviour's own side ;
through His humanity; and through His divinity in unity
with the Holy Spirit and the Heavenly Father.
At the end of this long invocation, the poet says the
brethren of his order deemed all his prayers and petitions too
little ; — whereupon he says that he will change his course, so
that no one may have cause to complain. He then commences
another eloquent appeal to our Lord, for himself and all men,
beseeching mercy according to the merciful worldly interposi-
tion of the divine mercy in the times past; — such as the
saving of Enoch and Elias from the dangers of the world ; the
saving of Noah from the deluge ; the saving of Abraham from
the plagues and from the hand of the Chaldeans ; the saving of
Lot from the burning city ; Jonas from the whale ; of Isaac from
the hands of his father. He beseeches Jesus, through the inter-
cession of His Mother, to save him as Jacob was saved from the
hands of his brother, as John [Paul] was saved from the venom
of the "v^per. He returns again to the examples of the Old Testa-
ment, beginning with the saving of David from the sword of
Goliath ; of Susanna from her dangers ; of Nineveh from des-
truction ; of the Israelites from Mount Gilba [Gilboa] ; of
Daniel from the lions' den; of Moses from the hands of Faro
[Pharaoh] ; of the thi'ee youths from the fiery furnace ; of To-
bias from his blindness ; of Peter and Pau^l from the dungeon ;
of Job from demoniacal tribulations ; of David from Saul ; of
Joseph from the hands of his brethren ; of the Israelites from
24
370 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LECT. xvir. the Egyptian bondage ; of Peter from tlie waves of tlie sea ; of
John from the fiery caldron; of Martin from the priest of the
(or Fest- idol. He besceches Jesus again, through the intercession of the
Aengus Hcavcnly household, to be saved as He saved St. Patrick from
C6ii4 D6. ^]-^g poisoned drink at Teamliar (or Tara) ; and St. CoemhgMn
[Kevin] of Gleann da locha from the perils of the mountain.
I have trespassed on your patience at such unreasonable
length, with the details of this extraordinary poem, merely for
the purpose of showing you that the gifted writer could not be
set down as a mere ignorant or superstitious monk, but that he
was a man deeply read in the Holy Scriptures, and in the civil
and ecclesiastical history of the world, and more particularly
that part of it which was contained in what he so enthusias-
tically calls " The Host of the Books of Erinn".
It is no part of the purpose of these Lectures to enter into
doctrinal cliscussions on the merits of our ancient sacred
waitings ; but taking this Festology of St. Aengus as a purely
historic tract, largely interwoven with the early history of
Erinn, civil and ecclesiastical, I almost think no other country
in Europe possesses a national document of so important a
character.
Wlien we look at the great number of the early CathoHc
Christians of Erinn, who are introduced by name into this
tract, with their festival days, and with most copious references
to the names and exact situations of the primitive chm'ches
founded by them, — and when we find that if not all, at least,
nearly all these churches may be, or have been already iden-
tified by means of it, — its value can hardly be overrated.
It was during the progress of the late Ordnance Survey of
Ireland that this tract came first into notice; and it is no
ordinary satisfaction to me to have to say, that I was the first
person in modern times that discovered the value of its con-
tents, when under the able superintendence of Colonel Larcom
and Dr. Petrie, I brought them to bear, with important re-
sults, on the topographical section of that great national un-
dertaking.
Such was the attention attracted by the Festology of Aengus,
at that time, that the Board of Trinity College, at the sug-
gestion of the Rev. Dr. Todd, employed me to make a fac-
simile copy of the Leahhar Mor JJuna Doighre, or Leahliar
Breac, in which it is contained, for the College Library; and
on the breaking up of the department of the Ordnance Survey,
to which I had been for seven years attached (and my con-
nection with which, I may add, was suddenly and, as I felt then
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 371
and feel now, wrongfully terminated), our spirited fellow-citizen, lect.xvh.
my friend Mr. George Smith, of wliom I have already had ^
occasion to make honourable mention in connection with the (or rest- "
Annals of the Four jNIasters, employed me to transcribe the ^'g,^^,\/^
Festology again, from the original book, Avith a view to its pub- cnuDi.
lication. This, however, was not a fac-simile copy, wliich it
would indeed be practically useless to print, even if such a thing
were possible, because the tract consists, properly, of three
parts ; namely, the text of the poem, the interlined gloss, and
the interlined and marginal topographical and other notes. I
copied these three parts distinctly, lengthened out all the con-
tractions, and disposed them in their relative positions, in such
an order and arrangement as met with the full approval of the
late Very Rev. Dr. O'Renahan, President of JNIaynooth Col-
lege, the Rev. Dr. Todd, Dr. Petrie, and Dr. John O'Donovan.
And, having so transcribed and arranged it, I made a literal,
and I trust an accurate, translation of the whole.
In the year 1849 I had occasion to spend some months in
London, in the British Museum, having, my copy of the
Festology with me. In the course of the summer of that year
Dr. Todd went to London, and we went together to Oxford,
where we spent four days in comparing my transcript with the
Oxford copies, and adding, as far as time would permit, such
various readings as we believed desirable and useful. The
publication of the edition so prepared has not yet, however,
been midertaken; and the transcript and translation remain
with Mr. Smith, waiting for, what I trust is not far distant, a
more favourable season to present to the literary world the
long-celebrated Felire of Aengus Ceile De.
24 b
LECTURE XVIII.
[DeUvered July 15, 1856.J
Ecclesiastical MSS. (continued). The Canons. The Ecclesiastical and Mon-
astic Rules. Ancient Treatise on the Mass. Ancient Prayers and Litanies.
Of the (so called) Prophecies. The " Dialogue of the Two Sages". The
' Prophecies' attributed to Conn. The ' Prophecy' attributed to Axt.
In tlie present Lecture, I propose to conclude my sliort account
of tlie ecclesiastical MSS., by a very cursory sketcli of those
of purely ecclesiastical interest; and I shall then proceed to
the important subject of the historical pieces called the Prophe-
cies. You will bear in mind the classification already made
of these ecclesiastical MSS.
And first, of the Canons :
The ancient Canons preserved among the ecclesiastical
writings in the Gaedhlic language, and with which I happen to
be acquainted, are few and brief, and oftener found recited in
monastic rules than standing by themselves.
There are some important Ecclesiastical Canons included in
the general institutes of the nation, to which, pending the
inquiries of the Brehon Law Commission, I do not wish to
allude further ; but I may mention the following canons among
those preserved in the Leahhar Mor Dilna Doighre (sometimes
called the Leahhar Breac), in the library of the Royal Ii'ish
Academy: Canons concerning absence from Mass upon a Sun-
day ; concerning confession and absolution ; concerning the re-
ciprocal duties of the parish priest and his flock ; concerning the
punishment of a bishop who confers holy orders on an un-
qualified candidate; concerning the duties of the episcopal
of&ce ; concerning the education of persons for the priesthood ;
concerning the dedication of children to the service of the
Church, and recalling them again.
Besides these canons of the ancient Catholic Church of
Erinn preserved in the Gaedhlic language, there are a great
number preserved in the Latin. Of these latter I shall present
you with one as a specimen, from the ancient Book of the
canons of Armagh, and from that part of the same old MS.
which was copied from the book written by St. Patrick's own
hand. I select it not only as an example of its class among the
writings I speak of, but because it is one of especial interest,
inasmuch as it preserves to us the most perfect evidence of the
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 373
connection of the Catholic Church in Erinn with the See ofLEc. xvm.
Rome, from the very first introduction of Christianity into the
' •' "^ 1° Of the
country. Canons.—
This canon has reference to matters of difficulty which might ncc^ion o" "
arise in any parish or diocese of the kingdom of Erinn, and "'^ '^|^";'';^
which could not be settled by the local ecclesiastical authorities ; with the
all which cases were to be referred to the Primate of Armagh ; ° ^ '^®'
and if they could not be disposed of by him, they were then
to be sent for final determination to him who sat in the apostolic
chair of St. Peter at Rome. It is as follows :
" Moreover, if any case should arise of extreme difficulty,
and beyond the knowledge of all the judges of the nations of
the Scots, it is to be duly referred to the chair of the archbishop
of the Gaedhil, that is to say, of Patrick, and the jurisdiction of
this bishop [of Armagh]. But if such a case as aforesaid, of a
matter at issue, cannot be easily disposed of [by him], with his
counsellors in that [investigation], we have decreed that it be
sent to the apostolic seat, that is to say, to the chair of the
Apostle Peter, having the authority of the city of Rome.
" These are the persons who decreed concerning this matter,
viz. : — Auxilius, Patrick, Secundinus, and Benignus. But after
the death of St. Patrick his disciples carefvdly wrote out his
books". [See original in Appendix, No. CXVIL]
This most important Canon affords a proof so unanswerable
as to dispose for ever of the modern imposition so pertinaciously
practised upon a large section of our countrymen, as well as
upon foreigners speaking the English language ; namely, that
the primitive Church of Erinn did not acknowledge or submit
to the Pope's supremacy, or appeal to it in cases of ecclesiastical
necessity and difficulty. Nor is this canon, I may add, by any
means the only piece of important evidence furnished by our
ancient books on this great point of Catholic doctrine.
The second class of these religious remains consist of the ^"g^jfjag®.
Ecclesiastical and Monastic Rules. Of these we have ancient ticai and
copies of eight in Dublin ; of which six are in verse, and two eules.^'
in prose ; seven in vellum MSS., and one on paper.
Of the authenticity of these ancient pieces there can be no
reasonable doubt ; the language, the style, and the matter, are
quite in accordance with the times of the authors. It is hardly
necessary to say that they all recite and inculcate the precise
doctrines and disciphne of the Catholic Chiu'ch in Erinn, even
as it is at this day.
It would, as you must at once see, be quite inconsistent with
the plan of these introductory Lectures to enter into details of
374 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS,
LEc. XVIII. compositions of this kind; and I shall therefore content myself
„o Qf t,,g hy placing before you a simple list of them in the chronological
Kccieir.s- order of their authors, and with a very few observations on their
Monastic character by way of explanation.
liLLu.. rpi-^g £^gt -g ^ pQg^^ Qf 276 lines, by St. AilbU of Imliuch
[Emly, in the present county of Tipperary], who died in the
year 541. It is addressed to Eugene, son of Saran, priest of
Cluain Caelain, in the same district ; and consists of lessons on
the duties of a priest, an abbot, and a monk, and on the rules
by which their lives ought to be regulated.
The second in chronological order is, the Rule of St. Ciaran;
but whether of Ciaran of SaigJm% or Ciaran of Cluainmacnois,
who died in the year 548, I am not at present able to decide.
This is a poem of 64 Hnes, on clerical and devotional duties.
The third in chronological order is the Rule of St. Cornhghall
of Beanncliuir^ [Bangor, in the present county of Down,] who
died in the year 552. This is a poem of 144 lines, addi-essed
alike to abbots, to monks, and to devout Christians in general.
The fourth is the Rule of St. Colum Cille, who died in the
year 592. This is a short piece, of about three pages quarto, in
prose. It is a precept for the regulation of the life and time of
a religious brother who preferred solitude to living in com-
munity. He is recommended to reside in contiguity to a prin-
cipal church, in a secure house, with one door, attended by one
servant, whose work should be light, where only those should
be admitted who conversed of God and His Testament, and in
special solemnities only. His time was to be spent in prayers
for those who received his instructions, and for all those who
had died in the Faith, the same as if they had all been his most
particular friends. The day was to be divided into three parts,
devoted, respectively, to prayers, good works, and reading.
The works were to be divided into three parts ; the first was to
be devoted to his own benefit, in doing what was useful and
necessary for his own habitation ; the second part to the benefit
of the brethren ; and the third, to the benefit of the neighbours.
This last part of his pious works was to consist of precepts or
writing, or else sewing clothes, or any other profitable indus-
trial work: "so that there should be no idleness", continues
the writer: " ut Deus ait: non apparebis ante me vacuus". [See
Appendix, No. CXVIII.]
The fifth in chronological order, is the Rule of St. CartJiach,
who was familiarly called Mochuda. He was the foiinder of
the ancient ecclesiastical city of Raithin [near TuUamore, in
the present King's County] ; and of the famous city of Lis M6r
[Lismore in the present county of Waterford] ; he died at the
latter place on the 14th day of May, in the year 636.
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 375
Tills is a poem of 580 lines, divided into sections, eacli lec. xvin.
addi'essed to a different object or person. The first division ^^ ^^ ^^^
consists of eight stanzas, or 32 lines, inculcating the love of Ecciesias-
God and our neighbour, and the strict observance of the com- monastic
mandments of God, which are set out generally both in word ^^"^^^•
and in spirit. The second section consists of nine stanzas, or
36 lines, on the office and duties of a bishop. The third
section consists of twenty stanzas, or 80 lines, on the office and
duties of the abbot of a church. The fourth section consists of
seven stanzas, or 28 lines, on the office and duties of a priest.
The fifth section consists of twenty-two stanzas, or 88 lines,
minutely describing the office and duties of a father confessor,
as well in his general character of an ordinary priest, as in his
particular relation to his penitents. The sixth section consists
of nineteen stanzas, or 76 fines, on the life and duties of a
monk. The seventh section consists of twelve stanzas, or 48
lines, on the life and duties of the Celidhe De, or Culdees.
The eighth section consists of thirty stanzas, or 120 lines, on the
rule and order of the refectory, prayers, ablutions, vespers, and
the feasts and fasts of the year. The ninth and last section
consists of nineteen stanzas, or 76 lines, on the duties of the
kingly office, and the evil consequences that result to king and
j)eople, from their neglect or unfaithful discharge.
The sixth rule In chronological order, is the general Rule of
the Celidhe Be, vulgarly called " Culdees". This is a prose tract
of nine small quarto pages, wiitten or drawn up by St. Maelruain,
of TamJdacht, [now Tallaght, in the county of Dublin,] who
died in the year 787. It contains a minute series of rules for the
regulation of the fives of the Celidhe J)e, their prayers, their
preachings, their conversations, their confessions, their commu-
nions, their ablutions, their fastings, their abstinences, their re-
laxations, their sleep, their celebrations of the Mass, and so forth.
The seventh in chronological order is the Rule of the Gray
Monks ; but a chasm in the book has left us but the first stanza
of this rule.
The eighth and last in chronological order, is the Rule of
Cormac Mac Cuilennain, king and archbishop of Cashel, who
died in the year 903. This is a poem of fourteen stanzas, or
56 lines, written in the most pure and ancient style of the
GaedhHc languarge, of which, as well as of many other languages,
the illustrious Cormac was so profound a master. This rvde is
general in several of its inculcations ; but it appears to have been
written particularly as an instruction and exhortation to a priest,
for the moral and spiritual direction and preservation of himself
and his flock.
376
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LEC. XVIII,
S" Of iin
Ancient
Treatise on
the Mass.
The third of the classes into which I have divided this branch
of our ancient literature consists of a single piece, but one of
peculiar interest. It is an ancient Treatise upon, or Explication of,
the symbolical ceremonies of the Mass, in Latin and Gaedhlic,
and a powerful exposition of the doctrine of the Eucharistic
Sacrifice.
I have already observed that these purely ecclesiastical writ-
ings scarcely come within the province of those materials of our
history, which form the subject of these Lectures. Nevertheless,
I am tempted, in consideration of the very nature of the institu-
tion within whose walls we are now assembled, so far to digress at
this place, as to give you the substance of this very curiovis treatise.
The passage which I have translated for you is short ; but, even
were it a little longer, I think you would excuse me, when you
find in it a complete and undeniable proof of what it is the fashion
of Protestant writers to deny without any reason, namely, that
the belief of our Gaedhlic ancestors respecting the Real Presence,
and all the meaning of the Holy Sacrifice of the JNIass, was, in
the early ages of the Church in Erinn, precisely the same belief
now held by ourselves, precisely the same belief inculcated then,
as now, by the Catholic Church throughout the world.
The following extract is literally translated from the tract I
have referred to. [See original in Appendix, No. CXIX.]
" And this is the foundation of the faith which every Chris-
tian is bound to hold ; and it is upon this foundation that every
virtue which he practises, and every good work which he per-
forms, is erected.
" For it is through this perfection of the faith, with tranquil
charity, and with steadfast hope, that all the faithful are saved.
For it is this faith, that is, the Catholic faith, that conducts tlie
righteous to the sight, that is, to see God in the glory and in the
dignity in which He abides. It is this sight which is offered
as a golden reward to the righteous after the Resurrection.
" The pledge for this sight which has been left to the Church
here for the present, is the Holy Spirit, which resides in, which
comforts, and which strengthens her with all virtues. It is this
Spirit which distributes His own peculiar gifts to every faithful
member in the Church, as He pleases and as they require to re-
ceive it from Him. For, it is by the Holy Spirit these noble
gifts following, are bestowed upon the Church, among men ; viz. :
Baptism and Penitence, and the expectation of persecutions and
afflictions.
" One of the noble gifts of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Scrip-
tures, by which all ignorance is enlightened and all worldly
affliction comforted ; by which all spiritual hght is kindled, by
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 377
wliicli all debility is made strong. For it is tlirougli tlie Holy lec. xvin.
Scripture that heresy and scliisni are banished from the Church, ^^ ^^
and all contentions and divisions reconciled. It is in it, well- Ai.cient
tried counsel and appropriate instruction mil be found, for every thrsiass!"
degree in the Church. It is through it the snares of demons, and
vices are banished from every faitlifvd member in the Church.
For the Di\ane Scriptm-e is the mother and the benign nvirse of
all the faithfid who meditate and contemplate it, and who are
nurtui-ed by it, until they are cliosen chilchen of God by its ad-
vice. For the Wisdom, that is the Chm-ch, bountifully distri-
butes to her children the variety of her sweetest drink, and the
choicest of her spiritual food, by which they are perpetually in-
toxicated and cheered.
"Another division of that pledge, which has been left with the
Church to comfort her, is the Body of Christ, and His Blood,
which are offered upon the altars of the Christians. The Body, ^
even, which was born of Mary, the Immaculate Virgin, without ^
destruction of her virginity, without opening of the womb, with-
out presence of man ; and which was crucified by the unbeliev-
ing Jews, out of spite and envy ; and which arose after three
days from death, and sits upon the right hand of God the Father
in Heaven, in glory and in dignity before the angels of Heaven.
It is that Body, the same as it is in this great glory, which the , ^
righteous consume off God's Table, that is, the holy altar. For x o S
this Body is the rich viaticum of the faithful, who journey v^ f
through the paths of pilgrimage and penitence of this world to "^ ^ _.
the Heavenly fatherland. This is the seed of the Resurrection ,-^ '■^ r.^
in the Life Eternal to the righteous. It is, however, the origin ■'^.\,' ^
and cause of falHng to the impenitent, who believe not, and to
the sensual, who distinguish it not, though they believe. Woe,
then, to the Christian who distinguishes not this Holy Body of,
the Lord, by pure morals, by charity, and by mercy. For it is
in this Body that will be found the example of the charity which ^
excels all charity, viz., to sacrifice Himself, without guilt, in
satisfaction for the guilt of the whole race of Adam. ^'\
" Tliis, then, is the perfection and the fullness of the Catholic
Faith, as it is taught in the Holy Scriptures".
I may observe hei-e that the [late lamented] Rev. Dr. Matthew
Kelly (Professor of Ecclesiastical History in St, Patrick's CoL
lege, Maynooth), to whom I submitted this piece, believed it to
be the Mass brought into Ei-inn by St. Patrick, diftering as it
does in some places, as to the order of the ceremonies, from any
other Mass that he had ever seen.
I may also observe that the Gaedhlic part of the tract, though
modified in some respects from the peculiar ecclesiastical style
378 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LEc. x\aii. of ortliograpliy of tlie eiglith and nintli centuries, is still of the
3" Of an purest and most ancient Christian character.
Ancient I bcKeve I may well be pardoned havinor ffone so far out of
Treatise on ii • oo
the Jiass. my path on the present occasion, as to present to you this pas-
sage in full. I do so not only for its own sake, but in order to
lay before the Catholic University of Ireland a specimen of mat-
ter which appears to me to be of infinite value to the history of the
Church in this country, and of which there is a very large amount
preserved to us in the ancient writings just referred to. I cannot
doubt but that it is only necessary to call the attention of the
learned Catholic body to the existence of the wealth of evidence
and illustration concerning the faith of oiu* ancestors, which lies
as yet buried in these great old Gaedhlic books, to cause effective
measures to be taken to make these useful to the religion of the
people to-day, by making known what they contain in full to
the world.
and Litunies.
4° Of an To rcsumc. The fourth class consists also of a single piece,
form of Con- namely, an ancient Formula of the Consecration of a new church
a^lm^cr' or oratory.
This piece is important, no less for its antiquity, and with re-
ference to its doctrinal character, than for the historical evidence
it contains as to the form in which the primitive churches of
Erinn were built, which must, according to this tract, have always
had the door in the west end.
5°ofAncient The fifth class of these religious remains consists of the
Tocatinn's, Praycrs, Invocations, and Litanies which have come down to
us: these I shall set down in chronological order, as far as my
authorities will allow me, and, when authority fails, guided by
my own judgment and experience in the investigation of these
ancient writings.
The first piece of this class (adopting the chronological order) is
the prayer of St, Airercm the wise (often called Aileran, Eleran,
and Airencui), who was a classical professor in the great school of
Clonard, and died of the plague in the year 664. St. Aireran's
prayer or litany is addressed, respectively, to God the Father,
to God the Son, and to God the Holy Spirit, invoking them for
mercy by various titles indicative of their power, glorjr, and at-
tributes. The prayer consists of five invocations to the Father,
eighteen invocations to the Son, and five to the Holy Spirit;
and commences in Latin, thus : " O Deus Pater, Omnipotens
Deus, exerci misericordiam nobis". This is followed by the same
invocation in the Gaedhlic; and the petitions, to the end, are
continued in the same language. The invocation of the Son
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 379
begins tlius : " Have mercy on us, O Almighty God ! O Jesus lec xyiii.
Christ ! O Son of the Hving God ! O Son, born twice ! O only 50 of Ancient
born of God the Father". The petition to the Holy Spirit be- y^-^yfp, m-
i.., i^ii/-\TTlo-'l vdcations,
gms : " Have mercy on us, U Ahuighty God ! O Holy Spirit 1 and Litanies.
0 spirit the noblest of all spirits !" [See original in Appendix, of st. Itr-^^
XSO. Vy^V^V.J ^ ^ . Wise.)
When I first discovered this prayer in the Leahhar Buidhe
Lecain, (or Yellow Book of Lecain), in the library of Trinity
College, many years ago, I had no means of ascertaining or
fixing its date; but in my subsequent readings in the same
library, for my collection of ancient glossaries, I met the word
Oirchis set down with explanation and illustration, as follows: —
" Oirchis, id est, Mercy ; as it is said in the prayers of Airinan
the Wise: — Have mercy on us, O God the Father Almighty !"
[See original in Appendix, No. CXXL]
I think it is unnecessary to say more on the identity of this
prayer with the distinguished Aireran of Clonard. Nor is this
the only specimen of his devout works that has come down to
us. Fleming, in his Collecta Sacra, has published a fragment
of a Latin tract of Aireran, discovered in the ancient monastery
of St. Gall in Switzerland, which is entitled, " The Mystical
Interpretation of the Ancestry of our Lord Jesus Christ". A
perfect copy of this curious tract, and one of high antiquity, has,
1 believe, been lately discovered on the continent.
There was another A ireran, also called " the wise", — who was
abbot of Tamlilacht [Tallaght], in the latter part of the ninth
century ; but he has not been distinguished as an author, as far
as we know.
The second piece of this class is the prayer or invocation of ^? f,^,"f |^^
Colgu Ua Duineclula, a classical Professor of Clonmacnois, who Duinechda.
died in the year 789. This prayer is divided into two parts.
The first consists of twenty-eight petitions or paragraphs, each
paragraph beseeching the mercy and forgi^'eness of Jesus,
through the intercession of some class of the holy men of the
Old and New Testament ; who are referred to in the paragraph,
or represented by the names of one or more of the most dis-
tinguished of them. The first part begins thus: — "I beseech
the intercession with Thee, O Holy Jesus ! of thy four evange-
lists who wrote thy gospel, namely Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John". The second part consists of seventeen petitions to the
Lord Jesus, apparently oiFered at Mass-time, beseeching Him to
accept the sacrifice then made, for all Christian churches, for
the sake of the merciful Father, from whom He descended
upon the Earth ; for the sake of His Divinity which the Father
had overshadowed, in order that it might unite with His
380
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LEC. XVIII.
6° Of Ancient
Prayers, In-
vocations,
and Litanies.
(Of the
Prayer of
Aireran
"tlie Wise";
and the
Prayer of
Colgu Ua
Duinechda.)
(Ancient Li-
tany of tlie
B. Virgin.)
The Litany
of Aengus
am L)6
(circa 798).
liunianity; for the sake of tlie Immaculate body from wliich
He was formed in tlie womb of tlie Virgin. The second prayer
begins thus: — " O Holy Jesus; O Beautiful Friend; O Star of
the Morning ; Thou full, brilliant Noon-day Sun ; Thou Noble
Torch of Righteousness and Truth, of Eternal Life, and of
Eternity." [See original in Appendix, No. CXXIL]
The third piece of this fifth class is a beautiful and ancient
Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, differing in many ways
from her Litany in other languages, and clearly showing that,
although it may be an imitation, it is not a translation. I
believe it to be as old, at least, as the middle of the eighth
century. It consists of fifty-nine Invocations, beginning ; " O
Great Mary ! O Mary Greatest of all Marys ; O Greatest of
women ; O Queen of the Angels", etc. ; and it concludes with
a beautiful and eloquent entreaty that she will lay the un-
worthy prayers, sighs, and groans of the sinners before her
own merciful Son, backed by her own all-powerful advocacy,
for the forgiveness of their sins. [See original in Appendix,
No. CXXIIL]
The fourth piece of this class is the Litany of Aengus CMle
De, consequently dating about the year 798. This composition,
quite independently of its religious character, affords a most im-
portant corroborative piece of ecclesiastical history. It is men-
tioned by Sir James Ware in his " Writers of Ireland", as " a
book of litanies in which, in a long series of daily prayers, are
invoked some companies of saints, who were either school-fel-
lows under the same master, or who joined in society under the
same leader, to propagate the faith among heathens; or, who
were buried in the same monastery, or lived in communion in
the same church; or, lastly, who were joined together by any
other Hke titles". So wrote Sir James Ware, a Protestant gen-
tleman of learning and integrity. And when I quote this ac-
knowledgment of the authenticity of the litany, let me be
permitted to add that of another Protestant gentleman of
at least equal depth of learning and accuracy of discrimina-
tion; one still among us, and who I hope may long con-
tinue to enhghten us by his knowledge, to improve us by
liis exquisite taste in the illustration of our ancient history, in
literatm-e and in art, and to elevate us by the bright example of
a blameless life of incorruptible lionoiu', a generous and manly
liberality of tone, and many active, unostentatious, but exalted
virtues ; I mean my dear and honoured friend Dr. George Petrie.
Thus writes Dr. Petrie in his unanswerable Essay on the ancient
Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland ; a work with wliich I hope
all my hearers are familiar.
OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 381
" Having now, as I trust, sufficiently sliown that the Irish lec. xviii.
erected churches and cells of stone, without cement, at the very ,o/^^. • .
,. -in 1 • 1 • n /-^-i ■ ■ • • 1*^ 5° Of Ancient
earnest period alter the introduction ot Lnristianity into the rrayers,
country ; and if it had been necessary, I might have adduced a and°LUanies.
vastly greater body of e-\ddence to substantiate the fact ; I may, ^Jf^i^^ljjts'^
I think, fairly ask: Is it possible that they would remain much c^tieOA;
longer ignorant of the use of lime cement in their religions edi-
fices, a knowledge of which must necessarily have been imparted
to them by the crowds of foreign ecclesiastics, Egyptian, Roman,
Itahan, French, British, and Saxon, who flocked to Ireland as a
place of refuge, in the fifth and sixth centuries ? Of such im-
migration there cannot possibly exist a doubt ; for, not to speak
of the great number of foreigners who were disciples of St.
Patrick, and of whom the names are preserved in the most
ancient lives of that saint; nor of the evidences of the same
nature so abundantly supplied in the lives of many other saints
of the Primitive Irish Church; it will be sufficient to refer to
that most curious and ancient document, written in the year 799,
the htany of St. Aengus the Culdee, in which are invoked such
a vast number of foreign saints buried in Ireland. Copies of
this ancient litany are foimcl in the Book of Leinster, a MS. un-
doubtedly of the twelfth centmy, preserved in the Hbrary of
Trinity College, Dubhii ; and in the Leabhar Breac [properly
the Leabhar If or Dima Duighre], preserved in the library of
the Royal Irish Academy : and the passages in it, relative to
the foreign ecclesiastics, have been extracted, translated into
Latin, and pubhshed by Ward, in liis Life of St. Rumold, pa^e
206 ; and by Colgan, in his Acta Sanctorum, page 539" [535].*"^
The Htany of Aengus begins thus : " The three times fifty
Roman pilgrims, who settled in Ui Mele, along with Notal and
Nemshencliaidh and Cornutan, invoco in auxilium meum, per
Jesum Cluistum, etc.... The three thousand father confessors
who congregated in Munster to consider one question, under
Bishop Ibar, — and where to the Angel of God was ascribed the
great feast wliich St. Brigid had prepared in her heart for Jesus,
invoco in auxilium meum per Jesum Christum. The other
thrice fifty pilgrims of the men of Rome and Latiuni who went
into Scotland, invoco in auxilium meum per Jesum Christum.
The thrice fifty Gaedliils of Erinn, in holy orders, each of them
a man of strict rule, who went in one body into piloTimao-e
W> Inquiry into the Origin and Uses of the Round Toivers of Ireland, p. 134.
One slight mistake Dr. Petrie lias fallen into in this liassage, as to the tract in
the Book of Leinster. The tract he alludes to there, is Aerigus's Book of the
Pedigrees of the Irish Saints, and not his Litany, which is found only in the
Leabhar Mor Dliaa Doiyhre.
382 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS.
LEc. XVIII. i-incler Abban, tbe son of Ua Cormaic, invoco in auxllium meum
per Jesiim Cbristum", etc. [See orioinal in Appendix, No.
5° Of Ancient i-ix'-vTT/- -| ^
Prayers, In- L/-<:V^V1 V .J
and^Llianies And thus clocs Aeiigus go Oil to invoke groups of men and
(The Litany -vvomen wlio came into Erinn from all parts of the world, and
CiiUDL) joined tliemselves to various religious persons and communities
tbroughovit our land, to benefit by their purity of morals and exalted
j)iety; as well as the comitless groups of men, lay and ecclesias-
tical, who left Erinn on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, under
SS. Ailbhe, Brendan, etc.; and others who went out to plant
and propagate their Christian knowledge and piety, in remote
and unfrequented countries, which had not yet been brought
within the range of the Lord's vineyard, or in which the seeds
of Christianity formerly sown had either run to extravagant
wildness or totally failed.
After invoking these various groups at considerable length,
he turns to the bishops of Erinn, whom he invokes in groups of
seven, taking together those who either lived contempora-
neously or succeeded each other in the one chru'ch ; as the seven
bishops of Drom-Aurchaille; the seven bishops of Drom Derce-
dan; the seven bishops of Tulacli na n-Esjjuc, or Hill of the
Bishops, etc. [I may mention to you that this Tulacli na n-JlJspuc,
was Tidla, near Cabinteely, in the county of Dubhn ; and that
it is stated in the Life of St. Brigid, that these seven bishojDS,
on a certain occasion, paid her a visit at Kildare, a circum-
stance which fixes the time at wliich they lived.]
The invocation extends to 141 groups of seven, or in all 987
bishops, ending with the seven bishops of Domlinach Chairne
[probably the place now called Doncycarney, near Dublin].
Of the Pro- We now come to another and the last section of our Eccle-
cribed'^tVtiie siastical MSS., if wc may include imder this title the writings
Erinn! '^^ callcd Propliccies ascribed to the saints of Erinn.
Li opening the subject of ancient Gaedlilic Prophecies, it
might be expected that I should take a comparative glance at
the prophecies of other countries, as this would indeed be the
most learned and approved mode of introducing the subject;
but as I have hitherto in the progress of these Lectm-es confined
myself to a simple analysis of the liistoric and Hterary remains
of our own country, treated from the points of view offered by
internal evidence only, I shall follow the same rule in this
instance, and proceed to treat of our ancient prophecies, as they
are called, on their own authority and on their own internal
merits alone.
In the first place I have to tell you, that although those
ascribed to the saints form the chief part of our collection of
prophecies, there are a few referred to times anterior to the year
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 383
432, tlie year in which St. Patrick commenced his Christian lec. xvih.
mission in Erinn; and their authorship is ascribed to persons 77
still involved in the darkness of paganism. As, then, it is my phecies as-
design to take all the " Prophecies" in their presumed chrono- sa^hts of ^'^^
losfical order, I shall begin with those which are referred to our ^'^"'"•
pre-Christian period.
The oldest prophecy, or rather prophetic allusion to future of «>e
events in Erinn, that I can remember, is found in the ancient "Prophecies"
but little-known tract, which is entitled AgaUamh an da theumeo'f
Shuadh, or the Dialogue of the two Sages ^or Professors). The fThe"'P?o-
liistory given of this Dialogue is shortly tliis. piiecy"inthe
Adkna, a distinguished Connachtman, was chief poet of Ulster of the Two
in the reign of Conor Mac Nessa (about four hundi-ed years "-^^^^"-^
before St. Patrick's arrival). Adhna had a son, Neidhe, who,
after ha\ang been carefully instructed in the prescribed lite-
rary coiu-se of the period by his father, was then sent by him into
Scotland, to add to his stores of nati^^e knowledge all that could
be acquired at the famous academy of Eocliaidh EchhheoiL, in
that country. During Neidhe's sojourn in Scotland, his father,
Adhna, died, and Athairne, the celebrated poet and satirist, was
raised to his place of chief poet of Ulster. An account of these
important changes having, however, reached young Neidhe in
Scotland, he immediately returned to Erinn, and went straight
to the palace of Emania. He entered the royal court at once
under protection of his well-recognized poet's tonsure, and
made directly for the chief poet's chair, which he found vacant
at the moment, with the arch-poet's Tuighen, or official gown,
lying on the back of it. (This gown of the arch-poet is de-
scribed as having been cne ornamented with the feathers of
beautiful birds.) Neidhe, finding the chair accidentally vacant,
sat in it and put on the go-wn. Athairne soon after made his
appearance, and seeing his appointed mantle and seat occupied
by a stranger, he immediately addiessed him in these words :
" Wlio is the learned poet upon whom the Tuighen with its
splendour rests ?" [See original in Appendix, No. CXXV.]
This led to a long, learned, and animated contest in literature,
poetry, philosophy, Druidism, etc., in which Neidhe showed
himself fully qualified to retain the position which he had tem-
porarily assumed; but, in obedience to the beautiful patriarchal
law of reverence for seniority which pervaded all conditions of
society in ancient Erinn, ha^dng first estabhshed his superior
qualifications, he then voluntarily vacated the chair, put off the
splendid gown, placed it on the shoulders oC Athairne, and, in
the absence of his father by death and of his later preceptor by
distance, he adopted him as his father and preceptor.
384 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LEc. XVIII. Tliis strange piece is coucliecl in very ancient language, some-
of the what resembling, indeed partaking largely of the character of,
so-called tlic ancicnt text of the Brehon laws ; but every phrase, almost
anteriortr cvcry word, throughout the whole, is explained in the version
st.'^patHc°k. which is preserved to us, by an ancient interlined gloss, still in
(The 'Pro- ancient, but much more accessible language.
"Dialogue Wc liavc sliowu in a former Lecture, on the authority of the
Sages"o^^° ancient Book of Uachonghhdil, that the obscurity of the lan-
guage in which this dialogue was carried on, in the presence of
King Conor and the nobles of Ulster, was the immediate cause
of taking from the Poets the exclusive right which, down to
that time, they had enjoyed, of interpreting the ancient laws
of the country, and of opening their study to all such men
of all grades as should incline to make the law their profession.
This dialogue is also quoted at the word Teathra ("the Sea"),
and at the word Tuighen (" the Gown") in Cormac's Glossary ; a
compilation of the close of the ninth century. Yet, altliough the
mere literary part of the tract may, perhaps, be referred to the re-
markable period of Conor Mac Nessa's reign, it is too much to ex-
pect that the precise reference to the precise discipline and doc-
trines of the future Christian Church of Erinn, which it is made
to contain prophetically, could have been really predicted by
persons not yet rescued from the darkness of Paganism. The
passage occurs thus : The Dialogue is carried on by way of ques-
tion and answer : A thairne puts the question, and Neidhe answers.
After a variety of questions relating to literature, poetry, Druid-
ism, astronomy, ethics, etc., Athairne asks Neidhe whether he
has any knowledge of the future state of Erinn ; Neidhe answers
that he has, and he then goes into a long review of what is to
happen in church and state, to the end of time. There would
be mortalities of cows all over the world ; Kings would be few ;
Professors of the various arts would be mere imitators ; Pagan
enemies would waste Erinn, so that dignity of birth or extent
of wealth would serve nobody. [This no doubt alludes to the
Danish invasion in the eighth century.] Kings would be wan-
derers ; religion extinguished ; the nobles crushed down ; the ig-
noble raised up, and neither man nor God would be honoiu'ed or
worshipped ; clerical orders and functions would be cast off, and
hypocrisy and delusions assumed; musicians would be meta-
morphosed into clowns; the churches would become subject to
the lords of the lands ; pupils would neglect to maintain their
tutors in their old age. There would come, after this, great
mortalities; lightnings, and thunder; unnatural seasons; a
vengeful slaughter for three days and three nights; and this
would be the fiery plague of the festival of St. John the Bap-
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES, 385
tist, which would desti'oj two-thirds of the people of the world, lec. xviir.
and one-tliird of which should fall upon the animals of the sea ^^ ^^^
and the trees of the forest. After those years of sorrow, the fo-caiied
foreigners would come in their ships to Inbher Domnainn [now anteriorVo*
the Bay of ^Nlalahide, on the coast of the county of Dubhn]. s^paTrldf.
This was to be the Eoth Rdmhach, or " Ro win of Wheel", (of (p^ "Pro-
1 • O ' \ pilGCV iu tll6
which more hereafter) ; and it would fly off to the Coirthe •'Dialogue
Cndmhchoille, or Rock of Cndmhchoill (of which more here- sages^'.)"°
after), where it would be broken; — that is, where the enemies,
(of whom, as of a plague, it was the poetical designation,) would
be overthrown and almost annihilated, as well as their " stammer-
ing foreign women, that is, Saxon women, who would bear
cliildren to their own fathers". The destruction and desertion of
the great palaces and cities of Erinn was to take place, — namely,
Emania, in Ulster; Tara, in Meath; Cruachain, in Connacht;
Cashel, in ]\Iunster ; and Aileach, in Derry ; — after wliich the sea-
would come over Erinn, seven years before the day of judgment.
This part of this so-called prophecy appears to me curious,
because it seems to brinsr the author s time down to the tenth
centmy, when the Danes were accustomed to run over here
from England, with their Saxon bond wives and bond women.
But I need not dwell longer upon it at present.
The second personage belonging to the pre-Christian period, "Propiie-
to whom I have found any existing prophecy ascribed, is no ciibed to
other than the celebrated Conn " of the hundi'ed battles", mon- HunOieV'**
arch of Erinn, who was slain in the year of our Lord 157, or '^^"'^^•
275 3^ears before the arrival of St. Patrick.
Conn's name is connected vidth two distinct prophecies, —
one delivered by himself, and entitled the Baile Chuinn, or
Conn's Ecstacy ; the other dehvered to him, and entitled the
Baile an Scdil, or the Champion's Ecstacy. The word Baile,
wliich means madness, distraction, or ecstacy, is the ancient
Gaedhlic name for a Prophecy.
Of these two " Prophecies" nothing seems to have been
known to Gaedhhc scholars and historians, for some centuries
back, more than the quotation from the Baile Chuinn found in
the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, as pubHshed by Father John
Colgan, in his Trias Thaumaturgas, in the year 1647, (a quota-
tion which was reprinted by Dr. Petrie, in his History and An-
tiquities of Tara, published in the year 1839, in the l8tli volume
of the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy). Even at the
time that Dr. Petrie wrote his important Essay on Tara, the
serious examination of our ancient Gaedhlic manuscripts was but
in its infancy ; and when this Baile Chuinn was discovered in the
Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, it was not known who Conn, the
25
386
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LEC. XVIII.
Of tlie
so-called
"Proiihecics'
anteiior to
the time of
St. Patrick
('■ Prophe-
cies" as-
cribed to
Conn of the
Hundred
Battles.)
author of it, was ; nor at what time he flourished ; nor whether
it contained any more than what is there quoted; it was only
believed that he must have been some ancient Druid. Neither
could the most minute research among our extensive collection
of manuscripts in Dublin throw any light on his history. How-
ever, on my visit to London in the summer of 1849, I had the
good fortune to discoA^er an ancient copy of the entire prophecy,
of which an extract only is quoted in the Tripartite Life.
The piece is a short one, filling but one column of a small
folio page. It is entitled Baile Chuinn Ched-Chathaigh; that is,
' the Ecstacy (or Prophecy) of Conn of the hundred battles'. The
manuscript is written on vellum, and was compiled or transcribed
in Burren, in my native county of Clare, by Donnel O'Davoren,
about the year 151)0. It Avill be found in the British Museum,
classed, " Egerton 88". The transcript appears to have been made
fromsome ancient decayedmanuscript,andAvith some carelessness,
many words being carelessly spelled or contracted. The style
of the composition is affectedly irregular and obscure, and can-
not be taken as evidence of the remote antiquity to which it is
referred. It will appear from what follows, that the piece pro-
fesses to have been originally written forty nights before Conn's
death. The " Prophecy", which is written in prose, has refer-
ence to the succession of the kings of Tara ; and Conn com-
mences with his own son, Art, of whom he disposes in the
following few words :
" Art will succeed at the end of forty nights ; a powerful
champion, who shall die at Mucruimhe'' ; [see original in
Appendix, No. CXXVL] The Prophecy then runs rapidly
down to Mac Con, the successor of Art ; Cormac the son of Art,
and successor of Mac Con ; Cairbre, the son of Cormac, killed
at the battle of Gabhra; Fiaclia Sraibhtine, the son of Cairbr(^;
Midred/iach, the son of Fiacha; and passing over Eoehaidh
Muighmheadlwin, the son of Muiredhach, it comes down to his
son again, Niall of the Nine Hostages ; and then to Laeghaire,
the son of Niall, who was monarch when St. Patrick arrived.
Here the prophet foretells the coming of our great apostle, in
words which stand as follows, with their ancient explanations :
" With Laeghaire the violent will the land be humbled by the
coming of the Tailcenn, that is, Patrick ; houses across, that is
churches, bent staffs, which will pluck the flowers from high
places". [See original in same Appendix.] A somewhat dif-
ferent and better version of tliis prediction is given in the ancient
Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, where it is quoted, without gloss,
from the BaiU Chuinn; it runs thus: "A Tailcenn shall come,
he will erect cities, churches, music houses, with gables and
e of
ick.
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES 387
angles; many king? will take up pilgrim staffs". [Sec original leg. xvih.
in Appendix, No. CXXVII.] The word Taileenn (or Tailgenn), ^^ ^^^
which occurs here, and in various places in our ancient writings, so-caiiod
means the reverend person, — to whom all men would bow the anteworVo^
head in reverence. [See same Appendix.] For the precise gf^p"",.'
meaning of every word in this ancient strain I have succeeded (" Propiie-
in procuring from ancient manuscripts the most undoubted au- cvibedto
thorlty; and this is rather remarkable, since the version of it ^1^,',^,"^''°
given by Father John Colgan in his Latin translation of the Matties.)
Tripartite Life, is inaccurate and incongruous/^*'
After bringing the predictions down to king LaeghairS, and
the coming of St. Patrick, as we have just seen, the royal
" prophet" is made to continue the list of his successors in the
sovereignty, sometimes by name, and sometimes by description,
down to the three Nialls, the last of whom, Niall Glun-duhh,
was killed in battle with the Danes, near Dublin, in the year
917; and from that down, by description, to a king described
as the false fratricidal kingf in whose reiffn the Saxons were to
come. Now, this fratricidal king of Tara was, without doubt,
Domnall Bveaghach O Maeilsechlainn, who, in the year ]169,
murdered his cousin Diarmaid, the rightful king of Tara, and
set himself up in his place. And this was the precise year in
which the Anglo-Normans (or Saxons, as they are called here),
first invaded Ireland ; so that, whatever degree of credit might
be due to the early part of this strange prophecy, the latter
part savours strongly of a foregone knowledge of historic facts.
It is unfortunate that no vestige of the original history of
this prophecy has come down to us : what the immediate in-
citing causes to it were, and to what extent it ran at the time
that it was first introduced into the ancient Tripartite Life of
St. Patrick. That some such accoimt existed, there is good
reason to believe ; and upon the character of it would very
much depend whether the so-called prophecy, or any part of it,
was to be received as authentic or not. These observations
will be better understood from the following fanciful history and
description of the Baile an Scdil, the other ancient prophecy
with which the name of king Conn is connected. The history
is prefixed to the copy of this prophecy in the British Museum
MS. (Harleian, 5280), and runs in the following style: —
One morning Conn repaired at sunrise to the battlements of the
Ri Haith, or Royal Fortress, of Tara, accompanied by his three
c***^ It runs as follows : " Advenict cum circulo tonsus in capite, cujus aedes
ad instar aedium Romanarum : efficiet quod cellaj futurte sint in pretio et
aestimatione. jEdes ejus ei'unt angustae et angulatae et fana mueta pedum
pastorale domiimbetux" — Trias Thaum.,-p. 123.
25 B
388
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
IiEC. XVIII.
Of the
so-called
"Proi)hccies'
anterior to
the time of
St. Patrick.
(" Proplie-
cles" as-
cribed to
Conn of the
Hundred
Battles.)
Druids, 3fael, Bloc, and Blnicne, and his three poets, Echain,
Corb, and Cesarn; for he was accustomed every day to repair to
this place with the same company, for the purpose of watching
the firmament, that no hostile atrial beings should descend upon
Erinn unknown to him. While standing in the usual place
this morning, Conn happened to tread upon a stone, and imme-
diately the stone shrieked under his feet, so as to be heard all
over Tara, and throughout all Bregia, or East Meath. Conn
then asked his Druids why the stone had shrieked, what it's
name was, and what it said. The Druids took fifty-three days
to consider ; and at the expiration of that period returned the
folloAving answer: " Fed is the name of the stone; it came from
Inis Fail, or the island of Fed; it has shrieked under your
royal feet, and the number of shrieks which the stone has given
forth, is the number of kings of your seed that will succeed you
till the end of time; but", continued the Druid, " I am not the
person destined to name them to you". [See original in Ap-
pendix, No. CXXVIIL]
Conn stood some time musing on this strange revelation;
when, suddenly, he found himself and his companions en-
veloped in a mist, so thick, that they knew not where they
were, so intense was the darkness. They had not continued
long in this condition, until they heard the tramp of a horse-
man approaching them ; and immediately a spear was cast three
times in succession towards them, coming nearer to them each
time. The Druid then cried out: "It is a violation of the
sacred person of a king to whoever casts [on the part of any
one that casts] at Conn in Tara". The horseman then came
up, saluted Conn, and invited himself and his companions to
his house. He led them into a noble plain, where they saw
a royal court, into which they entered, and found it occupied
by a beautiful and richly dressed princess, with a silver vat full
of red ale, and a golden ladle and a golden cup before her. The
knight, on entering the palace, showed his guests to appro-
priate seats, and sat himself in a princely chair at the head
of the apartment ; and then, addressing himself to Conn, said : —
" I wish to inform you that I am not a living knight ; I am
one of Adam's race who have come back from death ; my name
is LiiKjli Mac Ceithlenn, and I am come to tell you the length
of your own reign, and the name and reign of every king who
shall succeed you in Tara; and the princess whom you have
found here on your entrance, is the sovereignty of Erinn for ever".
The princess then presented to Conn the bare rib of an ox,
and the bare rib of a boar. The ox's rib measured four-and-
twenty feet in length ; and when both its ends were laid on the
ground, it formed an arch eight feet in height. She subse-
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 389
qiiently presented liiin with the silver pail and the golden ladle leg, xyih.
and cup. The princess then took up the ladle, filled the cup, ^^ ^^^^
and said: " AVlio shall this cup with the red ale be given to?" socaiied
The knight answered: "Give it to Conn of the Hundred Battles auteHdrtT
(that is, he shall gain a hundi-ed battles) ; fifty years shall he sl!vlir\cl
have reigned, when he will be slain at Tuath Amrois\ The ("Piophe-
princess said again : " ^^^lO shall tliis cup with the red ale be ciibed to
given to?" "Give it", said the knight, "to Art, the son of nun"ired ^^
Conn : he shall have reigned thirty years, when he shall be Matties.)
slain at Magh Mucruimhe'\ And thus does the princess con-
tinue to put her questions, the knight always giving the name
of the succeeding king, the length of his reign, and the place
and manner of his death, dowm to Laeghaire, the son of Niall,
where the knight answers: " Give it to Laeghaire of the many
Conflicts, who shall devastate the Life [Liffey, that is, Leinster],
and many other territories. Five years shall he have reigned,
when a stranger company shall come, among whom shall be the
Tailcenn, that is, Patrick, a man of great dignity, whom God
will honour, who will fight a great torch which shall illuminate
Erinn even to the sea. Laeghaire shall be slain on the bank of
the Caise. Kings and many champions will be brought to take
up the pilgrim's staff by the preaching of the Tailcenn'.
The prophecy is then continued in the same way doviai to the
monarch Fergus, the son of Maelddin, who was to be slain in
the Battle of Almhain, on a Friday, an occurrence which took
place in the year 718. And here our copy unfortunately breaks
off, otherwise we should be pretty well able to fix the probable
date of the original composition of this piece.
That this piece, however, whatever was its date, was a well-
known tract, and of authority for the succession and reigns of
the monarchs of Ermn in the middle of the eleventh century, is
clear, as we find it quoted as an authority by Flann, of jNIouas-
terboice (who died in 1056), in the 16th stanza of his poem on
the succession of the Kings of Tara, when speaking of the
monarch Eochaidh Muidhnhedlwin, who died in the year of our
Lord 365, in the eighth year of his reign. Thus writes Flami
[See original in Appendix, No. CXXIX.] :
Died, after being kinged by the hosts,
The smooth and stainless Eochaidh Mv.ighmliedliuin,
Here was verified (whatever other cases may be,)
That which was written in the Baile an Scdil.
This is an important reference to the Baile an Scdil. It is
pretty clear that Flann did not befieve in its inspiration, and
that he had not found its historic details as accurate, in all in-
stances, as those wliich related to Eochaidh Muighmhedhoin.
390
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LEC. xvni.
Of tlie
so-called
"Prophecies"
anterior to
the time of
St. Patiick.
(" Prophe-
cies" as-
cribed to
Conn of tiie
Hundred
Battles )
A fine copy of Flann's poem is preserved in tlie Book of
Leinster, compiled about eighty years after liis death. It be-
gins [see same Appendix] :
" The Kings of Tara who were animated by fire".
I think it quite unnecessary to offer any observation on the J5az7e
an Scdil itself, after having placed before you a fair version —
indeed a literal translation nearly — of the purely fabidous account
of its origin, which has come down to us, and which must certainly
be as old as the prophecy itself. And notwithstanding that the
BaiU Chiiinn is quoted in the most ancient copies known to us
of the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, still it is impossible to assign
to it any higher degree of antiquity or authenticity than to the
other. Indeed, both seem to have been manufactured by the
same hand, one being a mere echo of the other, but with some
additional details, as far as our imperfect copy of it comes down.
It wordd be absurd to believe that either Conn himself, or his
doubtful informant the Seal (both pagans), could have recei^'ed
any divine revelation, or could, even with druidical aid, have
given us the precise name, length of reign, number and names of
battles, as well as the place and manner of death, of every king
of Conn's race, who would occupy Tara, from the year of our
Lord 157, down to the Saxon or Anglo-Norman invasion of
Ireland, in the year 1169 ! How, then, it may be asked, did
this prophecy come to be introduced into our most ancient
copies of the Tripartite Life ? To this question, I can only state
my ojiinion in answer; an opinion founded, however, on the
thoughtful reading and study for many years of the character
and possible authenticity of such old compositions of a so-called
" prophetic" character as have come under my notice. Allow me,
then, to say, that we have no really ancient copy of the Tripartite,
that is, any copy older than, or even as old as, the twelfth century ;
and (if we had copies to refer to in succession from the sixth
century to the twelfth, when the prophecy would, if perfect, we
presume, have ended,) I have for my part little doubt that
could we with certainty discover the first copy in which the
Bails Chuinn occurs, we should find it not older than the year
1169 ; that is, presuming that the present is the original version
of the prophecy.
It is a very remarkable fact, however, that Macutenius, who
collected or wrote a short tract on the lile of St. Patrick before
the year 700, introduces an ancient pagan prophecy of the
coming of our apostle, of which he gives the Latin, but that he
makes no mention, nevertheless, of the Baile Chuinn. Probus
also, who wrote a Life of St. Patrick in the tenth century, it is
believed, quotes the same pagan prediction, and gives a Latin
son
orin,
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 391
translation of it, but has no reference to tlie Bade Chuinn; and leg, xvth.
Joceljn, who wrote his Life of St. Patrick about tlie year 1185, ^^
gives the same pagan prophecy, but not a word about the other, so-caiieci
I shall now pass from the Baile Chuinn, for the present, to antenorTo"
take it up again when I come to speak more particularly of the gj°p!^",!jp°k
pagan prophecy just referred to. ("Prophecy"
The practice of ascribing predictions of the coming of St. Art -'the
Patrick to persons who lived some centuries before that event, of^com
Avas not confined to the case of Conn of the Hundred Battles, sjaj" a.d.
or his gifted friend from the land of spirits, the Seal. We find,
in the ancient historic tract on the Battle of 3fagh Mucruimhe
(which was fought in the year of our Lord 195), a " prophetic"
poem, ascribed to the monarch Ai't, the son of Conn, who was
slain in that battle. This poem is preserved in the ancient vel-
lum jNLS. called the Leahhar na h-Uidhre, compiled before the
year HOG, a book which has been so often spoken of in the
course of these lectures. There is a short prose introduction
headed, " The Prophecy and Christian Belief of Art the Lonely",
which states tliat the prophecy was the result of a vision which
Art saw while enjoying a sleep on the top of\n^lJum]ia Selga,
or hunting-mound, a short time before the battle, while hunting
at Treuit (the place now called Trevit, situated about three
miles east of Tara, in the county of Meath).
In this vision Art is said to have seen the coming of St.
Patrick ; the gi-eat changes which his mission would bring about
in the condition of Erinn; the subsequent importance, as a
religious estabhshment, of T7'edit, the place in which he then
happened to be, and where, by his own direction, his body was
carried from the battle-field and buried, in anticipation of the
future sanctity of the place.
The poem, which consists of 156 lines, was addressed to Den
J/or, Art's attendant, and begins [see Appendix, No. CXXX.] :
" Pleasant for Denna, the vehement",
This is one of the oldest poems that I am acquainted with,
and many of the words are explained by an ancient interlined
gloss ; but it is remarkable that it has no reference to those who
were to succeed Art in the monarchy, nor to the Danish or
Saxon invasions. I think it was written immediately at, or
about the time of founding the church of Treuit, and before
either of the invasions had occurred, and that, consequently,
the prophet was too honest to see farther forward into futurity.
In my next Lecture I shall proceed with some account
of the remainder of these so-called Prophecies, after which I
propose to take up those ascribed to St. Colum Cille and his
successors.
LECTURE XIX.
[Delivered July 1", 1856. J
The (so-called) Prophf.cies (continued). The Prophecies attributed to Finn
Mac Cumhaill. Of the Magical Arts of Finn. Of the Pagan Prophecy of the
coming of St. Patrick, quoted by Macutenius. The Prophecies attributed
to St. Caillin. The Prophecies attributed to Beg Mac De. The Prophecies
attributed to St. Colum Cille. Of the spurious and modern Prophecies
attributed to this Saint.
In our last Lecture we considered shortly tlie remarkable ^'■Dia-
logue of the Two Sages'\ the two " Prophecies" referred to Conn
of the Hundred Battles, and that ascribed to his son Art, called
the Lonely. Before we pass to the ProjDhecies (as they are
called) attributed to the early Christian Saints of Erinn, we
have still to notice one or two other compositions which pass
under the same name, thouofh belonmnw to an earlier era.
The next of our pagan " prophets" in chronological order is
no less a personage than the celebrated Fmn Mac Cihnhaill, who
was slain in the year of our Lord 283, or 149 years before St.
Patrick's coming. It would indeed have been a great omission
on the part of our ancient chroniclers of the wonderful, if they
had failed to endow Finn with the gift of prophecy, along with
all his other surprising accomplishments.
I have in a former Lecture given a short account of the poems
in general which we find ascribed to Finn in our old manu-
scripts, and among them one foretelling the mission of St.
Patrick, the foimding of a Christian church by St. Moling at
lios Broc [now St. jNIullins, in the county of Carlow], and the
future renoAvn of that place. There are, however, besides this,
two other " Prophecies" known to me as ascribed to Finn, one
of them of an ancient date, and the other not so old ; and there is
a third prophecy of Finn's, preserved among some poems and
prophecies ascribed to St. Colum Cille, in a vellum manuscript
in the Bodleian Library at Oxford ; but I had not, when there,
time to examine it.
Of the two prophecies which I am about to describe, one is
preserved in a vellum manuscript of the fifteenth century, in
the Library of Trinity College (Class H, 3, 17). It is very
short, and is written in irregularly measured prose, in ancient
language, and with an interlined gloss. It is headed: " Finn,
the grandson of Baisoie cecinit, foretelHng of Patrick, when he
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 393
slipped off the flag on which he afterwards came to Erinn". lect. xix.
[See original in Appendix, No. CXXXI.] q^ ^^^^
The "Prophecy", which consists of about thirty lines, begins sccaiied
with the following [see same Appendix] : — antedor't'o*
" It is not in the path of crime my foot has come, st^patTicic.
It is not a decUne of strength that has come upon me, ("Piophe-
Bnt it is the warrior's stone this stone rejects: mbedto
He is a distinguished man for whom the stone rejects me, culmham.
[a man] With dignities from the Holy Spirit" (i.^., the
dignity of a bishop).
It is impossible to imderstand the legend alluded to in this
very curious piece, in the absence of any more of its history ;
and the more so, that, as I am certain, the short heading is de-
fective by two words ; for I should have but little difficulty in
identifying the legend, and inferring the history of the pro-
phecy, supposing it had run, for example, thus : " Finn, the
grandson of Baiscne cecinit, foretelling of Patrick, when he
[Finn] slipped off the flagstone upon which [the leper] came
afterwards to Erinn".
The legend of the leper and the flagstone is this : When St.
Patrick was lea^'ing the coast of Britain to come over to Erinn
on his mission, just as the ship had cast oft^ from the shore, a
poor leprous man came on the beach, and begged earnestly to
be taken on board. Patrick was willing to put back and take
him up ; but the crew refused, and the ship moved on. The
poor leper still continued his entreaties; whereupon, Patrick
took his altar-stone (which, in the old writings, is called the
Stone Altar), and casting it on the water within reach of the
leper, desired him to sit on it and be quiet. This the leper
did, and immediately the stone moved, following the ship
throughout its course, until they reached the harbour of Wick-
low, where the leper was one of the first to land ; after which
the Saint again took possession of his " Stone Altar". This
stone is spoken of as an altar in the text of this prophecy, and
with the promise, that as long as it lives in Erinn Patrick's
children in Christ will live in his doctrines. It is not im-
probable that there was an ancient legend, which is not now
known, of the history of this stone before Patrick consecrated
it to his holy purposes. In this, as in the former prophecies,
Patrick is called the Tailcenn. [See App., No. CXXVIL]
Assuming the foregoing, then, to be the true reading of the
legend imphed in the heading, there remains still the other
legend to be accounted for ; that, namclj^ of Finn's slipping off
the flagstone ; a legend, of which I have never met "with any
trace in my reading, though it has been rather extensive in this
394
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LECT. XIX,
Of the
so-called
"Prophecies'
antei'ior to
the time of
St. I'atrick.
(" I'roplie-
cies" as-
criljeJ to
Finn Mac
CuinhaiU.)
particular direction. If, however, I were allowed to infer tlie
legend from tlie few facts mentioned in the opening lines of the
prophecy, I shoidd say that it might perhaps have once run in
this strain: —
That Finn was hunting somewhere about Sliahh Alis (in the
county of Antrim), where St. Patrick, during his early captivity
in Erinn, was employed to herd the swine of his master Milchu ;
that Finn in his progress happened to tread upon a stone, from
which he slipped in some remarkable manner ; that, on looking
at the stone, he discovered that it was one which offered a good
material for a weapon, — probably for one of those curiously-
fashioned weapons of which we have so many specimens of all
sizes in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, and which now
pass by the unmeaning name of celts (a kind of weapon, which
in ancient Gaedhlic was called Lia Milldh, or Warrior's Stone),
and one or more of which every champion carried in his girdle
to be cast as occasion might require ; that Finn, in some unac-
countable way, failed to appropriate the stone ; that he then had
recourse to his Druidic powers of divination to discover the
cause of his failure ; that he found the stone to be predestined
for a higher and holier office than that of an offensive weapon
in the hands of a professional warrior, and that on that account,
it intuitively shrunk from his hand ; and finally that, long after-
wards, when Patrick was employed as a swine-herd on this
mountain, this stone having attracted his notice, he took it vip
without difficulty, and carried it about him in his escape from
bondage, and ever after, until he was ordained a priest ; and
that then he formed it into the stone altar, which he carried
with him on his jovirney from Rome, and upon which the leper,
as we have already seen, accompanied him over the sea from
Britain into Erinn.
That some such legend as this had been (and probably is
still) in existence, on which this prophecy was founded, any one
who has paid much attention to the character of our old ro-
mances, will, I think, without difficulty feel disposed to believe.
But the matter certainly requires much further investigation.
There are two other prophecies of Finn Mac Cumhaill to be
found in modern Gaedhlic manuscripts ; but they are much in-
ferior in style to the pieces just described, and it will be seen at
once by the Gaedhlic scholar, that they must have been com-
posed centuries after the former.
The first of these is a poem of 188 lines, in which the poet
Oisin is made to repeat to St. Patrick a prophetic poem
which his father, Finn, had composed at Beinn Eclair (now the
Hill of Ilowth). St. Patrick addresses Oisin as follows [see
original in Appendix, No. CXXXII.] :
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
395
O Oisin^ wilt tliou relate unto us,
Some of tlie prophecies of Mac Cthnhaill, —
Of what the gifted king foretold,
He whom angels truly honoured.
Oisin answers : I will relate to thee with pleasure,
O Patrick, the chaste son of Calphurnn,
And thy heart will be sore from hearing
Of all the evils which are foretold.
Finn having one day sat in the east.
Over the sea at the hill of Edar,
He saw a black cloud ajaproach from the north.
Which, all of a sudden, darkened Erinn.
*****
The hearty Caeilte then said
To noble Fiim of Abnhain:
Put thy thumb of knowledge to thy tooth,
And leave us not in ignorance.
Fin7i answers : Alas, my dearest Caeilte,
The prophecy is far from thee, —
Barbarians from beyond the sea
Will one day confound the men of Erinn.
Fi7in goes on then to show that this black cloud meant tlie
Saxons, or Anglo-Normans, that
On a Thursday a man goes to invite them.
It will be a bad legacy to Erinn's land, —
31ac Murchadha, the dark demon,
His return shall be that of a ghost.
The invaders, according to this poem, were to despoil the
land of Eiinn for the space of 400 years, but the space of time
varies in various copies. They were to receive several defeats,
and some of these defeats are plainly enough pointed out, — as,
for instance, where they were to be three times defeated by the
brave Donn or lord of Ui Failglie, now OfFaly. This lord of
Offaly must have been Afurchadh OConor, who defeated the
English of jNIeath first in the year 1385, at the battle of
Cruachdn Bri File [now Crochan, a well-known place in the
present King's County] ; a second time in the year 1406, at the
battle of Geisill [Geshill, in the same county] ; and a third time
at cm Fochain [somewhere on the borders of Meath and
OfFaly], in the year 1414.
The foreigiiers were to receive another remarkable defeat at
Ceann Feahhrat (on the borders of the counties of Cork and
Limerick) ; and I believe that this was fulfilled in the year 1579,
when the two sons of the Earl of Desmond mettSir Wilham
Drury, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, at Gort na Ti-
iECT. XIX.
Of the
so-called
"Prophecies"
anterior to
the time of
St. rati ick.
(" Prophe-
cies'" as-
cribed to
Finn Mac
CumhaiU.)
396
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LECT. XIX.
Of the
so-called
"Prophecies'
anterior to
the time of
St. Patrick.
(" Prophe-
cies" as-
cribed to
Fm7i Mac
CAmhaill.)
The Legend
of Finn's
"Thumb of
KnowledM".
hrad, in tlie county of Limerick, not far from Ceann F'ebrat,
and 'wliere tlie Englisli captains, Herbert, Eustace, and Spris,
were killed, together with oOO of their men, immediately after
which Sir William Drury himself died.
After announcing these occurrences, the prophecy passes to
the battle of Saimjel [Singland, near Limerick], where an oak
of the house of O'Brien was to lead the native clanns against
the enemy and defeat them with great slaughter, and then
would the five provinces arise and expel the strangers alto-
gether. This rising applies, doubtless, to the war of the latter
part of Elizabeth's reign, and in which Hugh of Derry was to
take a chief and successful part. This was, of course, the great
Aedh Ruadh [Hugh Hoe] O'Donnell, and the poem must, I
am very sure, have been written some fcAV years previous to the
disastrous battle of Kinsale, in which Hugh was defeated and
compelled to ily to Spain, where, as you are aware, that illus-
trious chieftain soon afterwards died.
It would be easy to analyze this whole prophecy, correct its
incongruities, and fill in its dates and agents, if it were worth it;
but as it is evidently a composition of the close of the sixteenth
century (or a collection and continuation of some earlier local
fugitive stanzas carried down to that period), I do not deem it
worth any further notice, and shall therefore pass to another
prophecy, ascribed, with equal veracity, to the same author.
This second is a poem of forty lines, addressed by Finn Mac
CumJiaill to some woman Avho recited a poem to him. The
warrior prophet promises the coming of St. Patrick, who would
bless Erinn, — all lauds would be measured by acres — the gray
Saxons would be numerous — and he regrets his own inability
to take part in their expulsion. Another word, however, would
really be too much to waste on this piece.
The history o^ Finn Mac CmnhailVs "Thumb of Knowledge",
as related in the ancient Tales, is a very wild one indeed ; but
it is so often alluded to that I may as well state it here. It is
shortly this : upon a certain occasion this gallant warrior was
hunting near Sliabh na m-Ban, in the present county of Tip-
perary ; he was standing at a spring-well, when a strange woman
came suddenly upon him, filled a silver tankard at the spring,
and immediately afterwards walked away with it. Finn fol-
lowed her, imperceived, until she came to the side of the hill,
where a concealed door opened suddenly, and she walked in,
Finn attempted to follow her farther, but the door was shut so
quickly that he was only able to place his hand on the door-
post, with the thumb inside. It was with great difficulty he
was able to extricate the thumb; and, having done so, he ira-
^ N OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 397
^ metliately tlirust it, bruised as it was, into his mouth to ease the lect. xix.
,. pain. No sooner had he done so, than he found himself pos- ^
w\sessed of the gift of foreseeinsf future events. This gift, how- so-caiied
S ever, was not, we arc tokl, always present, bvit only when he anterlor'tT
^ bruised or chewed the thumb between his teeth. (This legend st^pa™!jek
'^ is found in the vellum MS., H. 3. 18., T.C.D.) Such is the
1 1 veracious origin, handed down to us by the tradition of the
' poets, of Finn Mac CumhailVs wonderful gift of prophecy !
i
II The next and last of the so-called pagan prophecies, with "Prophecy"
4 which I shall at present trouble you, consists of biit a few words, Patrick's
^ which we generally meet in the form of a stanza of four lines, tdbiued'to
I and relates exclusively to the coming of St. Patrick into Ireland, the piaids
fcj^ It is found m all the ancient copies of the Saint's life that I have LaeghaiH.
^ met. The history of this prophecy is, like itself, short enough.
' Three years before the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland, on his
f^^ apostolic mission (that is, in the year 429), his coming was, it
is stated, foretold as a fearful event to the pagan monarch Laeqh-
^ aire, by his two chief Druids, Lochra and Luchat Mael, in the
^ following words [see original in Appendix, No. CXXXIII.] :
^ A Tailcenn wdll come over the raging sea, — [see p. 393.]
v- With his perforated garment, his crook-headed staff,
i With his table at the east end of his house,
<) And all his people will answer, ' amen', ' amen'.
The perforated garment is easily explained to be the Chasuble
of the Catholic Priest; the crook-headed staff, the bishop's
Pastoral Staff; and the table at the east end of his house, as the
table of the Lord, tho Altar of the Church.
Of the antiquity of this prophecy there can be no rational
doubt, as we find it quoted by Macutenius; who, as already
stated, wrote or transcribed some notes on the life of St. Patrick,
some time before the year 700, which are preserved in the
ancient Book of Armagh (fol. 2, page b, coL a), in which he
says that the words of this little verse are not so plain on account
of the idiom of the language. Macutenius does not give the
original words, and his Latin translation of them clearly shows
that he did not understand them. Probus also, who wrote a life
of St. Patrick in Latin, in the tenth century (it is believed),
quotes this prophecy, apparently from Macutenius, without the
original words ; but he gives us a still more inaccurate translation
than the former one. (See Trias Thaumaturgus, p. 49, col. a.)
Now of all the pagan predictions of St. Patrick's apostolic
mission, this alone has any colour of authenticity : not from any
thing in its style or history, but from the fact that Christianity
was fully established and extensively spread on the contin^it
-., JU^^^iP ,^',',,^._,^ __. fJ^J/ g^n^^^^,,j^ Rte^^yr <>^U4^^,
A^^/ /... 3^8^*^^/'^- OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES, , (/^ /T.'^f/
LECT. XIX. (and to some extent in Britain) in tlie reign of LaeghairS, ana?-
from the liigh probability that his druids were well acquainted, J^^
' Prophecy'
Patrick's
coming, at-
tributed to
tlie Druids
of Siimt if not with its doctrines, at least with its pecuhar external fea-
tures and ceremonies ; and so, that from the fact of its having "^■
approached their own shores, and probably landed on them too,
of" King they foresaw the inevitable consequence of its spreading over the
atg air .. ^^^-^^^ \im.d. of Erimi, and the final overthrow of their own ancient
system and the various institutions founded upon it. Tliis pro-
phecy would not apply as much to Pallachus as to Patrick ;
because although the former came one year earlier, he failed in
his mission, whilst the success of the latter was complete and
permanent.
You may, if you wish, extend to Finn, Art, and Conn, the
possibility of an acquaintance with Christianity, as well as to
Laeghdires Druid ; but the probability is much more in favour
of the latter.
Of the "Pro- We now pass from our pagan to our Christian "Prophets";
cribed to the and amongst these we shall begin with St. Caillin of Fidhnacha
Er'inn.°ahe Maiglie Rein (in the present county of Leitrim) ; who, according
of sahiT'^"' ^^ ^^^^ ^i^'^' quoted in the Annals of the Four Masters, buried
Caiiiu.) the great Conall Gulhan in his church in the year 464.
The Life of St. Caillin, of which there is a vellum copy of
the sixteenth century- in existence, contains a poem of 816 lines,
ascribed to the saint himself, on the colonizations of Erinn, and
the succession of its monarchs down to his own time, in the reign
o^ Diarmaid, the son of Fergus CerrbJieoil, and in Avhich he
" foretells" by name all the monarchs from Diarmaid down to
. ,, Roderick O'Conor, in the year 1172. To this list he adds twelve
^...../^J^^'^'^more, by fanciful descriptive names, the last of whom is to be
'^.-^-^ Flann Cethach, in whose time Antichrist is to appear on earth,
and of whom we shall have more to say a little further on. The
" Prophet" then gives a list of the 0 Ruaircs, Lords of BreifnS
(Breifny), his native territory ; coming doAvn to gallant Ualgarg
ORiiairc in the year 1241. Ten lords of the descendants of
Ualgarg were to succeed himself Tlie last of these ten would
be William Gorm (Blue William), who woidd plunder the saint's
church at Fidhnacha, after which the sceptre would pass from
his house. I have not been able to find any " Blue William
O'Ruaire" in our annals ; but I find a William Ruadh (or red-
haired William) O'Ruairc, Lord of Breifne, who died in the
year 1430 ; and there is little doubt in my mind that this very
glaring forgery was concocted in or about this time. This poem,
which, as 1 have already said, contains 204 stanzas, or 816 fines,
begins thus [see original in Appendix, No. CXXXIV.] :
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 399
Great Erinn, Island of Angels". lect.
There are many more prophetic rhymes interspersed through
this Life of St. Caillin, but they were all written by the same
' prophet' and at the same time as the first.
The next of our Christian " prophets" was Beg Mac Be, who J<'J.™„f
died in the year 556. He was the son of a Munster nobleman, Big Mac dl
and held the office of poet and propliet at Tara, in the reign of
the above king Diarmaid. He appears to have been a person
of an eccentric character, more remarkable for ready wit than
sound sense. He was a man, however, of a religious disposition,
and well acquainted with St. Colum Cille, as well as with other
distinguished ecclesiastics and scholars of his time. There are
several fugitive stanzas, witty sentences, and prophetic sayings of
his, scattered through our ancient writings, specimens of which
may be seen in the Annals of the Foiu- Masters, at the years 478
and 825. There is also what appears to be either a short collection
or a continuous series of his prophetic prose sayings, preserved
in the ancient vellum MS. already spoken of, (Harleian, 5280),
in the British Museum. All the predictions in this little tract,
which extends but about half a small folio page, are of an un-
favourable character; they contain allusions to the Danish but
none to the Anglo-Norman invasion, which I think plainly
enough shows that they were written after the former, but before
the latter. Indeed, the time of writing could, I beheve, be safely
deduced from the first sentence of the piece, which runs as follows
[see Appendix, No. CXXXV.] : " Wo is he who shall live to
see in the land of the Gaedhil, the son succeed the father in
[the primacy of] Ardmacha'' [Armagh.] This allusion to the
son succeeding the father at Ardmacha would, I think, bring
the composition of this prophecy down to about the year 940,
when the lay usurpation of the Primacy commenced, which
continued for 200 years afterwards ; but the allusion in the text
to Aenghus Ua Flainn, successor of St. Brendan at Cluain Ferta
(Clonfert, in the county of Galway), brings the time of the
author down to the year 1036, in which O Flainn died. Beg
Mac De is quoted also in the tract on the Danish wars, preserved
in the Book of Leinster.
The next, and the most popular of all our "prophets", is St. "^hlci^^f
Colum Cille. It would be difficult, indeed, to fix on tire period saint coium
at which prophetic sayings first began to be ascribed to this
saint ; but the oldest MS. in which I have found him quoted
as a prophet is the Book of Leinster, in a fragment of the his-
tory of the Danish wars preserved in that book, and which must
400 OF THE SO-CALLED PEOPHECIES.
LKCT. XIX. have been compiled about the year 1150. The quotation con-
sists but of the following stanza fsee original in Appendix, No.
phecies as- KjJ%.Js^J^ V l.J .
w^ o? ^^° " Those ships upon Loch Ree,
}:}'"^\ (™?, Well do they mai^nify the paofan foreio^ners :
of Saint They will give an Abbot to Ardmacha;
" "'" ''' His will be the rule of a tyrant".
This stanza has reference to the fleet of ships or boats which
the Danes placed on the Upper Shannon, by means of which
they plundered the churches and territories on both sides of the
river. This was about the year 840, when Turgesius was the
Danish leader, and when he made his wife supreme head of the
great ecclesiastical city of Clonmacnois, and afterwards promoted
himself to the Abbacy o^ Archnacha, as foretold (or rather, as I
believe, aftertold) in this stanza.
This stanza, however, is but a quotation from a poem of 360
lines, which now exists, and in which it makes the tenth stanza ;
or, what is more probable, this and a few more stanzas which
appear to belong to it, were seized upon at a later period, and
made the foundation of the present poem.
This poem, which St. Colum Cille is said to have addressed
to his friend and companion St. Baoithin, at lona, begins
thus [see original in same Appendix] :
" Attend, O excellent Baoiihin,
To the voice of my bell in cold lona,
Until I now relate to thee
All that shall happen towards the world's end".
The supposed prophet then gives a gloomy accoimt of what
was to befal the Leath Chuinn, Conn's or the northern half of
Erinn ; and the death of Cormac Mac CulHnan, king and arch-
bishop of Cashel, in the year 903. Then comes the allusion to
the fleet of Loch Ree, or the Upper Shannon — quite ovit of its
proper place ; after which the battle of Clontarf is foretold.
The prophet then passes down throiigh some of the Leinster
and Munster kings and monarchs of Erinn to Muivclieartach (or
Mortoch) O'Brien, who was to demolish Aileach, the ancient
palace of the descendants of Niall of the Nine Hostages (situated
in the present county of Derry) ; an event which occurred in the
year 1101. Li this year, Murtoch O'Brien, monarch of Erinn,
marched Avith a large force over JSas Ruaclh (at Ballyshannon),
and from that to the above ancient palace of Griandn Ailigh,
which he razed to the ground, ordering his men to carry back
with them a stone of the building in every sack which had
been emptied of its provisions upon the march ; and with these
stones he afterwards built a parapet upon the top of his royal
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 401
palace (whicli was situated on the site of the present cathedral lect. xix.
of Limerick), as a perpetual memorial of his victory over the ofthe"Pro-
ancient enemies of his house. r>hecies" as
[I may here observe that this was not a wanton deed ofsaiiftsof
destruction on the part of O'Brien, but a retaliation for some- upr"phecTe3^
diing of a similar insult which the northerns had, two hun- '^Jf'^^^K-,u.
ored years before that, offered to the Dalcassians, when they
made a sudden and unexpected rush into that country, and cut
down and carried away by force, from the celebrated woods of
Creatalach, [Cratloe, I beheve], as much prime oak as roofed
and adorned the same palace o^ Aileacli?^
The prophecy goes on then to foretell that this indignity to
the northerns should be avenged by Aedh (or Hugh), the
valiant king of Tirconnell, who was to appear in 136 years
after (that is, in the year 1237), and who was to be slain at
Dubli]! by the sea-king, the son of Godfrey, after a reign of
twenty-one years, that is, in 1258. Either the prophet or his
transcriber of the poem is here, hoAvever, out in his calculation.
No Hvigh O'Donnell of Tirconnell bore sway at or about the
year 1258; nor have we any record, as far as I know, of any
northern prince avenging the destruction of Aileach about this
time, nor for 341 years after; that is, till the year 1599, when
the great Red Hugh O'Donnell made a sudden irruption into
Thomond, and plundered and ravaged tlie northern and north-
eastern parts of it. And it is a remarkable fact that the fulfil-
ment of this very prediction was at that time applied to him by
the Dalcassian poet, Jiao^7^n Og Mac JBruaideadha [Mac Brody],
whose cattle O'Donnell's people had carried on, but which
O'Donnell, on the poet's demand, restored in full, whereupon
the poet said [see original in Appendix, No. CXXXVIL] :
" It was destined that, in revenge of Oileach,
O Red Hugh ! the prophet foretold.
The coming of thy troops to the land of Magh Adhair;
From the north is sought the relief of all men".
The prophecy then goes on to say that, in thirty years after,
Aedh (but this is certainly a different Hugh, and this part of
the poem is misplaced) Cliahhghlas (or Hugh the gray-bodied)
would assume the rule of Erinn ; after whom there would be
but seven sviccessors to the end of time, with twenty-seven
years between each; that the last of them would be Flann
Ciothach, in whose time would come the Brat Baghach, or
Flag of Battles, and the Both Bamhach, or Rowing Wheel.
This " rowing wheel" was to be a ship containing one thousand
beds, and one thousand men in each bed; alike would this
strange ship sail on sea and on land, nor would it furl its sails
26
492 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
lECT. XIX. until it was wrecked by tlie Pillar-stone of Cndmliclwill. They
would then be met by the brave chief oi CndmhchoiU, who
phecies" as- Avo^ild cut them all off, so that not one of them shoiild ever
sahfts of '^ cross the sea again. After this there woxild come a fleet to In-
"Propiiede's" ^^^^''^ Domhiiann [the present bay of Malahide, in the county of
9f J^ai'it Dublin]. This fleet was to consist of one thousand ships of all
kinds. These would capture the cattle and women of Erinn ;
and in the excess of their pride and confidence they would
move on to Tara, where they woidd be overtaken by the king,
Flann Ciothach [recte " GiuacJi", or the voracious]. A battle
would ensue at the side of Rdith Chormaic, at the hill of Tara,
and at the ford in the valley ; where almost a mutual annihi-
lation of the contending forces would occur ; but the foreigners
would be routed and followed to their ships, of which one barque
only would escape over the sea. The foreigners, however, would
leave twenty-seven famihes behind them, who were to mix with
the natives, but who wo\dd be all destroyed (by the fiery bolt)
at the festival of John the Baptist, which was to happen upon
a Friday, and which would destroy three-fotaths of all men
until it reached the Mediterranean sea.
This part of the poem is evidently transposed, and shoiild
have come in at or about the fourteenth stanza ; but it com-
mences now at the sixty-seventh, and continues to the eighty-
seventh stanza. And though this may appear to be a matter of
very little moment, I shall presently show that restoring it to
its proper place and time is a matter of the greatest importance
in dealing with a curious subject which has not hitherto under-
gone any thoroughly critical examination.
As to the first prediction, that is, the coming of what is called
the Brat Baghach or Flag of Battles, it is evident enough that
this was to be a fleet of the Danes or Northmen, who were to
be broken against the pillar-stone of Cndmhchoill. Now Cndmh-
choill was an ancient wood situated near the present town of
Tipperary ; and the history of the pillar-stone which stood in it,
as it is handed down to us, is shortly this: — Mogh Ruith, the
Archdruid of Erinn, ha"\ang, as we have seen in a former Lec-
ture, exhausted the druidic knowledge of the best masters in
Erinn and Scotland, travelled with his daughter into Italy,
where they put themselves under the tuition of Simon Magus,
and assisted him in his contention with the apostles. And it
was with their assistance that Simon was said to have built the
Roth Ramhacli, or " RoAving Wheel", by means of which he
sailed in the air, to show that his miraculous powers were greater
than those of the apostles. The Druid and his daughter (whose
name was Tlachtga) returned home afterwards, the daiighter
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 403
caiTying with lier -what remained of the materials of the Rowing lect. xix.
Wheel, which appears to have consisted of two pieces of rock, one „
of which she set up in Forchairthinn (somewhere in the neigh- phecies" as-
bourhood o^Ruith Chumhaill [RathCoole, I think, in the present saims of
comity of Dubhn], and the other at Cndmhchoill (in Tipperarj). -i'ij.""i,(.tJes"
These rocks or pillars, it was said, retained their share of the of saint ^
destructive influence of the " Rowing Wheel", as every one who
looked at them was struck with blindness, and every one who
touched them, with death. The reason, we are further informed,
why this fearful Ro^ving Wheel was to pass with destruction
over Em-ope in the latter times, was, because there was a pupil
from every nation in Europe at the school of Simon Magus, assist-
ing him in his contention Avith the Apostles [see same App.].
Now the three events predicted here appear to me to have oc-
curred in the years 941, 979, and 1096, and were, I am very sure,
well known historical facts at the time that this poem was written.
The first, the destruction of the Rowing Wheel, was, I
believe, the great battle of the wood of Salclwid (or Sollyhead,
about three miles to the west of the present town of Tipperary),
near enough to Cjidmhchoill for the verification of a post-pro-
phecy. This battle was fought in or about the year 941, by
Ifathghamhain Mac Cinneidigh [Mahon the son of Kennedy],
king of Munster, and his brother Brian, afterwards the great
Brian Boroimhe (then but in the sixteenth year of liis age),
against the Danes of Munster; and in it the ten-ible Danish
cliiefs, Treitill, Ruamann, Bernard, Mam'ice, and Torolhh^ the
most cruel and barbarous of all the Danish cliiefs, were killed,
tocrether with two thousand of their bravest men. A large
party of the Danes retreated after it into Limenck, pursued by
the -sdctorious brothers with the brave claims of the Dalcassians,
and here again a great slaughter of the Danes took place ; all
their strongholds and fortifications were won and burned down,
theu' houses and treasures pillaged, and their whole power and
force, quite unexpectedly, annihilated for the time.
The verification of the second predicted event, namely, the
battle of Tara, will, I tliiiik, be clearly recognized in the follow-
ing passage from the Annals of the Foiu* Masters : —
" A.D. 978. The battle of Tara was gained by Maelsech-
lainn, son of Domhnall, over the Danes of Dublin and of the
Islands, and over the sons of Amlaff in particular, where many
were slain, together with Randall, son of Amlaff, heir to the
sovereignty of the Danes ; Conamhail, son of Gilla-Arri, the
orator of Dublin ; and a dreadful slaughter of the Danes along
with them. ***** After this, Amlaff went over
the sea and died at lona".
26 b
404 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
I.ECT. XIX. It is remarkable that tliis is the only battle of -wliich we have
Of the "Pro ^^^ recorcl, as having been fought at Tara within tlie Christian
rhtcies" as- era ; and it is a singular coincidence, or, if you please, verifica-
Saiiusof ^ tion, of this would-be prophecy, that Amlaff, the chief of the
Tropiieck's^' D^ncs, sliould havc departed from Erinn after his overthrow in
of Saint this battle, and, of necessity, Avith but a small company, probably
Colum Ctlle.) , ^ • ^ t ^ • i. ^ ' L j
but one ship, as the prophecy has it.
As regards the third prediction, namely, the twenty-seven
Danish families Avho were to remain after the battle of Tara (in
Dublin of course), and who were to be destroyed by the terrible
visitation of the Festival of John the Baptist, when it should fall
upon a Friday in a leap year. This long-dreaded occurrence of
the festival happened in the year 1096, according to the follow-
ing entry in the Annals of the Four JN'Iasters : —
" A.D. 1096. The festival of John [the Baptist] fell on Friday
this year; the men of Erinn were seized with great fear, and
the counsel taken by the clergy of Erinn, with the successor of
St. Patrick at their head, in order to save them from the mor-
tality which had been predicted to them from a remote period,
was to command all in general to observe a three days total fast,
from Wednesday till Sunday every month, and a fast every day
till the end of a year, except on Sundays, solemnities, and great
festivals ; and they also gave alms and many offerings to God,
and many lands were granted to churches and ecclesiastics by
kings and chiefs : and so the men of Erinn were saved for that
time from the fire of vengeance".
So far the di"eaded terrors of this festival passed harmlessly over
in 1096 : but not so in the previous year ; for we find that " there
was an awful jDCstilence all over Europe in general in this year
(1095), and some say that the fourth part of the men of Erinn
died of this plague". Now, among the great number of distin-
guished persons who died of this pestilence, we find the names of
Dunglms, Bishop of Dublin, and Godfrey Maranach, Lord of
the Danes of Dublin and the Hebrides ; and when we find that,
although the fourth part of the men of Erinn were carried oif
by this distemper, the number recorded is less than twenty ; and
when we find that the Danes of Dublin supply their two most
distinguished men to the Hst, I suppose we may fairly conclude
that the destruction of the other classes among them was almost
total, and so far I believe our prophet's predictions were verified
with sufficient accm'acy for his purpose, and I am sure to his
perfect knowledge.
As I shall have occasion to touch again on the festival of St.
John, I shall now pass from it, and ask your attention for a few
minutes, wliile I endeavour to show my reasons for thinking
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 405
that this is not a genuine poem, — that (I think) it never was lect. xix.
written by St. Colum Cille. nff, „"ti
Till 1 11 f ' Or the "Pro-
1 must acknowledge at the outset that the want oi an ancient puecies"
and correctly-arranged copy (the present being a modern one the sa'ints of
on paper, and much confused, if not intcrpokxted) renders any ?/i"opi,eciJs"
discussion on its real antiquity and authenticity very difficidt; °f ?'""*,.„,,
1 1 .T-'' ^ /-\ 1^ 1 ^ Colum Cilll)
but as no other copy is nearer to us than (Jxiord, where one on
vellum of the sixteenth century is preserved, but which has not
been yet critically examined, I shall have to deal with the pre-
sent copy as I find it.
It must be admitted as I have abeady shown, that one stanza
of this, or some such poem, ascribed to St. Colum Cille, one which
forms the tenth stanza of the present copy, is that quoted along
with St. Bercluins in the folio of the tract on the Danish Wars,
remaining in the Book of Leinster ; and that there appears to
me no diiference in style of construction, or character of the lan-
guage, between this and the other stanzas of the poem. Neither
is the style or language more antiquated than many poems written
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centiuies. The entire poem after
all deals only (and that very defectively) with that period of our
genuine history which extends from the year 842, in which the
Danes first appeared on Loch JRibh [Loch Ree, in the Upper
Shannon], to the destruction of Ailech by Muircheartach (or
Mortoch) O'Brien, in the year 1101, that is 259 years ; all the rest
of the poem consisting of mere general speculations on the future.
Now it requires, I should think, but little argument to show
the improbability, to say the least of it, of St. Colum Cille
sitting down in his church at "lona on the night of the yth day of
Jmie, in the year 5;'2. in the 77th year of his age, but one week,
and that to his own knowledge, before his death, and there
composing a poem of 90 stanzas, or 360 lines, on a few occur-
rences which were to happen in Ireland between the years 842
and 1101. For, after all, this very long poem deals but with a
very few facts ; such as that Cormac Mac Cidlinan was to be
killed in battle on Tuesday (in the year 903) ; that a Danish
fleet would appear on Loch Ribh (in 842) ; that the "Rowing
WTieel" and the ships of Inbher Domnann would come and be
destroyed ; that Brian Boroimlie would be killed at the battle
of Clontarf ; then the statement of the promised destruction of
the people whenever the festival of St. John should i'all upon a
Friday (which, however, was not fulfilled) ; and lastly the de-
struction of the palace of Ailech by Mortoch O'Brien in 1101.
The promised revenge for Ailech, which was to happen in 125
years after its destruction (that is, in the year 1226), never was
fulfilled; which shows clearly, in my mind, that at whatever
406 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LECT. XIX. time — and it could not be very remote — the first part of the
r,*i, UT> poem was written, this latter part must have been composed
Of the "Pro- r . ' . ^ n a -i j • -i -i-iz-w-i
iihecies" as- some time alter the destruction oi AiLecli m the year 1101.
Saints of ^ At the wiiidiug up of the poem, the Saint is made to propose
"Prophecies" ^^ Icavc to the men of Erinn certain relics of his own to protect
of Saint them from all future dangers. These relics were his Alius, his
Vespers, his Amhra (or Elegy), and his Mesca (or " Intoxica-
tion"), which is the name of the present poem, said to have
been written by him a week before his death. Now, the Altus
is the well known Latin poem on the Trinity, written by
St. Colum Cille at lona, when he received the present of the
great rich cross which Pope Gregory the Great had sent him.^*'^
The second relic, his Vespers, I never read of save in this tract ;
unless indeed it were his well known copy of the Psalms, for
centuries celebrated as the Cathach, now the property of Sir
Richard O'Donnell, and at this moment to be seen in the Royal
Irish Academy. The third relic, his Amhra (or Elegy), of
course had not been written until after his death; so that he
could scarcely think of bequeathing it, though he was aware that
it was to be written. The fourth relic, his Mesca (or " Intoxi-
cation"), is the present poem. And I believe I may conclude
my observations upon it by expressing my own certain convic-
tion that no part of it was written for at least 400 years after
the death of the Saint.
The second so-called prophetic poem ascribed to St. Cohim
Cille, with which I am acquainted, is one of twenty-two
stanzas or eighty-eight lines, addressed also to St. Baoithin;
the following is the first stanza [see original in Appendix,
No.CXXXVIII.]:
" Listen to me, O pale Baoithin,
Thou noble man of true devotion,
Until I relate to thee without guile
All that shall befall the Clann Chonaill".
This spurious poem gives a list of the kings or chiefs of Tir
Chonaill, beginning with Domhnall M6r O'Donnell, who died
in the year 1241, down to the great Red Hugh, who died in
Spain in 1602 ; and when the line of known names fails the
author, he continues the Hst by a few figurative or descriptive
names, among which that of Ball JDearg O'Donnell is given,
who flourished in 1690.
(49) This poem is published by Colgan in his Trias Thaumaturgus ; and
another edition of it, witli the original notes and glosses, from the Liber Hym-
norura, is now in course of publication by the Irish Archaeological aud Celtic
Society, edited by the Eev. Dr. Todd.
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 407
This piece of forgery surely does not deserve another mo- lect. xix.
ment's consideration, and I shall therefore pass to the third of of the "Pro.
tlie prophetic poems ascribed to St. Colum Cille. The third phecies" as
^ ^ . ^ ft -iPT 1 cnbed to the
poem consists oi twenty-one stanzas, or eighty-iour lines, be- samts of
ginning [see original in Appendix, No. CXXXIX.] : "pl-opiiecies^
" The three Conns of the Red-haired man's race". cofumcuu.)
This poem professes to foretell the exploits and fate of three
lords of the O'Donnell family, who were to descend from the
"Red-haired man", and each of whom should bear the name of
Conn. The fii'st of these was to fall by the Cenel ESghain (or
O'Neills), the second by his own family, and the third in battle
with the Enghsh near Dublin. Now, there was no remarkable
red-haired man of the line of chiefs of Donnegall before Aedh
Ruadh (Red Hugh), the son of Niall Garhh O'Donnell, a
brave man, who resigned the chieftaincy of Tirconnell in the
year 1497 to his son Conn. Conn, however, was killed in the
same year, in a battle fought between him and the O'Neills, at
Seal atha Dcdle, in Donnegall, upon which the father resumed
the chiefship again, and died in 1505. No Conn of the
O'Donnell family ever became chief or leader of the Clcmn
Chonaill after the above Conn, son of Red Hugh. It is true,
however, that a Conn O'Donnell, who was tlie son of Calbhach,
son of Manus, son of Aedh Duhh (Black Hugh), son of the
same Aedh Ruadh (Red Hugh), was a most distinguished man,
and opposed to the chief at the time; this Conn died in 1583.
Of the third Conn, who was to die on the plain of Dublin,
there is no trace in our annals. A Conn O'Donnell, son of
Niall Garhh, of the same hue, was killed in the year 1601,
not on Jfagh n-Ealta (the plain of Dubhn), " fighting against
the English", as predicted, but before the venerable monastery
of Donnegall, where his father and lumself were basely fighting
on the side of the Enghsh, against the brave Red Hugh
O'Donnell.
I think I have followed this silly prophecy far enough to
prove to you that St. Colum Cille, who died at lona in Scot-
land in the year 592, could hardly be supposed to write a poem
on the fife and adventm'es of three insignificant men, who were
to live and die in Ireland some nine hundi'ed years after.
It is remarkable that no reference to any of these long, cir-
cumstantially defined prophecies can be found in any of the
many ancient copies of the Saint's life which have come down
to us. Even O'Donnell, the patron Saint of whose family
Colum Cille continues to be recognized to the present day,
who compiled a fife of him in the year 1522 (into which he
collected every legend respecting him, no matter how impro-
408 OF THE SO CALLED PROPHECIES.
LECT. XIX. bable, upon wliicli he could lay hold) — even this writer, I say,
Of the'Tio- ^^'^^ ^°^' ^^ ^^y ^^VJ ^^^^ -'- li^ve seen, make the remotest allu-
phecies" as- sion to any such prophecies having been ever written by or
Saints of attributed to St. Colum Cille. Neither is there any such allu-
"Propiiecios^'sion to be found in the more ancient lives of him, preserved in
cofun"aii^) *^^® Leahhar Mor Diina Doighre (known as the Leabhar Breac),
and in the Book of Lismore. Even St. Adamnan, the cousin of
St. Colum Cille, who was born abovit the year 627, that is, about
thirty-five years after the Saint's demise (and who wrote a
Latin history of the life and miracles of his great kinsman and
predecessor in the Abbotship of lona), does not make the
smallest allusion to the Saint's ever having written any such
prophecies as these, nor to the existence of any such works at
the time. Saint Adamnan's, as well as the other biographies
of St. Colum, preserve several instances of the Saint's revealed
knowledge of coming events; but these are always of the
simplest character,— such as telling his monks or his attendants,
that in three days a distinguished guest, who was then on his
way over the sea, would arrive at the port of lona ; or that such
a strident will be a distinguished saint hereafter ; and so on.
The fact is, the practice of writing those long and but too
suspiciously circumstantial prophetic poems, and ascribing them
to distinguished persons far back in our history, appears to
have first sprang up in Erinn after the occurrence of the Danish
invasion, at the close of the eighth century ; and I may indeed
add, that we have lately seen instances of the same practice
continued doAvn so late as to about the year of our Lord 1854 !
When the cruel northern barbarians commenced to plunder
and destroy the churches and all that was sacred and beautiful
in the country, then the lay Airchinnech or steward of the
Church, and the local bards, discovered among their old books
a forewarning of this fearful visitation, in such small scraps of
rhyme as are collected in the tract on this Danish War, already
sj)oken of. And speaking of these flying stanzas, it is strange
that in the one which I have quoted as ascribed to St. Cohan
CilU, the author should only Ibresee the ravages of a Danish
fleet on the banks of the Shannon, and the desecration of Ar-
magh by a Danish lay abbot, without foreseeing at the same
time the ruthless plundering of his OAvn great establishment at
lona, as well as of all his churches in Erinn, and the martyrdom
of his people, by the same barbarous hordes. If this be a pro-
phecy, it is strange, I repeat it, that this venerable and holy
man should only receive from Heaven so very limited and
vague a glimpse of so fearful a national disaster as the invasion
of the Danes, their prolonged cruelties and final destruction;
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 409
"vvliile Lis inspired knowledge of the long line of petty princes lect. xix.
of his own kindred, who were to govern a single tribe of the offj^gup^g.
great Milesian race, happens to be so precise as to foretell their phecies- as-
names, the number of years which each was to floiu'ish, andsamtsof
the manner and place of their death ! 'Tropiiecies^'
of St. Colum
The fourth prophetic poem ascribed to St. Cohim Cille, with
which I am acquainted, is one in which he is made to foretell
the decay of Tara, of Cruachain, and of Emliain (or Emania),
because the nobles of Erinn would cease to be good Christians.
This piece, which is really too contemptible for serious notice,
consists of forty lines, beginning [see original in Appendix, No.
CXL.] :
" Tara of Bregia, Tara of Bregia,
Though countless be her men this day.
Not far distant the time when it will be a desert.
Although this day it enjoys full happiness".
The fifth prophetic poem ascribed to St. Colum CilU, with
which I am acquainted, consists of thirty-one stanzas, or one
hundred and twenty-four lines. This poem is addressed to the
celebrated prophet St. Berchdn of Cluain Sosta (Clonsost, in
the present Kings Coimty). This "prophecy" gives a very
unfavoiu'able account of the futiu'e moral and social state of
Erinn, but contains no allusion to the political changes of the
country. The poem is a pure forgery, and begins [see original
in same Appendix] :
" A time will come, O Berclidn,
When you woidd regret to be in Erinn.
The laws will be but few,
The literary students will be ignorant".
The sixth prophetic poem ascribed to St. Colum CilU, with
which I am acquainted, is one of ten stanzas, or forty lines, in
the same style as the last, and promising the same unfavour-
able future state of Erinn: bad kings, bad jvidges, bad fathers,
bad sons, bad daughters, bad seasons, and so on. It professes to
be a special revelation from Heaven received from the lips of
an angel, and begins thus [see original in same Appendix] :
"Hail thee ! O messenger.
Who Cometh from the King of Heaven's mansion,
Since unto me thou hast come.
Unto God I return my thanks".
The seventh and last prophetic poem, with which I am
410 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LECT. XIX. acquainted, ascribed to St. Colum Cille is one of five stanzas,
„ or twenty lines, spoken by Mm at lona shortly before liis death,
piiecies"as- to liis friend and relative St. Baoithin; in which he says that,
sain^ts of "'^ after his burial in lona, Mandar, the Danish chief, will come
^Prophecles^ with his fleet, and exhume the body, and that it will be after-
of Saint wards interred in Downpatrick, in the same tomb with St.
Patrick and St. Brigid. This poem is preserved in O'Donnell's
Life of St. Colum, and begins [see original in same Appendix] :
" Mandar of the great ships will come".
This poem, in its present style, was certainly not written
within hundreds of years of St. Colum's death.
Of the apo- You will not for a moment, of coiu'se, infer from any stric-
racter of the tures that I liavc made, or shall make, on these so-called Prophe-
"Prophe- cies, that I entertain any doubt that the saints and elect of God
cies". have been, and will continue to be at all times, the medivim
of His revelations to man. It is, indeed, my firm belief that at
the present day we receive divine warnings and instructions,
without ever feehng that they are inspired truths, which, in
times when faith and hope were more new and fervid, and
worldly clamoiu's and cares less engrossing, would have been re-
cognized and received as direct revelations from Heaven. But
the compositions under the name of Prophecies, of which I
have been speaking, are of a very different class, as I think I
have sufficiently shown.
And now having so expressed my most mature and decided
opinion of the spurious apocryphal character of these reputed
prophecies, I feel it to be a duty I owe to my country, as well
as to my creed as a Catholic, to express thus in public the dis-
gust which I feel in common with every right-minded Irish-
man, in witnessing the dishonest exertions of certain parties of
late years, in attempting, by various pubhcations, to fasten these
disgraceful forgeries on the credulity of honest and sincere
Catholics as the undoubtedly inspired revelations of the ancient
Saints of Erinn. It is impossible, indeed, not to be struck with
the testimony which even these so-called "Prophecies" bear
concerning men whose sanctity must have been indeed striking
and remarkable, when, at the distance of himdreds of years after
their deaths, such silly forgeries could for a moment pass cur-
rent under the revered stamp of their holy names. And if
simple credulity alone were the only evil involved in a fervent
belief in the more immediate promises of these Prophecies, it
would scarcely come within my province, under any circmn-
stance, to intrude my humble opinion upon a subject which
ought more properly to belong for examination and decision to
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 411
the constituted pastors of the people, as their preservers from mis- lect. xix.
chievous dekisions of this kind as well as from all other iuflu- ^^ ^^^^ ^^^_
ences dangerous to the soid. The native language, however, crypiial cim-
having under most baleful influences ceased for centuries to be so'caiied
taught in the Ecclesiastical Institutions in which the Irish ^i^^"!'^'^"
clergy have been educated, at home and abroad, and this hav-
ing happened in the period within which ancient writings and
traditions, often inconsistent and never authenticated, have been
subjected to the more critical examination of Irish scholars, lay
and ecclesiastical, it is no wonder that we should find, as in
fact we do, that comparatively old writings, so composed as to
be still as formerly in harmony with the national political senti-
ments for some centuries, should be received at this distance of
time, and even by comparatively educated persons, with reve-
rence and even confidence. It is time, however, in my mind,
that this kind of delusion should be put an end to. Our pri-
mitive Saints never did, according to any rehable authority,
pretend to foretel political events of remote occiu-rence ; and,
perhaps in a future course of Lectures, I may find an opportu-
nity, not only to show you that this was the case, but also to
place before you satisfactory evidence in detail of the very
causes which first produced, and afterwards fastened in our later
literature, these spurious prophecies, as well as other historical
falsehoods equally mischievous and discreditable.
LECTURE XX
[Delivered July 21, 1856. J
The (so-called) Prophecies (continued). The Prophecies attributed to St.
Berchdn. The Prophecy attributed to St. Bric'in. The Prophecies at-
tributed to St. Molinfj. Of the ancient superstitions concerning the " Row-
ing Wheel", tlie "Broom out of Fdnait", and the Fatal Festival of St. John
the Baptist. Political use made of such superstitions against the people of
Ireland. Prevalence of absurd superstitious, even now, regarding the so-
called Prophecies.
In my last Lecture I concluded tlie subject of the writings called
Prophecies attributed to pagan authors, and I gave you some
account of the earlier writings of this class rcfeiTed to the saints
of Erinn, and particularly the so-called Prophecies of St. Colum
cms. From St. Colum CilU we pass now to St. Berchdn of
Cluain Sosta [Clonsost, in the present King's County] , — a saint
who is usually styled Berchdn na Fditsme, or Berchan of the
Prophecy, and who enjoys this title even in such old MSS.
as the Book of Leinster, in which, in his pedigree, he is called
" Bearchan Profetans".
St. Berchdn was one of the Dalriadan race (of Scotland), and
flourished, it is supposed, about a.d. 690 ; but what the parti-
cular prophecy was, from which he derived the title of prophet,
I have not been able to discover, unless it be that contained in
the three stanzas found in the tract on the Danish Wars abeady
spoken of, which stanzas run as follows [see original in Appen-
dix, No. CXLL] :
" Pagans will come over the slow sea;
They will gain ascendancy over the men of Erinn ;
There will be an abbot from them over every church ;
They will have power over Erinn.
" Seven years will they be — no faint achievement —
In the chief sovereignty of Erinn ;
In the abbacy of every church
These foreigners of Dublin fortress.
" An abbot of them will be over my church too,
Who will not attend to matins ;
There will be neither prayer, nor credo,
Nor Latin, but all foreign language".
Whether these three stanzas constituted the entire of the on-
Berc/uxn.)
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 413
ginal " propliecy" ascribed to St. Berchdn, I am not able to lect. xx.
say ; but there is a very long prophetic poem (of 204 stanzas,
or 81G lines) in existence, ascribed to this saint, and of which pUecies" as-
these three make verses 7, 8, and 9. This poem, which appears sahfts of "^^
to have been addressed to some pupil or disciple, begins thus ??propi,ecS"
fsee same Appendix! : of saint
Dtop a little, my white small boy ;
Listen to the words of BercJidn,
Until I make a cross upon thy sweet lips —
A consecrating touch of my crozier".
The author then goes on to say that in sixty years after his
own death his church would be ruined ; and that although it
was then full of ecclesiastics, a time would come when the
sweetest tones of its bells would not be able to call even one
piiest to vespers in it. Tliis short introduction brings the au-
thor to the three stanzas mentioned above, in which he foretells
the Danish invasion ; and if the prophecy had stopped here
with the ninth stanza, it might be difficult to say at what pre-
cise time it was written after the Danes had gained a firm footing
in Erinn. But, unfortunately for the authenticity of the piece as
a prophecy, the tenth stanza betrays the century in which (or
after which) the author flourished, so unmistakably, that we may
be quite certain that either this stanza, and Avith it the whole re-
maining part of the poem, were written about a.d. 1120, or else
that the first nine stanzas alone were of an older date, and the
great body of the composition strung to them long afterwards,
so as to give the whole an air of antiquity as high as that which
may be claimed for these few verses. It is my own opinion
that the first nine stanzas are older, perhaps by a century, than
the remainder; but I entertain no doubt that no part even of
these first stanzas is nearly so old as the time of St Berchdn.
The tenth stanza runs thus [see same Appendix] :
" Shortly there will come a yonth,
Who will relieve Banhha from oppression.
So that the foreigner's power shall never be
After him in Dun dd Leth ghlas [Downpatrick]".
The next stanza says that this youth, who was to relieve
Erinn from the oppression of the Danes, was not to be a king,
but only an heir apparent to the monarchy, and that he would
be killed at Tara. Now, among all the heirs to the crown of
Tara, of which our annals make mention, there is but one who
could answer to this prediction, and his death is thus recorded
in the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 1026 :
" Three battles were gained by Roen, son of Muircheartach,
son of Maelseachlainn of the Clann Cholmdin, royal heir of
£erchdn,)
414 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LECT. XX. Tara, — one battle over tlie men of Meatli, another over the
„,„ .,„ men of Brescia, and the third over the foreigners of DubHn".
Of tiie Pro- ," -, , ^
piiecies"as- And again, at the next year, that is 1027, we find that: —
Saints of ^ "An army was led by Sitric, son of Amlilaibh [or Awley,
"Prophedes" king of the Danes of Dublin], and DuncJiadh, Lord of Bregia,
•jf^sajnt ^ into Meath, as far as Leac Bladhma, where the men of Meath,
under the command of Roen O' MaoilseacMainn, met them ; in
which the Danes and the men of Bregia were defeated and
slaughtered, together with Dunchadh, son of Donn, lord of
Bregia, and GillausaiUe, son of Gillacaemhghm, lord of Ui
Briuin. They tiu'ned back upon Roen again, however, and
defeated and slew Roen, lord of Meath, and great numbers
beside".
This is the only record in the Annals of any " royal heir" of
Tara having given to the Danes their final or any important
overthrow ; and jiidging from the analogy of known cases of
the kind, there can be, I think, but little doubt that this part
of the prophecy was written in or about his time. But,
although the writer steps suddenly from the seventh century, in
which St. Berchdn flourished, down to the eleventh century,
he goes back again then to his own time, and foretels all the
monarchs that were to reign over Erinn till the time of Anti-
christ, occasionally introducing a provincial king into the list.
This list ends with the 96th stanza. From that to stanza 117,
the poem is occupied with very dubious references to St. Patrick,
St. Brigid, and St. Colum Cille, as well as obscure references to
the Picts of Scotland. From stanza 117 to the end it gives a
list of the Dalriadan kings who were to reign over Scotland,
with the length of reign, and manner and place of death of each,
from A edha7i Mac Gabhrdin in. 570, to Domhnall Ban in 1093.
The succession of the kings of Erinn is intelligible enough
down to Muircheartach [or Mortoch] O'Brien, who died in the
year 1119; and as neither Toirdhealbhach Mot [Turloch Mor]
O'Conor (who assuined the monarchy after O'Brien), nor
Ruaidhri [Roderic], his son, who succeeded Turloch in 1156,
is mentioned, nor the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1169, it is, I
think, clear enough that the author of this prophecy lived in
the time of Muircheartach O'Brien, that is, about 1119.
Again, in the twelfth stanza, the " proj)het" addresses Colmdn
Mor in the following manner [see same Appendix] : —
" Let some one request the son of Aedh [Hugh], —
Colmdn Mor, — to protect me ;
He has but a month's time from this night
Until he meets death in his encampment".
Now this is inaccurate history; for Colmdn Mor was the
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 4] 5
brotlier, not tlie son, o£ Aedh Slaine; and tliey were botli the lect. xx.
sons of Diarmaid, tlie monarch of Erinn. Cohnan was slain of the "Pro
not in his camp, but in his chariot, in the year 552 ; and his piiecies" as-
brother, Aedh Slaine, who became monarch in 595, was slain sainisoV^
in the year 600. But the writer had no notion whatever of upropj^gglp*,®
addressincv himself in person to Colmdn 3f6r and Aedh Slaine °^ ^^^^^
themselves, who had been long- dead m his time. It was a
well-known and allowable form in ancient Gacdhlic history
to speak of the representatives of a chief or saint, as of the
chief or saint himself; and thus we find, down to the tenth
and eleventh centuries, either honour or dishonour spoken
of as having been offered to St. Patrick, when in fact it
was to his representative or successor it had been offered,
six hundred years after himself. And it is the same in
civil history ; for we find even down to the sixteenth centmy,
the O'Donnells and O'Neills, and their co-descendants, spoken
of as Conall and Eoghan, their remote ancestors in the fifth
centmy. So that, when the writer of this poem pretended
to address himself in the person of St. BercJidn to Aedh
Slaine, and his brother, Colmdn Mor, to protect his church,
it does not at all follow (and this is, indeed, very clear
fi'om the context) that he addressed them personally — though
that was what he wished to be understood — but that he pre-
sented this poem to their descendants a long time after their
death and that of St. Berchdn, as one in which St. Berchdn
had commended his church to the powerful protection of their
ancestors before them ; and that, as a matter of course, they the
descendants were bound for ever after to extend the same pro-
tection to the same church. Any one intimately acquainted
with the manner in which lay abbots and lay impropriators of
Church-lands interpolated the simple and edifying lives of our
holy primitive saints, will unmediately understand the original
cause of writing such pieces as this.
Again, at the opening of the second part of this poem, — I
mean that part which refers to the succession of the kings of
Scotland, — the reputed author, St. Beixhdn, is made to tell us
that it was on the day after writing the poem that St. Patrick was
to die, — that is, on the 17th of March, 493; that on the same
day, St. Brigid was to proceed to Downpatrick, to endeavour
to procure that the holy Patrick should be hurried at Kildare ;
and that, in sixty years from the 17th of March, 493, St. Colum
Cille would be born.
Now St. Patrick died in the year 493; St. Brigid in the
year 525 ; and St. Colum Cille was born in the year 515. St.
Berchdyi " the prophet" was of the Dabiadan Scotic race of
416 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LECT. XX. Scotland, and tlie twenty -first in descent from CairhrS Eiada,
~^ (who fought at the battle of Ceann Feahhrat, near Kilfinan in
piiecles" &s' the county of Limerick, in the year 186) ; and according to his
sahiTs of "^^ pedigree preserved in the Book of I^einster, he must have
up "", ^^'!?, flourished in the seventh century. It is therefore impossible
of Saint that this Berclidn could have been alive on the day before St.
eichan.) Patrick's death, thirty -two years before the death of St. Brigid^
and sixty years before the birth of St. Colum Cille, who was, as
you have seen, born in the year 515, for this would be throwing
his own nativity back to the year 455.
I have said that this poem consists of 204 stanzas; of this
number, however, ninety-six only are devoted to the Danish
Invasion, and the succession of the kings of Erinn; the re-
maining 108 stanzas are devoted to notices of the deaths of
St. Patrick, St. Brigid of Kildare, and St. Colum Cille, and to
the succession of the kings of Scotland.
This part of the poem, beginning with the ninety-seventh
stanza, assiunes distinctly as I have mentioned, the authority of
a very high antiquity. The first stanza runs thus [see same
Appendix] :
" The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, ^ , / >
Are they whom I adore as one ; I '■■ /i '- -f.-A-' c ^ •^ ■ ■
Upon to-morrow will ascend to heaven ^ J
Patrick oi Ardmaclia, the diadem of chastity V'*- ^^'^''7*!^
According to this stanza the poem would have been written
on the day preceding that of St. Patrick's death ; that is, on the
16th day of March, in the year of our Lord 493. I need
scarcely say that a poem or any other piece of genuine Gaedhlic
composition of this remote date, would be received, quite inde-
pendently of its historic or prophetic value, as a production of
the highest arcliEcological interest, not only by Gaedhlic scholars,
but by all the antiquarians of Europe, Unfortimately, how-
ever, no such antiqu-ity can be claimed for this, any more than
for the preceding part of the poem ; and the only difference is
that this part is more precise in fixing the real period of the
composition of the entire piece, as will be seen at its con-
clusion.
After the confession of Faith and the death of Patrick just re-
ferred to, the author goes on to state that St. Brigid of Kildare
was to go to Ardmaeha on the following day, to endeavoiir to
procixre the body of St. Patrick, to have it buried at Kildare ;
and that she should not succeed, but that he should be buried
at Downpatrick, where Brigid herself would be subsequently
buried in the same tomb with him. He then says that in sixty
years from the same morrow there would be born at Rath Cro,
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 417
a son, whose renown should fill all Erinn and Scotland ; that lkct. xx.
he would be a sage, a prophet, and a poet, a son of virginity, and ^ . ,
a priest; and that he would fight the Battle of Cnil Dreimne vhecics- &s-
which would be the cause of his forsaking his beloved church of sliintsof
Derry and going into exile in Scotland. This gifted son was, I'l'^J^^^^J^^^-
of course, the great St. Colum Cille, who was destined to settle °^ ^'•'^"}
in lona, and to convert the Scots and Picts.
The pi'ophecy goes on, then, to give the succession of the
kings of Scotland, with the naine, length of reign, exploits, and
manner of death of each, from Aeclhan Mac Gabhrdw, the co-
temporarj of St. Colum CilU, down to the usurper Domlmcdl
jK««, who assumed the title in the year 1093 ; and it is precisely at
this date that the Irish part of this great prophecy stops. Here,
however, there is no speculation on the future state of Scotland,
as there is on that of Erinn in the first part ; and this it is that
I tliink fixes pretty clearly the date of the whole piece, in its
original form.
There is another poem of seven stanzas ascribed to St. Ber-
chan^ in which he very dimly relates to St. Ciardn some of the
destinies of Erlrm, just as they are both going to visit the islands
of Arann on the coast of Clare. The actors in this poem (the
great stock in trade of these prophets), are Aedh JRuadh (Hugh
Roe O'Donnell), and others of his race. The piece, which is
not as a "prophecy" worth any further notice, begins [see
original in Appendix, No. CXLII.] :
" Long live, I pray, Erinn after me."
It may be curious to state here that at the celebrated Battle
of Bel an Atka Buidhe, fought by the great Hugh Roe O'Don-
nell against the English in the year 1598, OT^onnelfs poet,
Ferfesa O'Clery, quoted the following verse from a prophecy
of St. Berchdn, to show that he, O'Donnell, was the person
foretold in it who would destroy the English power in Ireland ;
but this verse is not found in any of the saint's prophecies that
we have been describing. Indeed, I strongly incline to believe
it was specially made for the occasion. [See original in Ap-
pendix, No. CXLIIL]
" In the battle of the Yellow Ford,
It is by him shall fall the tyrants ;
After extirpating the foreigners,
Joyful will be the men from Torry".
There is, besides, another poem of thirty -one stanzas, ascribed
to St. Berchdn, beginning [see original in Appendix, No
CXLIV.] :
" A warning will come after the flood,
As I think, in Erinn's Isle,
27
418
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LECT. XX.
Of the " Pro-
phecies" as-
cribed to the
Saints of
Krinn. (The
'Prophecies"
of Saint
Berchdn.)
* Prophecy"
ascribed to
St. Bricin.
Which will drive some parties to destruction,
By the stormy waves of Loch Sileanri\
This poem goes on to say that before the occurrence of this
great event, red water would burst forth from a hill in the north
of Erinn ; that Locli Sileann [now called Loch Sheelin, in West-
meath], would, durmg a Samhain [November] thunder storm,
burst its banks and flow into Loch Gamhna [in Longford], then
to Loch Erne, and so to the Shannon ; that the glen of the river
Muaidh would burst and destroy Tir Fiachrach, and drown Liis
Bo Finne; that Gal way would suffer dreadfully ; that the Saxons
would become powerful and tyrannical, churches would be
taxed, and their clergy hiding in glens, or going over the sea ;
that a man of the Clann O'Neill would raise a war, assisted by
King Louis of France ; that they would fight the Battle of
Emania (near Armagh), when twenty thousand Saxons would
be killed ; and that another great destruction of them would
take place at Kildare, after which the Saxons would never
again be strong, and the power of the Gaedhils would be
assured for ever.
This forgery was, I beheve, the composition of Taclhg (or
Teige) O Neachtain^ and of so late a date as about the year
1716.
Leavlncf now St. Berchdn, we come to another of our
so-called prophets, of whom, nideed, but very little is known,
though he was undoubtedly a distinguished scholar and eccle-
siastic in his day. This was St. Bricin, abbot of Tuaim Dre-
cain, [probably the place now called Toomregan, near the
village of Ballyconnell, on the borders of the counties of Cavan
and Fermanagh.] St. Bricin flourished in the year 637; and
you may recollect that, in a former Lecture, it was shown that
it was to his great establishment at Tuaim Drecain, that Cenn-
faeladh the Learned was carried to be cured, from the battle
field of Magh Rath, wdiere his skull had been fractured with
the loss of part of his brain ; and that here it was that he learned
by rote all that was taught in St. Bricin s three schools. The
prophecy ascribed to this Saint, which is strictly ecclesiastical,
is entitled Baih'; Bhricin, or the "Ecstacy of Bricin", and the
following short history is prefixed to it:
Saint Bricin, one Easter Sunday night, after having kept
the great fast of Lent, was sitting in his chamber, liaving
omitted to go to perform his accustomed devotions in his church.
While thus sitting at his ease, he heard the angels of Heaven
celebrating aloud the happy festival in the Church, upon which
he fervently pra3'ed the Lord to aflibrd him an opportunity of
conversing about the Heavenly host with one of His angels.
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 419
After this the aiiQ-el of the Lord came to talk to him between lect. xx.
midnight and matins. Bricin was then favoured with a sifjht ,,,, ,.„
o o Of the Pro-
of the Heavenly host celebrating the festival of the Resurrection phccies" as-
around the altar of the Lord in Heaven, after which he begged saiiftl o°
of the angel to inform him of the number and names of the phecv'-^of'st'
sons of Life, or righteous men, who would, after himself, continue Bricin.)
to adorn the Chui'ch of God for ever in Erinn. The angel
answers that a great foreign persecution of the Churches would
come (alluding to the Danish Invasion) ; that after this perse-
cution, the first son of Life who should appear would be a lord
of three monasteries, who would raise the condition of the laity
and beautify the appearance of the churches ; who would be a
king, a bishop, and a foiuitain of charity and mercy. I do not
know any person who would answer this description as well as
Cormac Mac Cullinan, king and archbishop of Cashel, who was
slain in the year 903. The next son of Life who was to appear
was TdnaidhS Mac Uidhir [Mac Guire], who was abbot of
Beannchidr [county Down], and who was slain by the Danes in
the year 956. The angel goes on then to enumerate the sons of
Life to the number of fifty, by figurative names, which, at this
distance of time, are totally unintelligible, if, indeed, they were
all ever meant by their author to bear any definite meaning;
nor does he appear to have observed any fixed chronological
order, as will be seen from three of the personages identified by
some ancient transcriber, and who stand in the text in the follow-
ing order: Tdnaidhe Mac Uidhir, abbot o£ Beannchui7\ already
mentioned, who was slain in the year 956 ; Fothadh na Can-
Sine, of FatJtan Mura, who floiu'ished about the year 800; and
Donnchadh O'Braoin, abbot of Cliiainmicnois, who died in 987 ;
after whom there were to be but six more sons of Life until the
birth of a man named Tibraide, in whose time the Christian
rehgion was to cease, and the reign of Antichrist was to be
established. This Tibraide was to be born in the reign of
Aedh Engacli (or Hugh the Valiant), according to the prophecy
called Bails an Scdil (the " Ecstacy of the Champion"), of
which I have already spoken ; but, as my copy of that prophecy
is imperfect at the end, where this prediction could be found,
I am imable to draw any conclusion from a comparison of both
texts. It is my opinion, however, that Bricin's prophecy was
written about a.d. 1000; and, probably, by the same person
who wrote Baile an Scdil. It is preserved in a manuscript in
the British Museum, already referred to (Harl. 5280).
From St. Bricin we pass to St. Moling, of Tiqh Moling "Prophecv"
(now St. MuUins in the county of Carlo w). St. Moling died °^st.j/o?,«^.
in the year 696 ; and with the exception of St. Colum CilU,
27 B
420 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
I.ECT. XX. there are more poems ascribed to liim tlian to any other of our
"p • ^^^'^y sahits. Among all his poems, however, I have met with no
phccies" as- moro than one of a prophetic character. This is called the
Saints of *'"' BmU Mholmfj, or " Ecstacy of JN'Ioling", and consists of fbrty-
Erinn ("Pro- geven stanzas or one hundred and eighty-eight lines, on the suc-
phecy"ofSL . n t -, • pt • i ^- ■^- ^r • • i • a
Moling.) ccssion 01 the kmgs 01 Lemster, begninmg |_see origmal m Ap-
pendix, No CXLV.] :
" I say unto ye, O men of Lelnster —
And not for the sake of rich rewards —
Guard well yoiir own territories,
An attack will come upon you from afar.
Respond ye, for it well behoves ye,
To the noble Fergal, son of Maekhnn,
By you shall fall the brave descendant of Conn,
In the furious battle o£ Almhain.
Aedh Allan with his battalions
Will come from the north to avenge his father,
Here he will be met by Aedh Menn,
Who shall be left dead at Fidh Cuilinn.
The broom out of Fdnait will be severe ;
Over the centre of Erinn, from the north-west
To the sea in the south, it shall make its course,
And bring direful woe to the people of Cork".
Now, the noble Fergal, son of Maeldidn, whose expedition
and death are predicted here, succeeded to the monarchy of
Erinn in the year 709 ; and in the year 718, that is, in twelve
years after St. Moling's death, he made the incursion into
Leinster, which resulted in his death, at the battle of Almhain
[now the Hill of Allen, in the county Kildare, the ancient
patrimony of Finn Mac CumhailT]. Aedh Allan, the son of
Fei'gal, succeeded to the monarchy in the year 730 ; and in
three years after, that is, in 733, he marched all the forces of
the north of Erinn into Leinster to a place called Alh Seanaigh
[now Ballyshannon, four miles to the west of Kilcullen Bridge
in the coimty of Kildare], where he was met by the Leinster-
men, in their utmost force, under their king, Aedh [or Hugh],
son of Colgu. A furious battle ensued, in Avhich the Leinster-
men were almost totally cut off; and their king was slain in
single combat by the monarch Aedh.
The prophecy passes directly from the events of this year,
733, to the death of Cormac Mac Cullinan in the battle of
Magli Ailbhe in the year 903; and without any special refer-
ence to the Danish Invasion, tells that the Danes will carry off
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 421
the cattle of CillAusailU (now Killossy, near Naas in tlie county lect. xx.
of Kildare), after which they were to be defeated and ahnost oft^eupr„.
destroyed by Ugaire, the son o^ Aillill, King of Leinster, a phecie-i" as-
prince who did, in fact, defeat tliera at the battle of Ceannfuait sainTs ..f
(now Confey, near Lucan, in the county of Kildare) in the year J;,';i.".";-^of ^t"
915, where t/^cm-^l himself fell, together with a great number ^/oto?.)
of the gallant chiefs of Leinster.
The poem goes on, then, to give a list of several of the kings
and chiefs of Leinster under figurative names (but with original
interlined identifications) down to Diarmaid, son ofJ/eal na m-hd,
King of Leinster, who was killed in the battle of Odhhlia (in
Lleath) in the year 1072, and, I believe, to Donnell Mac Gilla-
patrick, who died King of Ossory, in the year 1165. Mac Gilla-
patrick, according to this "prophecy", was to be succeeded by
Flann of Cidl GamJma, who is not identified ; and this Flann was
to slauo-hter the Danes of Dublin seven times, and reduce the
strength of Mnnster.
This description would apply to no Lcinsterman of this period
but to Dlarmaid Mac Murchadha [commonly called Dermod Mac
Murroch], who became King of Leinster in 1137 ; and the poem
must, I am convinced, have been written in his time, but before
his banishment from Erinn, and subsequent return with the
Anglo-Normans, else the latter unfortunate event would have
been foretold in it.
The prophet, then, when he comes to tovich on the real future,
follows precisely the course of the other prophets of whom we
have been treating, and jumps ivom. Dlarmaid Mac Murchadha
to Flann Cwthac/i, so often mentioned already. In his time
the Both Ramhach, or "Rowing Wheel", was to come, as well
as a dreadful calamity promised to reach Erinn from the south-
west, which was to destroy the three-fomths of the people, as
far as the Mediterranean Sea ; and another dreadful calamity or
visitation which was called the Scuap a Fdnait, or "Broom out
of Fanait" (in Donnegall), which was to sweep over Erinn from
the north-east into the sea in the south-west, and was to bring
fearfid destruction upon Cork. This prophecy limits the reign
of the portentous king, Flann Ciothach, who is here called
Flann (Jinach [the voracious], from Diirlas [Thurles], to sixty
years, sixty months, sixty fortnights, and sixty nights ; and states
that the time between the end of Flann's reign and the day of
judgment wall be but one hundred years. '■'■ Berchdn dixW'' i%
written in the margin, opposite stanza 3(5 of this poem, but the
original author follows from that stanza to the end.
From this well written poem, falsely ascribed to St. Moling,
422 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LECT. XX. we pass now to another prophetic poem of 20 stanzas, or 80 lines,
carried on by way of a dialogue between St. Finncliu of Bri-
ascribed to Gohhanu (in the county of Cork), who flourished in the sixth
fentm-y)!^' ccntury, and a prophet named Sedna, with whose history I am
unacquainted. The poem begins [see original in Appendix,
No. CXLVI.] :
" Tell unto me, O Sedna,
News of the end of the world,
Wliat will be the condition of the people
Who follow not a life of tnith".
Sedna answers this question, as might be expected, in terms
very unfavourable to the conduct and fate of the generations
which were to follow, whose crimes would bring on them
various plagues, as well as loss of all their power and dignity.
He then foretells that the Saxons would come in upon them
and hold sway in Erinn during a term of nine score years (that
is to the year 1350), when they would behave treacherotisly to
one another ; and that one of the old Anglo-Normans would, at
a subsequent period, lead that party and the native Irish against
the Elizabethan and other modern settlers, and would totally
drive them out of the country.
All the copies of this poem that I have seen are so in-
accurate, that the predictions cannot be reconciled with the
actual history of the country ; nor should I follow the silly pro-
duction further, but that I find the prophecy quoted in a well-
written poem composed by Donnell Mac Brody of the covmty of
Clare, for James, the son of INIaurice Di(hh, son of John Fitz-
Gerald, Earl of Desmond. John FitzGerald, Earl of Desmond,
was arrested by the Lord Chief Justice at Kilmallock, and sent
prisoner to London, in the year 1567, according to the Annals
of the Four Masters ; and the same annals tell us, that in the
year 1569, James, the son of Maimce, son of the above earl,
was a warlike man, at the head of many troops; and that the
English and Irish of Munster, from the River Barrow to Cam
Ui Neid (in the south-west of the coimty of Cork), entered
into a unanimous and firm confederacy with him against Queen
Elizabeth.
So far, the prophecy (which appears to have been, as usual,
made for this occasion) was fulfilled ; but the part of its fulfil-
ment which then had not arrived, never after proved true ; as
James, the son of Maurice Duhh, after a career of varied for-
tune, was killed at last, near Cnoc Greine (in the county of
Limerick), in a skirmish with the Burkes of Clann WilHam,
in the year 1579.
Mac Brody's poem, of which I possess a fine copy, consists
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 423
0 forty-two stanzas, or 1G8 lines, and begins [see original in i.ect. xx.
Appendix, No. CXLVII.] :—
" Whose is the oldest charter of the land of NiaW\
There is another prophetic poem, said to have been delivered "Prophecy"
iiir;777 1 ascribed to
by some person named maeUamhiachta, to another person Maeitamh-
named Maeldithri, neither of whom can be identified. It is
a silly production, of no antiquity, in its present form; it pro-
mises, that when the Saxons shall have become as wicked as
the native Gaedhil, their power over Erinn shall come to an
end ; and that this prediction has not been finally verified long
ago, one cannot help remarking, is a pretty clear proof that the
author was very Httle of a prophet ! The poem, which is not
worth another word of notice, begins [see original in Appendix,
No. CXLVIIL] :—
" Say, O Maeltamlilachtd!\
So far I laave led you through the chief part of the founda- p,^ecies''^^°'
tions upon which have been built the various compositions long concerning
spoken of and referred to as the popular " Irish Prophecies", Festival of
as well as of some few that have not, I believe, been ever be- the'saptist.
fore brought into public notice. In place of entering into any
further discussion upon their antiquity or authenticity, I shall
now proceed to add a few more specific references, which may
throw some light on the often-mentioned Roth Ramhacli, or
Rowing Wheel, the Broom out of Fanait, and the fatal day of
the Festival of John the Baptist, so often and so mysteriously
spoken of in the old MSS.
That these were fancifiil names for threatened visitations of
the Divine vengeance, which were to afflict the people unless
they repented of their imputed sins and iniquities (threats of
vengeance, which might be held in terror over evil doers for
ever, no matter how long after they may have from time to
time been apparently verified, or stated to have been so), will
1 think, appear clearly enough, from the few short articles
which I now propose to lay before you.
The first of these articles is an extract from the life of St.
Adamnan, who died in the year 703. Of this extract, the fol-
lowing is a literal translation [see original in Appendix, No.
CXLIX.]:—
" Two of the various gifts of St. Adamnan were jjreaching
and instruction. He preached in the last year of his life, that
a pestilence would come upon the men of Erinn and of Scot-
land, at the ensuing festival of St. John.
" At this time an unknown young man was in the habit of
visiting St. Colman of Cruachdn AtgU, [Cruach Patra{c,~\ a
spiritual director of Connacht. And the young man related
424 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
I.ECT. XX.
many wonderful things to Colman, and asked liim if Adamnan
Of the "Pro ^^^^ ^^°^ predicted a pestilence to the men of Erinn and Seot-
piiecies'con- land at the ensuing festival of St. John. The prediction is not
Fatal Fes- truc, Said Colmau. It is true, said the yomig man, and the
joimuie'' pestilence shall be fulfilled by the death of Adamnan himself
iic;i.tidt. at this approaching St. John's festival".
And the life goes on to say, that the prediction was in fact
so verified hj the death of St. Adamnan on the 23rd of September
in that year, three weeks after the festival of the beheading of
John the Baptist (29th August); and that this was felt by the
men of Erinn and Scotland as the greatest calamity that could
befall them.
This would appear to have been the real origin and verifica-
tion of the St. John's festival prediction; though succeeding
dealers in prophecies, like those of the present day, found it
their interest, or their inclination, to give new interpretations.
At some period subsequent to the Danish Invasion, this pro-
phecy of St. Adamnan was put into a more formal shape, and
written and preached under the title of Aclamnan's vision. Of
this piece called Adamnan's vision, which is very short, there
is a beautiful copy in Latin, with a Gaedhlic commentary, pre-
served in the Leahliar Mor JJiina Doighre (or Leahhar lireac).,
in the Royal Irish Academy, and a fragment, on paper, in the
library of Trinity College. The whole tract makes more than
one of the closely and beautifully written pages of the Leahhar
IJor Dihia Doighre. The following is the text of the vision
and its title [see original in Appendix, No. CL.] :
" The vision which Adamnan — a man filled with the Holy
Spirit — saw, that is, the angel of the Lord spoke these His [that
is, the Lord's] words to him :
" Woe ! woe ! woe ! to the men of Erinn's Isle who transgress
the commands of the Lord. Woe ! to the kings and princes who
do not direct the truth, and who love both iniquity and rapine.
Woe ! to the prostitutes and the sinners, who shall be burned
like hay and straw, by a fire ignited in the bissextile and in-
tercalary year, and in the end of the cycle. And it is on the
[festival of the] beheading of John the Baptist, on the sixth day
of the week, that this plague will come, in that year, if [the
people] by devout penitence do not prevent it as the people
of Nineveh have done".
So far the vision, which is immediately followed by an ex-
planation of the cause and character of this fearful visitation, and
the mode of Avarding it off. The substance of this explanation
may be summed up as follows :
It was to Adamnan, it informs us, that were revealed all the
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 425
plagues, mortalities, and destructions by foreigners wliicli were lfxt. xx.
to afflict Erinn in consequence of the iniquities of her people. ,
Dreadful would be the plagues that were to come if they did piiecics" con-
not repent, namely, a flame of fire that would purify Erinn Kata'i' Fes-''
from the south-west: and that was to be the fire which would j',^,',',',"|,^*'
burn the three-fourths of the men of Erinn in the twinkling of Baptibt.
an eye, — men, women, boys, and girls. Of all the plagues that
were to afflict the nation, — disease, famine, foreign invasion,
and destruction, — this terrible fire of St. John's festival would
be the last and most destructive. The people are then charged
with the crimes of theft, falsehood, murder, fratricide, adultery,
destruction of churches and clergy, charms, incantations, and all
sorts of wickedness, excepting alone the worship of idols. This
catalogue of imputed crimes is then followed by an earnest
inculcation of the mode of warding off the fiery visitation of St.
John's festival, in accordance with the testament of St. Patrick
and St. Adamnan, and after the example of the people of
Nineveh and several others of sacred history. And this was to
be done by a total change of life, by fasting and praying, and
giving large and liberal alms to the poor and the churches.
There can, I think, be little doubt but that this piece was
written after the great mortalities of the seventh and eighth
centuries, the Buidhe chonnaill and Crom cJionnaill [see Appen-
dix, No. CLL], and even after the total overthrow of the
Danish power in the year 1014, but before the Anglo-Norman
Invasion was so much as thought of. The ecclesiastics of this
time were expert calculators of cycles, and they availed them-
selves here of an ancient prediction (if, indeed, it was ancient),
threatening a fiery visitation when the festival of the Beheading
of John the Baptist (that is, the 29th day of August) should fall
on a Friday near the end of what I must believe to be a cycle
of the Epact. Now the number of the Epact for the year 101)6
was 23, so that a cycle of the Epact terminated that year. In
that year also the Decollation of St. John the Baptist fell on a
Friday. And this conjunction had not happened, I believe,
from the time of the Danish supremacy until this year of 1096.
This year of 1096 was besides a bissextile, or leap-year. We
have already seen, from the Annals of the Four JMasters at this
year, how strictly in accordance with the instructions laid down
in this tract was the course recommended by the clergy of that
period and acted on by both laity and clergy. And so we may,
I think, fairly assume that this version of the vision of St.
Adamnan was written (at least in its present form) immediately
or shortly before that year, although it is possible that a portion
of it, or perhaps some version of the entire, may have been
426
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
Of the " Pro
pliecies" con
cei-ning the
Fatal Fes-
tival of St.
John the
Baptist.
LECT. XX. uttered or written many generations before. And tlie probabi-
lity of tliis " Vision" being of the date I assign to it, is further
sustained by the fact that the language is not of a more ancient
character.
It appears certain, from the Life of St. Adamnan, that his
prophecy respecting the St. John's festival amounted only to
the prediction of a simple pestilence or calamity, and that this
prophecy was believed to have been fulfilled in his own death.
At what time this simple calamity was magnified into a flame
of fire which would burn to cinders three-fourths of the people,
from the south of Erinn to the Mediterranean Sea, and back
again from Fdnait (in Donnegal) to Cork, it would be curious
and instructive to inquire ; and it is fortunate that we have, in
the same Leahhar Mor Dana DoigJire, a short article, giving
such an origin to this fiery visitation as will, I am satisfied, take
it for ever out of the catalogue of inspired predictions, as well
as another short article, which, in my opinion, clearly identifies
the " Fiery Dragon" with the so-called " Broom out of Fdnait'\
The following literal translation of the first of these little
tracts will be found as curious in its topographical as in its
legendary interest [see original in Appendix, No. CLII.] :
" It is in the reign oi Flann Cinaidh \_Ginach, or " the vora-
cious"] that the Rowing- Wheel, and the Broom out ofFcmaid, and
the Fiery Bolt, shall come. Cliach was the harper of Smirdnbh
MacSmdil, king of the three Rosses oi Sliahli Ban [in Connacht].
Cliach set out on one occasion to seek the hand in marriage of one
of the daughters of Bodhhh Derg, of the [fairy] jDalace of Femhen
[in Tipperary]. He continued a whole year playing his harp,
on the outside of the palace, without being able to approach
nearer to Bodhhh, so great was his [necromantic] power; nor
did he make any impression on the daughter. However, he
continued to play on until the ground burst under his feet,
and the lake which is on the top of the mountain, sprang up
in the spot: that is Loch Bel Scad. The reason why it was
called Loch Bel Sead, was tlois :
" Coerabar boeth, the daughter of Etal Anbuail of the fairy
mansions of Connacht, was a beautiful and powerfully gifted
maiden. She had three times fifty ladies in her train. They
were all transformed every year into three times fifty beautiful
birds, and restored to their natural shape the next year. These
birds were chained in couples by chains of silver. One bird
among them was the most beautiful of the world's birds, having
a necklace of red gold on her neck, with three times fifty
chains depending from it, each chain terminating in a ball of
gold. During their transformation into birds, they always re-
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 427
mained on Loch Crotta Cliach [that is, the Lake of CliacKs lect. xx.
Harpsi, wherefore the people who saw them were in the habit „.,, .,„
oi sajing: ' iMany is the oecia [that is, a gem ; a jewel, or other piiedes" eon-
precious article] at the mouth of Loch Crotta this day'. And Fatal Fes-^
hence it is called Loch Bel Sead, [or the Lake of the Jewel john the''
Mouth.] BaiJtist.
"It was called also Loch Bel Dragain, [or the Dragon-Mouth
Lake] ; because Ternogs nurse caught a fiery dragon in the
shape of a salmon, and St. Fursa induced her to throw it into
Loch Bel Sead. And it is that dragon that will come in the
festival of St. John, near the end of the world, in the reign of
Flann CInaidh. And it is of it and out of it shall grow the
Fiery Bolt which will kill three-fourths of the people of the
world, men and women, boys and girls, and cattle, as far as the
Mediterranean Sea eastwards. And it is on that account it is
called the Dragon-Mouth Lake.
" Cliach the Harper, now, always played upon two harps
at the same time; and hence the name Crotta Cliach [the
Harps of Cliach — Cruit being the Lish for a harp], and
Sliabh Crott, [or the JMountain of the Harps, on the top of
which the lake of CliacKs Harps is still to be seen].
" It was of this fiery bolt that St. Moling was preacliing
when predicting the St. John's festival, when he said,
" O great God [O great God],
May I obtain my two requests.
That my soul be with angels in bhss,
That the flaming bolt catch me not.
In John's festival vrill come an assault.
Which will traverse Eriun from the south-west ;
A furious dragon which will burn all before it.
Without communion, without sacrament.
As a black dark troop will they burst in flames.
They will die Hke verbal sounds ;
One alone out of himdreds
Of them all shall but survive.
From Dun Cearinna to Sruihh Brain,
It will search ; and to the Mediterranean Sea, eastwards ;
A furiovis, flaming dragon, full of fire ;
It shall spare but only a fourth part.
Woe to whom it reaches, woe him who awaits it,
Woe to those who do not ward off* the plague ;
The Tuesday upon which the festival falls, —
It were well to avert it in time.
One shall tell the precise time
When the Lord shall bring all tliis to pass ;
428 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
Five days of spring after Easter,
Five years before the mortality.
A time will come beside this,
When in a bissextile year;
A Friday upon a cycle, woe who sees.
Oh ! the fiery plague may I not see !"
Such, then, was the piirely fabulous origin of the Fiery Bolt
which was to bm'n three-fourths of the men of Erinu from the
south-west.
You will remember that this version of St. MoUng's predic-
tion of the festival of St. John differs considerably from the
version of it already given. In his poem on the succession of
the kings of Leinster, the time of its fulfilment is referred to
some indefinite period after the appearance of the Rotli Ramhach
(the Rowing, or Oar Wheel) ; whilst here its occurrence is
particularly laid down in five years after the year in which the
Festival falls on Tuesday in the same year in which Easter Sun-
day should happen five days before the end of spring, that is,
on the 25th of April. This combination of these festivals has
never since occurred, even to the present time ; for, although
Easter Sunday fell upon the 25th of April in the years 482,
672, 919, 1014, 1204, 1451, and 1546, yet the 29th of Au-
gust did not happen to fall upon a Tuesday in any of these
years, nor in the fifth year after any of them, so that the
would-be prophet would appear to have miscalculated his time,
or the prediction is yet to be fulfilled !
Having thus laid before you all that I have been able to col-
lect relative to the origin of the Rowing Wheel, and the pre-
diction respecting the festival of the Decollation of St. John,
as well as the use made of them in after asfcs, and havinsr ex-
pressed my own decided opinion, that these never were real
prophecies or inspired predictions at all, I shall now pass to the
third of this group of foretold misfortunes, namely, the Scuap
a Fdiiait, or " Broom to come out of Fanait" (in Donnegal).
You will remember that in the poem on the succession of the
kings of Leinster, ascribed to St. Moling^ who died in the year
696, the saint is made to predict that
• " The broom out of Fanait will be severe
Over the centre of Erinn : from the north-west
To the sea in the south it shall make its course.
And bring direful woe to the people of Cork".
And in the second place he says it will come on a Tuesday.
It will be seen from the following;' note on the festival of the
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 429
Behcacling of Jolm tlie Baptist, in tlie Festology of Aengns lect. xx.
Ceile De (preserved in tlie same Leahhar Mor JJi'uia Doighre) oftiie"Pro-
tliat this calamity, like the Fiery Bolt, was to afflict Erinn in piiecies" con-
revenge of the decapitation of the man who baptized the Fatal Kes-
Saviour. Thus rvms tliis curious note [see original in Appen- joim'the*'
Dix, No. CLIIL] : baptist.
" It is in revenge for the death of John the Baptist that the
Broom will come out of Fdnait to purify Erinn towards the end
of the world, as it was foretold by Airerdn the Wise, and by
Colum Cille, and it is on Tuesday in particidar the Broom out
of Fdnait will come, as Colum Cille said: 'Like unto the
grazing of a pair of horses in a yoke, so shall be the closeness
with which it will cleanse Erinn'.
" Thus saith Airerdn, of the Broom : 'There will be two ale-
houses within the one close, side by side. The man who goes
out of the one into the other shall find no one alive in the house
into which he goes, and neither shall he find any one alive in
the house out of which he went, on his return to it, such shall
be the rapidity with which the Broom comes out of Fdnait'.
" Thus saith Riagliail [on the same svibject] : ' Three days and
three nights over a year shall this plague remain in Erinn.
When a ship can be seen on Loch Rddhraidhe, from the door
of the refectory, it is then the Broom out of Fdnait shall come.
A Tuesday, too, after Easter, in spring, will be the day upon
which the Broom shall issue from Fdnait, to avenge the death
of John the Baptist' ".
We have here three different persons predicting, as we are
told, the Broom out of Fanait, besides St. Moling, whose pre-
diction of it we have noticed twice already. St. Colum Cille
is made to say that it would come on a Tuesday. St. Airerdn
the Wise does not specify any particular day or season ; and he
himself, I may observe, died of the plague which was called
Buidhe chonnaill, in the 664; but St. Riaghail gives a Tuesday
in spring, after Easter, as the day of its appearance, " when a ship
could be seen on Loch Rudhraidhe from the door of tlie [his]
Refectory"'. The Loch Rddhraidhe mentioned here, is the pre-
sent bay of Dundrum, in the county of Down ; and St-RiaghaiFs
refectory and church were situated on the east side of this bay,
near its mouth, where the name is still preserved in the parish
of Tyrella, properly Teach Riaghala, or RiagaiVs house or
church.
The reference to a Tuesday after Easter in spring, given by
St. Riaghail as the day on which the Broom was to come, is
not precise enough to enable us to understand what Tuesday is
meant ; and it is evident that there is something left out in the
430
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LECT. XX. note from wliicli it is taken. There can scarcely be any doubt that
~ it was intended to agree with St. Moling's time for the coming
Of the i.v.- ,
phecies"cou- 01 the r icrj Bolt
that is, when the 29th of Aiif^ust, the feast
cerninK the
Fatal Fes-
tival of St
John the
Baptist.
of the Decollation of John the Baptist, should fall on a Tuesday,
and Easter Sunday within five days of the end of spring.
The probable fact would appear to me to be, that when the
Fiery Bolt was, by some southern prophet of disaster, threat-
ened to flash from Dun Cearmna [now called the Old Head
of Kinsale, in the county of Cork] to Sridbh Brain [or Loch
Foyle, in Inis Eogliabi], that is, from the southern to the
northern extremity of the island, — some northern rival after-
wards took it upon himself to return the compliment, and
send back the Broom from Fanait, in the same northern point,
to deal destruction on the people of Cork. But the time first
appointed by St. Moling for the visitation of the Fiery Bolt, —
that is, five years after the year in which Easter Sunday would
fall on the 25th of April, and the 29th of August on a Tues-
day,— as already shown, has not yet come.
Then, as regards the second time appointed by St. Moling
for the coming of the Fiery Bolt, if that be what is meant, —
that is, on a Friday in a leap year, at the end of a circle, or
cycle, — I have already shown that all the predicted circum-
stances of this appointed time occurred in the year 1096. In
that year the 29th of August fell on Friday; the year was a
leap year; and it was at the end of a circle or cycle of the
Epact, which was twenty-three in that year ; for, if we add the
annual increase of eleven days to twenty-three, it ^vould make
it thirty-four, thus passing into a new cycle of the Epact for
the next year, 1097, whose Epact would accordingly be four.
But, what is much more important than any argument of
mine, I have already shown, from the annals of our country,
the consternation which seized on the people at the approach
of the year 1096 ; and how faithfully the means of averting the
threatened calamities, as said to have been recommended by
St. Adamnan, were carried out — in peniteuce, prayers, devo-
tions, fastings, alms to the poor, and offerings to the churches ;
thereby showing clearly that the prophecy had not been, up to
that time, fulfilled. And, as we have no record of its being
feared or talked of ever since, I suppose we may hope that the
means so long prescribed as efficient, and then so amply and so
successfully put in practice to avert it, have for ever blotted
oiat the hard sentence which the Lord was believed to have
passed on an already sorely afflicted country !
When first I entered in these Lectures on the discussion of the
authenticity of these " Prophecies," as they are called, I never
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
431
intended to follow them out to the extent that I have done ; lect. xx.
but the more I examined them, the more imperatively did I j)ij,,o„est
feel myself called uijon — as one who had spent his whole life iisemadeof
1 1 -, ■ n 1 ••ir-tnTi forged and
in the perusal and comparison ot the original (jraednhc aocu- pretended
ments, — to examine them fairly and thoroughly, and, without ^^^1°^ ®'
assuming anything of dictation or dogmatism, to record my
humble opinion of the degree of credence to be given to this
class of compositions. Another motive, too, impelled me to
come forward, — the first that I am aware of to do so, — to throw
doubt and suspicion on the authenticity of these long-talked-of
" Irish Prophecies" — I mean the strong sense I entertain of
the evils that a blind belief in, and reliance on their pro-
raises have worked in this unfortunate land for centuriesj^^back.
I have myself known — indeed I know them to this day — hun-
dreds of people, some highly educated men and women among
them, who have often neglected to attend to their wordly advance-
ment and security by the ordinary prudential means, in expec-
tation that the false promises of these so-ealled prophecies —
many of them gross forgeries of our own day — would in some
never accurately specified time bring about such changes in the
state of the country as must restore it to its ancient condition.
And the believers in these idle dreams were but too sure to sit
down and wait for the coming of the promised golden age ; as
if it were fated to overtake them, without the slightest eflbrt of
their own to attain happiness or independence.
Wlien such has been and continues to be the belief in such
predictions, and even in these modern times of peace, what
must their effect have been in the days of our country's wai's of
independence, when generation after generation so often nobly
fought against foreign usurpation, plunder, and tyranny ! And
in the constant application of spurious prophecies to the events
of troubled times in every generation, observe that the spirit of
intestine faction did not fail to make copious use of them. So we
have the blind prophet predicting that a Red Hugh O'Donnell
would annihilate the Anglo-Norman power on the plains of the
Liifey ; but we have him adding, too, that the same redoubtable
hero would, to complete his triumph, burn and ravage Leinster,
Munster, and Connaclit also, as if for the very purpose that the
ccmmon enemy should, on his next coming over the water, have
less opposition to meet.
And well did the astute Anglo-Normans (as well as, indeed,
their Ehzabethan successors in a subsequent age), know what
use to make of these rude and baseless predictions, as we read in
Giraldus Cambrensis, when speaking of the invasion of Ulster
by John De Coiu-cy. [See original in Appendix, No. CLIV.]
432 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES.
LEc T. XX. " Tlien was fulfilled, as is said, tlie prophecy of tlie Irish
Columba ; who, foretelling that war [at Downpatrick] ages be-
nse^madeof fore. Said that the carnage of the citizens would be so great, that
piefeudea' ^lie cneiny Avoidd wade knee-deep in the blood of the slain. For
" Pi-opiie- when, owino; to the softness of the mud, the Aveijrht of tlie men's
(Giraidus bodics causcd them to sink down to the bottom, the blood which
auT.i'ohn''^ oozcd from them flying to the surface of the viscid earth, easily
De Courcy.) reached to the knees and legs of the assailants. The same
prophet is also said to have stated that a certain man, poor, and
a beggar, and, as it were, a fugitive from other lands, would
come to Down with a little band, and without the authority of
a superior would gain possession of the city. [He foretold]
also many battles, and tlie fluctuating issues of fortune ; all
which were evidently fulfilled in the case of John De Courcy.
Even John himself is said to have carried about with him
this Irish book of prophecies, as a mirror of his exploits.
" It is stated also in the same book, that a certain youth was
to storm the walls of Waterford with an armed band, and take
the citv, with great slaughter of the inhabitants ; that the same
individual was also to march through Wexford, and afterwards
enter Dublin without obstruction. All which was plainly ful-
filled in Earl Richard Strongbow. The saint testifies also that
the city of Limerick would on two occasions be abandoned by
the English, and on the third be retained. Now it appears to
have been twice forsaken. First, as has been stated, by Rey-
mund ; second by Philip de Breusa, who, on arriving near the
city which had been granted to him, finding himself shut out
from it by the river which flowed between, without any effort
or assault, went back the way he came, as shall be fully stated
in its proper place. After which, according to the same pre-
diction, the city, a third time visited, is to be held possession of,
or rather, after a long interval, being treacherously destroyed
under Hamo de Valoignes the justiciary, and recovered and
restored by Meyler". (Giraidus Cambrensis, Hibernia Expug-
nata; Lib. ii., cap. 16, — p. 794, Ed. Camden.)
Speaking elsewhere of the reduction of Erlnn, the same
writer observes [see original in same Appendix] :
" For whereas the Irish are reputed to have four prophets —
Moling, Braccan [Bearchan?], Patrick, andColum Kylle (whose
books, written in the Irish tongue, are still preserved among the
people), — they all, when speaking of this conquest, declare that,
through constant encounters and a protracted struggle, it shall
sully many future ages with excessive bloodshed. But just on
the eve of the Day of Judgment they award to the English
people a decisive victory — the subjugation of Ireland from sea
OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 433
to sea, and the occupation of the island with castles. And, lect. xx.
thousfh it may happen first that the English be put to confusion y.. .
and exnaiisted wniie they experience the issues oi the martial use made of
struggle (for instance, according to the statement of Braccan, pretended
nearly all the English will be dislodged from Ireland by a king cies-.'^'^^"
who is to come from the desert mountains of Patrick, and, on a (Giiauius
oi -1 • I'l TC/^ii-N Cambiensis,
ounday niglit, storm a certain castle m the woods oi (Jphelania), andjoini
still, according to their declaration, the English will always ^ °^"^^'
maintain an undisturbed possession of the eastern coast of the
island". (lb., cap. 33; pp. 806, 807, Ed. Camden.)
Now, there can be no doubt whatever that Giraldus's ac<iount
of these prophecies is a fabrication either by himself or by John
de Coiucy ; for, among all the reputed prophecies which have
passed through my own hands, and they are not a few, as you
have already seen, there is not one that has any reference to
the Anglo-Normans in Limerick or Waterford, or that promises
the invaders a final permanent footing on the east coast of Ire-
land, which, according to the scope of Cambrensis' alleged pro-
phecy, was the most they expected at the time.
And as for the " certain man, poor and a beggar, and, as it
were, a fugitive from other lands", who, according to St. Colum
Cille, " would come to Down with a little band, and, without
the authority of a superior, would gain possession of the city",
there is no such prediction in any of those poems which are
ascribed to Colum Cille, though there is, indeed, an ecclesiastical
pauper promised in St. Bricins ecstatic prophecy, who was to
be the last Christian preacher before the approach of the reign
of Antichrist ; but although the ecclesiastical character would
not well become the unscrupulous despoiler John de Courcy,
still it would appear that he appropriated the name, and pre-
sented himself as the verifier of an old spurious prediction, to a
people so debilitated and distracted by internal broils and social
jealousies, that this Norman adventurer succeeded, with a hand-
ful of men, in marching into the heart of Ulster, where he took
the ancient and venerable city of Downpatrick, and fortified it
before any efiective opposition durst be oiFered him by the once
brave natives of that province.
And as the native Irish, for a long period after De Courcy 's
time, continued to be influenced by the expectation of the good
or evil which these worthless predictions had promised them,
so also did the enemy continue with success either to appro-
priate to their own account older predictions, or to procure new
ones to be made for their especial purposes in the native
Gaedhlic. Of tliis latter class, one curious specimen remains
among Sir George Carew's papers, now deposited in the Lam-
28
434 OF THE SO-CALLKD PROPHECIES.
LECT. XX. betli Library, London. It consists of a single stanza, couched
Dishonest ^^ ^ Style not imusual even now, telling the natives that their
use madu of vile decds would bring upon them the power and supremacy
forued and p ^t ^ or I I J
pretended oi the Stranger.
'cies".^'(sir ^ir Gcorgc Carew was president of Minister at the close of
George Quccu Elizabeth's reign, and oral and written traditions say that
he made the proper use of this stanza (which was certainly made
in his OTVTi time) to impress the natives with the inevitable doom
that had been preordained for them. Of this silly, but vicious
production, I took a copy at Lambeth in 1849. It runs thus
[see original in Appendix, No. CLV.] :
"From Carew's charter you'll surely find
Cause of repentance for your misdeeds ;
Many will be the foreigner's shouts
Sent forth on the banks of the Miat]ilacli\
(The Miathlach is a liver in the county of Cork.)
It is a remarkable fact, though some might have supposed a
prediction so clumsily coined would have been little likely to
gain favour from such a man as Carew, that Carew nevertheless
not only made use of it at the time, but gave it a place among
the most important records of his baneful presidency of Munster.
Nor can I help remarking how it is that this same spirit of
false prophecy, far from ending with Carew and the last ray
of the real independence of Erinn in the year 1602, has con-
tinued even to this day: for even in our OAvn times the same
unscrupulous enemy of our race and creed continues to pour
forth, with an exultation almost fiendish, predictions of the same
character — providentially falsified so far, — of the total annihila-
tion or extirpation of the Gaedhel from the land which he inherits
from an ancestry of three thousand years.
A nation that could at any time believe itself foredoomed to
degradation and extinction, and especially on such questionable
authority as I have laid before you, would deserve to be, and
would surely prove to be, so doomed for ever. For a people to
maintain or to recover their proper station of national indepen-
dence and importance in the world, it is not always necessary
to have recoui'se to arms ; but there is one condition absolutely
necessary, and that is, the possession of a true independence of
soul, whether at peace or war, a horror of nieamiess at all
tiroes, and with these a true love for their country and venera-
tion for the history of their race, — a condition which of itself,
indeed, would imply the success of such a people in the assertion
of their political and religious rights and privileges.
LECTURE XXI.
fDelivered July 22, 1856.]
Eecapitulation. No History of Erinn yet \^Titten. Of the works of Moore, of
Keating, of ISIacGeoghegan, and of Lynch. How the History of Erinn is to be
undertaken, and tlie abundant materials for it properly made use of. Sketch
of the ancient account of the origin of the Gaedhils of Erinn. Of the ma-
terials which exist for completing the history of the early period, in which
the annals are so meagre. Of the necessity for a preliminary study of the
Laws, Customs, Civilization, and mode of l^ife among the ancient Gaedhils.
Of the importance of cultivating the Language, in order to be able to make
proper use of the immense mass of materials preserved in the existing col-
lections of MSS. Conclusion.
I HAVE now, at last, brought these Introductory Lectures to a
close. I have endeavoured to lay before you some intelligible
accoimt of the materials which exist towards the perfect eluci-
dation of oixr country's history, in the ancient language of that
country ; — materials not drawn from the prejudiced reports of
the enemies of om* race, but from ancient Gaedhlic records, of
great antiquity, and of the highest authenticity. The task has
been one of greater- labour than I had at all anticipated ; of
greater labour, perhaps, than any of you could have imagined
from the result. For I was obliged again to consult a vast
number of authorities — to search and research through the
ancient MSS. themselves, to compare again passages upon which
the investigations into the Brehon Laws had thrown new light
since last I had studied them, and to verify, by examination of
the original authorities themselves, all those notes and results
of my study of years, before I could permit myself to express,
from this place, a single opinion upon facts, however compara-
tively trifling, or however certain to mj'self appeared my recol-
lection of former reading. Besides, the extent of the subject
itself seemed greater and greater as I advanced, in throwing
into form v/hat I had to say to you ; so that the number of
Lectures which I have found it necessary to prepare has imavoid-
ably exceeded tlu-ee times that originally assigned to this In-
troductory Course.
Even now, I fear that the effort to compress what I had to
say will be found to have made the result unsatisfactory enough ;
for I have all along been forced to give an account of vast
masses of the most valuable historical writings only by a few
28 b
436 HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN.
LECT. XXI. short examples of tliem ; and I feel persuaded that I have even
_ . yet failed to convey to yovi any adequate idea of the immense
tion^^' ^ extent of our IMS. historical records.
One difficulty, indeed, was always before me, — that no previous
attempt had been made to describe them to the public ; and I
am sorry to say that I beheve a very large proportion of them
have not been really examined by any other eye than my own
in our generation, or, perhaps, for several generations. Yet,
strangely enough, we have seen histories and antiquarian treatises
published with applause, for a century back, and frequently in
our own time, by authors who never took the trouble to learn
how to read these MSS., and who, accordingly, passed over
without remark those records, — those materials withou.t which
the History of Erinn cannot be written, nor the antiquities of
Erinn truly investigated, — as if such materials had no exist-
ence at all. When, therefore, I opened the business of the
chair with which I have been honoured in this our National
University by bearing witness to the vast extent of these, I may
say, yet unopened materials, — the long-neglected, long-decaying
wealth of national records, with which our great libraries and
museums are so richly stocked, — I felt that the intelligent piiblic
could not but feel surprised at an announcement apparently so
extravagant ; and I felt then, and I have felt all along, that it
must be the work of years (and, so far as I am concerned, of
many special series of lectures in detail), to introduce to the
world anything like a satisfactory account of our Manuscripts,
so as to obtain any general recognition of their true extent and
importance.
If, how^ever, I have not succeeded, as I should wish to do,
within the too limited scope of these few Lectures, in doing
adequate justice to a subject so large and so varied, I may at
least congratulate myself upon the increasing interest which that
subject appears to have excited, and upon the indulgent atten-
tion with which you have so kindly received and encouraged
me in the performance of a task so unaccustomed, — a task which
I was, in some respects, so reluctant, because so ill-prepared, to
undertake. And I shall feel but too glad if, by what I have
attempted to do in these Introductory Lectures, I shall even have
so introduced the subject to the intelligent notice of my younger
friends as to kindle in their minds some interest to prosecute
inquiries for themselves in a path in which it has been the lot of
my life to act as a sort of pioneer. They will find that path now
a far easier one than I did, and they will apj)roach it with advan-
tages which it was not my lot to enjoy. Only let me caution
them to pursue their studies among the materials of the History
HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN. 437
of their country uninfluenced by the silly but often attractive lect. xxt.
speculations with which so many ignorant men of the last and of „
the present generation nave deiormed their literary and anti- tiou.
quarian researches, if researches they can be called : let me warn
them to begin for themselves at the beginning ; first, to learn
accurately the language itself (a task far easier than iny hearers,
perhaps, imagine), and then to study patiently and collate care-
fidly the important originals in that language within their reach,
before they allow their minds to dream of any theory whatever
concerning the race, the history, or the religious or civil cus-
toms of our early ancestors. To do this, they must first cast
behind them almost all that has yet been printed on the subject:
I may indeed say all, save the very few publications which 1
have taken care to name to you already in these lectures ; for
the History of ancient Erinn is as yet entirely unwritten, and
her antiquities all but unexplored.
I have said that the history of ancient Erinn is yet entirely
unwritten ; there is, in fact, no history of Ireland, save in name.
Before I take my leave of you on the present occasion, I
desire, as shortly as I can, to show you how this is so, by
pointing out how the materials which I have analysed for you
must be treated, in order that anything like a liistory of Erinn
ever may be written. And first, let me very shortly recapitulate
all that we have gone over, lest by chance the length of time
which has elapsed since my first Lectures were deHvered (now
above a year ago) should have caused you to have forgotten
some portions of the series of subjects of which I have succes-
sively spoken.
In my first two Lectures, after explaining the general object
of the course, I told you of the means taken, according to the
most ancient laws and customs of our forefathers, to preserve
the records of their race ; and I laid before you some evidence
of the records and literature of the earlier ages of Erinn, before
Christianity, together with a fist and some description of the
chief among the lost books of more remote times, from which
much that is preserved in the ancient MSS. still in existence
was copied, vnth. or without additions and explanations. I
told you what is known of the Books called tlie Ciiilmen, the
Cin JJroma Sneachta, the Se7ichus Mur, the Book of Ua Cliong-
bhdil, the Saltair of Cashel, the Saltair of Tara, the original
Leahhar na h- Uidhre, and the Book o£ Acaill. And as instances
of the contents of some of these great collections, I described to
you the story of the Tain Bo Chuailgne and the history of
Cormac Mac Airt, of which copies exist in MSS yet preserved
to us.
438 HOW TUE HISTORY OF KRINN IS TO BE WRITTEN.
tECT. XXI. In tlie tliird Lecture I opened tlie subject of the various
Annals still existing in our MS. collections, tlieir extent and
tioii. character ; and I gave you some account of the early Annalists
and professors of liistory ; of Flann of Monasterboice ; of Giolla
Caemhain; of Tighernacli; and of the ancient schools. And
with reference to the earliest existing annals, those of Tigher-
nacli, I related to you the history of the foundation of the
Palace of Eniania (near Ardmagh); that of the Three Collas;
and of the foundation of the Ultonian Dynasty, which Tigher-
nacli, apparently for very unsatisfactory reasons, assumed as the
commencement of the historic period.
In several subsequent Lectures I took up the Annals nearly in
the chronological order of their composition, and gave you an
account of each in some detail. I described to you the scope and
contents of the Annals of Tighernach, the Annals of Innisfallen,
the Annals of the Island of Saints in Loch Ce, improperly called
the Annals of Boyle (called by Ware the Annals of Connacht),
the Annals ofSenait Mac Maghmisa, called the Annals of Ulster ;
and the Annals of Loch Ce (improperly called the Annals of Kil-
ronan) ; and as a specimen of this work, I described to you. the
account in it of the Battle of Magh Sleacht in the year 1252,
the place in which stood the celebrated Idol called Crom Cruach
[or Ceann Cruach, as found in the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick],
prostrated by St. Patrick ; then the true "Annals of Connacht" ;
the "Chronicum Scotorum" of Duald Mac Firhisigh; the other
works of the Mac Firbises, from the Yellow Book of Lecain (in
the year 1390) and the Book oi Lecain (in the year 1416), to
Duald's own time, in the year 1666; the Annals of Lecain;
and the Annals of Clonmacnois, of which last I gave you a
specimen in the curious story of the Life of Queen Gorrnlaith.
I concluded my notice of the Annals by devoting one entire
lecture to a very inadequate examination of those of the Foiu:
Masters ; and in the following lecture, having passed from the
Annals, I described to you the other great works of the
O'Clerys, and particularly the Rnm Rioghraidhe, or Succession
of the Kings, and the Leabhar Gahhdla, or Book of Invasions.
I next proceeded to give you an account of the chief books
of historical MSS. (generally very large collections, embracing,
each of them, a vast number of compositions of every kind)
which exist in the libraries of Dublin, in Trinity College, and
in the Royal Irish Academy, including the Leabhar na
h-Uicllire, the " Book of Leinster", the " Book of Ballymote", the
T^eahhar Buidhe Lecain, the "Book of Lecaiit\ and the " Book of
Lismore" ; and I shortly noticed the immense collection of Law
Tracts about to be published by the Brehon Law Commission.
HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE AVRITTEN. 439
The following Lecture was devoted to a subject hardly less lect. xxi.
important than the Annals themselves in a historical poi^^t of j,^^^^^.^^^,^
view — I mean the great Books of the Genealogies and Pedi- tion.
grees of the Clanns and Tribes of Erinn, and particularly the
splendid work of Duald Mac Firbis. And I explained the
natm-e and the legal and social importance of these records in
ancient times.
After describing the Annals and the Books of Genealogies, —
records which must ever supply, as in ancient times they always
supplied, the fomrdation and skeleton of our national history, —
I next passed to those classes of authentic materials from which
the details of that history are to be gathered. And, first, I des-
cribed to you the few great pieces in which we find that history
already almost made to our hands, so far as certain great epochs
in the general annals are concerned. I allude to the early
compilations called the "Wars of the Danes with the Gaedhils",
the History of the Boromean Tribute, the " Wars of Thoniond",
and the " Book of Munster". And from these I proceeded to
describe to you (but too generally, 1 am afraid), the immense
mass of Gaedhlic literature which I have classed under the
name of the Historic Tales, beginning with those which record
for us the celebrated Battles oi Mcujh Tdir^eadh Clionga and Magli
Tah^eadh na bh-Fomorach, which took place in the nineteenth
century before Christ, according to the chronology adopted by
the Four Masters. In the Lectures devoted to these Historic
Tales, I gave you lastly a number of examples, the nature and
scope of which, in reference to the serious subject of our
history, I hope you have not forgotten. I concluded this part
of my subject by a similar account of what I termed the purely
Imaginative Literature (such as the compositions called Fenian
Tales and Poems), because in this class of pieces is to be found
such a vast amount of detailed information relative to the
manners and customs, residences, dress, ornaments, — the social
life, in short, — of the early Gaedhils.
The history of the Christian period, in so far as directly con-
nected vvitli the Church, as well as the purely Ecclesiastical
History, I kept by itself; and this formed the subject of tlie
remainder of this preliminary course. In two Lectures last year^^**'
I described to you the remains which still exist to testify to the
period of (and that immediately following) the introduction of
Christianity into Erinn ; — I mean the beautifully worked relics,
the shrines, the bells, and the croziers, with many of which you
are, no doubt, familiar ; for an accurate estimate of the ancient
times of Erinn is not to be reached by the student of history,
(60) See note at p, 320.
440 HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN.
LECT. XXI. witliout acquaintance with these works also, as well as those of
another class, the gold, silver, and bronze ornaments of ci^al
tion". life, and the weapons of the ancient warriors. And after des-
cribing to you such remains of early piety I proceeded to explain
to you the nature of the contents of the ancient lives of the
early saints (and particularly that invaluable one called the Tri-
partite Life of Saint Patrick), and the Manuscript Ecclesiastical
Records in general, rich as they are in various entries and allu-
sions of great historical value. In the last few Lectures this
year,^' I resumed this portion of the subject by describing to you
the great Leabhar M6r Dana Doighre (now commonly but
erroneously termed the Leabhar Breac, or "Speckled Book"),
and other invaluable ecclesiastical writings, which I had not
included in my former account of the general Historical MSS.
preserved in Dublin. And after noticing many very early reli-
gious and monastic pieces (and particularly the celebrated FelirS,
or Martyrology, oi Aengxis CeiU De), I brought the whole of
my analysis of the MS. Materials of Ancient Lish Plistory to
a conclusion by an account of the pieces called Prophecies, —
most of which have been attributed to the early Saints, and
especially to Colum CilU, but some even to pagan kings, chiefs,
and Druids, before the introdiiction of Christianity, — spurious
prophecies, which contain, indeed, much matter of historic inte-
rest, but which have been so often used (and even in oiu" own
day) with the most mischievous effect, among our people, and
in a sense so entirely opposed to the truth of our National His-
tory, that I have been induced to devote to them an amount of
space perhaps disproportionate to their real importance, in
order, if j)ossible, to check the dangerous falsehoods which on
this side also threaten to assail the student, and to perplex him
in his labours, if not to divert him altogether from the only cer-
tain path of candid inquiry.
Such is a recapitulation, as short as I could make it without
becoming unintelligible, of the ground we have gone over. I
believe it will be impossible for any candid critic to deny that
if the Gaedlilic MSS. be such and so extensive as I have de-
scribed them, it is in these MSS. chiefly, nay, almost exclusively,
that the materials for the ancient History of the country are to
be sought. I am sure it can need no argument to convince any
one who has ever examined, even in the most cursory manner,
the books which have hitherto been published under the name
of " History of Ireland", that these materials have never yet
been used as they ought and as they easily might have been.
u'>i ' See note at p. 320.
HOW THE HISTORY OF KRINN IS TO BE WRITTEN. 441
By far the greatest part of tliese invaluable records and of tliese lect. xxi.
most interesting narratives, have not been examined at all. Rgcapuuia-
Generallj, the writers who have undertaken to become " His- tiou.
torians" of Ireland, have been unable to consult a Gaedhlic MS. at
all, for want of acquaintance with the language ; and such writers
have attempted to conceal their deficiency in this regard by a
flippant sneer or an ignorant but positive falsehood. And the
very few who, knowing the language, have applied themselves
to the task of composing a general history of Erinn, have done
so without access to any considerable body of the MSS., and under
cii"cmnstances which deprived them of the means of effecting
that examination and collation of authorities which the neces-
sary critical investigation of history so imperiously requires.
Perhaps the whole number of writers worthy of mention as ofthe
ha^ang attempted the history of ancient Erinn, may be reduced writers on
to three ; for, I believe I may pass over the rest in absolute of Erinn"'^
silence. Those three are, Dr. Geoffrey Keating (of whom I
had occasion to speak in my Lecture on the Four Masters) ; the
Abbe Mac Geoghegan ; and, if only because he is the latest of
all, and because his well earned popularity and his character in
other respects entitle him to such notice, the late Thomas Moore.
It is no part of my purpose to criticise the performances of
these, or indeed of any modern writers on Irish history ; and
I only mention them because they are so well known that it
may seem strange to omit doing so just after having assured
you that there is no history of Ireland. Such of you as have
read the works of those three writers, need not be told that by
none of them has adequate use been made of any part even of
the materials I have described to you. Such of you as have
not yet read them may read them (at least Keating and
JMac Geoghegan) without mischief, taking with you only the
caution which my remarks may imply.
Of Moore's total w^ant of qualification for the task he imder- ot imore's
took, you are aware from the anecdote I gave you in a former Ireland":
Lecture. Lie discovered it too late ; but he was candid enough
to admit it without qualification. Against his work, then, I
should directly warn you. The account he gives of ancient
Erinn is nowhere to be relied on; it is taken entirely from
English authorities, not merely hostile in feehng but even
themselves ignorant of the facts of the case on which they
wrote. So that there is, perhaps, no one event of ancient Irish
history accurately given in jNIoore ; and there are innumerable
passages in which the most imjDortant facts are wholly misrepre-
sented in the gross and in detail. I do not accuse the poet of
any intention so to write the history of his country — far, far
442
HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN.
LKCT. XXI.
Of Moore's
" Histoi-y of
Ireland".
Of Keating
History.
Of Mae Geo-
ghegan's
History.
from it. I believe lie intended honestly to tell tlie truth ; but
he knew of no authorities but those which 1 have just alluded
to ; he did not understand the language, and had not even heard
of the existence of our great MSS. books till after his first
volume had appeared (the volume in which the early history is
treated) ; and when he did discover his mistake, he was, I have
the best reason to believe, heartily sorry that he had ever under-
taken a task which was, indeed, it is said, suggested rather by
the author's publisher than by his OAvn special tastes or study.
The history of Dr. Keating was compiled, as I have already
told you, among the caves and woods of Tipperary, to which
the proscription of Protestant persecution had driven the Catholic
priest. Keating had with him some of the old books, such as
the Book of Invasions, at the commencement of which are
recorded the ancient traditions, not only of the origin of the
Milesian race, birt of the successive colonizations of Erinn by
the various waves of the Celtic family which reached this island
from the European Continent before the time of Milidh or
Milesius. And he must have also had with him some collection
which contained many of the pieces of the kind I have classified
as the Historic Tales. Keating's work consists of nothing more
than a compilation of these materials, as many as he had by him
in his wanderings ; and he seems to have done nothing but
abridge, and arrange chronologically, such accounts of historic
facts as he found in them, never departing in the least from what
he saw before him, and often preserving even the arrangement
and style. It is greatly to be regi'etted that a man so learned
as Keating (one who had access, too, at some peiriod of his life, to
some valuable and ancient MSS. since lost) should not have
had time to apply to his materials the rigid test of that criticism
so necessary to the examination of ancient tales and traditions —
criticism which his learning and ability so well qualified him to
undertake. As it is, hoAvever, Keating's book is of great value
to the student, so far as it contains at least a fair outline of our
ancient History, and so far as regards the language in which it is
written, which is regarded as a good specimen of the Gaedhlic
of his time.
The Abbe Mac Geoghegan wrote his history in Paris (in
the French language) in the year 1758. He had no access
there, of course, to the great books now in Ireland, and most of
which were at that time also here ; but the Book of Lecain was
then in Paris, and of that invaluable MS. he made copious
use. His other authorities were chiefly Lynch (Cambrensis
Eversus), and Colgan, besides the various Anglo-Norman and
English writings from Cambrensis down. Llac Geoghegan
HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN. 443
made a very excellent attempt, considering liis opportmiities. lect. xxi.
His work is, however, very meagre in detail ; and that part of
it which gives an account of ancient Erinn, seems to consist
merely of a very short abridgment of the Annals, or else to
have been taken from the Book of Invasions, or, more readily,
from one of Lynch's chapters.
I do not speak here of Lynch's book, because it is ratlier a qj .. ^an,.
critical defence agfainst Ansflo-Norman misrepresentation, than iJiensisETer-
a O X ' SUS .
a history. The " Cambrensis Eversus" is, however, a work of
very good authority, and abounds with information most valu-
able to the student of history. It was published (in three
large volumes) a few years ago, by the late Celtic Society,
with a translation and notes by my [late lamented] friend, the
Rev. Professor Kelly, of Maynooth ; and it has lately been
again issued by the united Archaeological and Celtic Society.
Having shown that up to the present time there has been
nothing written which can be called a History of Ireland, and
having considered the nature and extent of the materials out of
which (after proper preliminary investigation and criticism) a
history can be constructed, I may be permitted now to state
shortly how, as it occurs to me, these materials may practically
be best approached by the future historian ; though it is true
that the time for undertaking a complete history has not yet
arrived, and though I myself dread, perhaps more than any
one, such a work being undertaken, before years of labour are
first devoted to that critical examination of all our MSS., and
of the traditions as well as the records they contain, which
must, I am sure, precede any successful effort in this direction.
I have frequently alluded to a particular mode of dealing with
the Annals, which is, perhaps, obvious enough of itself, and
which occurs to me as the readiest in making use of the body
of the other materials to illustrate them ; and it is this plan
which, with your permission, I shall endeavour, by way of
conclusion, to develop in the shape of an example of what I mean.
The only valuable, the only complete and rich history, then. The History
the only worthy, the only truly intelligible history of ancient must be
Erinn, must be written upon the basis of the Annals, of which I?'"*^". °"
1 nave given you some account, and, above all, upon the basis the Annais.
of the last and most complete of the Annals, those of the Four
Masters. From O'Donovan's richly noted edition of this great
work the student can indeed learn almost all the chief part of
that history ; but, as I before explained to you, even these
annals, and especially the earlier portion of them, are extremely
444
HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN.
LECT. XXI
The History
of Eriiiii
must be
written on
tliii ba.sis of
the Auuals.
How to set
about a His
tory of An ■
cient Eriun.
dry and meagre; so that to arrive at anything like an intel-
ligible history of those early times, we are forced to search else-
where for assistance. The lights and shades, the details of such
a history, the minute circumstances, — not only those which
explain historical events, but those equally or even more im-
portant descriptions, in which the habits and manners, the
social ideas and cultivation, the very life of the actors in those
events, are recorded for us, — all these things must be brought
out in their proper places in order to transform the meagre
skeleton supplied by the mere annals into a full and real history.
And it is out of all the other materials which have been spoken
of in these Lectures that these details are to be gathered, for the
purpose of filHng in the outline drawn by the Four Masters.
All these various materials must, however, first be submitted
to the closest analysis, to the most careful comparison one with
another, and to the most minute critical investigation, assisted
by the light supplied by the languages and histories, as well as
the antiquities and v^hat is known of the Kfe, of other Celtic
nations, — of all the contemporary nations, indeed, with whom
our forefathers Avere ever likely to have come in contact. Such
criticism, I need hardly say, does not come within the scope of
these Lectures. It is my province here only to introduce to you
the various classes of historic materials themselves, and to sug-
gest the use which may be made of them. For such of you as
have energy and ambition enough to undertake so important a
work, there are many directions from among which to choose a
course wide enough and deep enough to exercise your powers,
after your classical and critical education shall have been suffi-
ciently completed, in assisting to accomplish this necessary pre-
liminary to the complete investigation of your country's history ;
and you can easily make yourselves masters of the language as
you proceed. I hope some of you will take the hint, for 1 can
imagine no employment in which the best years of a literary
life could now be spent more likely to lead to rich results for
your country or more honourable to yourselves.
For my present purpose, however, let us suppose this critical
investigation completed, and the historic truths contained in all
the materials of every kind, which I have described, separated
clearly by accurate analysis and comparison. We shall then be
in a position to fill up the outlines siqDplied by the annals, and
to do this for almost every generation of our ancestors, from a
period very long before that of Christianity.
You have already seen that great part of the work of history
has been done to our hands, with respect to the long and impor-
tant periods embraced by the three great compilations I have
HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN. 445
described to you — I mean the large tracts called tlie "History lect. xxi.
of the Boromean Tribute", that of the "Wars of the Danes", g^^ to set
and that of the "Wars of Thomond". And in the similar tract about a ins-
called the "Book of Munster" you have been told that a simi- cieiuEUnn.
larly detailed history is preserved of the principal events relating
particularly to that province during several centuries. With
these great works, then, the future historian will have to begin
his labours of compilation. Of course the basis of the whole will
be the Annals of the Four Masters, as at once the most compre-
hensive and the latest work of authority among the Annals,
wliile the various books of Genealogies and Pedigrees, and
especiall}^ those of Mac Firbis, will supply the means of tracing
the connection between the various provinces and tribes, as well
as many details as to the lives and circumstances of the kings
and chiefs wdio figiue in the national annals. So much being
done, we come at last to the use to be made of the immense
mass of miscellaneous historical Hterature which I have so often
called the Historic Tales, and on these we shall chiefly have to
depend for that minute illustration of the details of historic life
which I have since alluded to.
The chronicles, records, and purely historic narratives upon
which we have to rely for illustrating any particular periods in
our history, and filling up the outlines furnished by our anna-
lists, appear to have undergone, you will remember, even at a
remote time, a wide dispersion, and to have been broken into
almost innumerable fragments. To recover and arrange them
is now a task of no ordinary difficulty, owing to the numerous
and various sources which we must draw upon for information
before we can compass any connected view of them. Of these
various sources of information I believe I have now laid before
you an account intelligible enough, at least, to enable you to
understand this difficulty.
Many ways, doubtless, might be proposed, to effisct the re-
union of these scattered fragments of veritable historic records.
That which I propose to adopt appears to me simple and con-
venient; and in the short example I shall give of it, you are
to remember that for my present purpose I shall not adhere to
any strict principles of classification in the selection of any par-
ticular epochs of our history. I desire that you should take the
several fragments of the historic chain of which I have spoken,
or shall speak, simply as examples ; and I believe that, if space
allowed, it would be as easy for me to fill up the spaces wluch
occur between them. I shall then rapidly pass before you a
few periods marked in our annals by some important events,
and group about these so much of the records, historic tales,
446 HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN.
I. and other materials of our genviine history (especially those
How to set '^■'^^c^^ ^ have already introduced to your notice in detail), as
about a His- may scrve to indicate how the blanks in the annals are to be
cient°Ei'i"n. fiHod up ; and I shall take for my starting point the early
traditional history of the origin of the last great colony of Celts,
the race commonly known by the name of the Milesians.
The iiiiesian The Milcsiau history is pretty generally known, and has been
"°"^' much canvassed by the writers of the last 150 years. But
although several writers have been bold enough not only to
question, but even to reject altogether, the fact of this Spanish
colonization of Erinn, nevertheless not one has ever ventured
upon assigning any other origin to the peculiarly constituted
race of the Gaedhel, at least none founded on any tiring more than
mere conjecture, and that of the weakest kind.
It is impossible not to remark that the writers of this class
have been chiefly, if not exclusively, Protestant ; writers of a
party who have ever been singularly ready to lay hold of the
most trivial incidents which they can dress up to give colour to
their denial that the ancestry and Christianity of ancient Erinn
had been derived from Western Europe. It would have been
much to the credit of some of these writers, had they confined
themselves to fair discussion and a candid examination of such
facts and authorities as came before them, and had they decided
honestly on the evidences alone which they funiish, particularly
as the historic question concerning the coming of the Gaedhils
themselves from Spain, and their religion from Rome, is really a
matter of no importance whatever in the discussions of the pre-
sent day, except as regards mere ethnological inquiry and as
regards the veracity of our ancient traditions and writings. But
for writers and investigators of this class, a single dubious sen-
tence, or a single immaterial contradiction, is enough, if only
ingenuity can in any way twist it into a contradiction of the
whole scope and tenor of history, spread over one or any
number of volumes. It is then magnified into a mountain of
truth, and all the rest set at nought, or coolly passed over.
This subject, however, of the authenticity of our ancient tra-
ditions, is too large to be discussed here, as it were, accidentally ;
but it is one that shall not be overlooked or postponed to any
indefinite period. At present I shall do no more than lay before
you a short sketch of the traditional origin of the Gaedhils of
Erinn, as it is recorded in our oldest books ; and I shall do so
without criticism of any kind, only that you may the better
understand what is to follow.
Plow THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN. 447
The Milesians, according to the Book of Drom. Sneachfa (a lect. xxi.
book written before St. Patrick's arrival in Erinn), as well as oftueanci-
their predecessors in this country, the Firbolgs and the Tiiatha mt tradi-
De Danami, are recorded to be descended from the race ofceinlngthe
Japhet, through his son Magog. They are said to have been coiony."
originally seated in " Scythia" ; and the earliest traditions tell us
that a branch of them settled in Egypt in the reign of Pharaoh
Cingris ; that they returned to Scythia again after some genera-
tions; that they subsequently went into Greece, and idtimately
to Spain, where, after a long residence, they erected the city
and tower of Bragantia, from whence, after some time, a colony
of them came into Erinn in the year of the world 3500, i;nder
the command of the eight sons of Galamh, who is commonly
called Milesius. The stoiy goes on to say that they landed
at the mouth of the river Sldinge, or Slaney (in the present
county of Wexford), unobserved by the Tuatha Dc Dancmn,
and that they marched at once from that place to Tara, the
seat of government. The chief nile of the island at this period
was conjointly shared by the three sons of Cermna Milhheuil,
namely, Ethur, Cethur, and Fetliur, three personages niytholo-
gically known as Mac Cuill, Mao Ceacht, and Mac Greine.
The Milesians immediately summoned these three kings to sur-
render to them the government of the country in peace, or
submit it to the right of battle.
A very curious instance of early chivah'ic tradition follows,
the critical explanation of which I shall for the present leave to
the investigation of the historical inquirer, merely stating here
the story in the form in which it has been handed down to us.
The answer of the Tuatha De Danann appears to have been a
complaint that they had been taken by surprise ; and they pro-
posed to the invaders to return to their ships, to reembark, and
to go out upon the sea " the distance of nine waves" (as the
story rans) ; and that if they covild, after that, effect a landing
by force, then that the country should be surrendered to them.
To this proposition, it is related, that the Milesian brothers
assented ; but when the Tuatha De Danann found them fairly
launched on the sea, they raised a furious magical tempest,
which entirely dispersed the fleet. One part of it was driven
along the east coast of Erinn, to the north, under the command
of Eremon, the youngest of the IVIilesian brothers ; whilst the
remainder, under command of Donn, the eldest of the sons of
Milesius, was driven to the south-west of the island.
However, the Milesians were not without their druids too.
At first the latter thought the tempest was a natural one ; but
after some time, suspecting that it was the result of druidical
cernin
Milesi;
Colony.
448 HOW THE HISTORY OF EUINN IS TO BE WRITTEN.
LECT. XXI. agency, tliey sent a man to tlie top-mast of tlieir sliip, to know
if the wind was blowing at that height over the surface of the
ent tradi- sea. The man reported that it was not. This confirmed their
cernlngthe suspicions ; whcrcupon they immediately set about laying the
Milesian storm, by countor arts of magic, in which they soon succeeded,
though not before five of the eight brothers were lost. Four,
including Donn, the eldest, were drowned oft" the coast of
Kerry ; and one, Colpa, at the mouth of the river Boyne, which
from him was called Inbhear Colpa; and it was here that
Eremon landed.
When the storm abated, the surviving brothers of the southern
party, Eber Finn and Amergin (the poet, chronicler, and judge
of the expedition) landed, with the shattered remains of their
people, on the coast of Kerry, and, after taking a short rest they
moved \v^ the country, but they were met at the foot of the
mountain called Sliahh Mis, by a strong body of Tuatha DS
Danann, headed by EirS, the queen of one of the joint kings.
Here a battle ensued between them in which the Milesian
brothers were victorious, though they lost three hundred of their
men, as well as their mother Scota, and Eas, the wife of one
of their chiefs. The Tuatha De Danami were routed with the
loss of a thousand warriors.
The valley in which this battle is recorded to have been
fought is still well known, and lies at the foot of Sliahh Mis, in
the barony of Trichadh an Aicme, in Kerry ; it was named Glenn
Faisi (the Valley of Fas^, from the lady Fas, the first of the
Milesians killed in it. The lady Scota was buried here too, at
the north side of the valley, near the sea, and Fert Scota (or
Scota's grave), is still pointed out in Gleann Scoithin, in the
present parish of Annagh, in the same barony,
Eber Finn pushed on at once after this battle, and succeeded
in fighting his way to the other side of Erinn, as far as the mouth
of the Boyne, where he found his brother Eremon, after which
they sent a challenge of battle to the three joint kings at Tara.
This challenge was accepted, and the battle of TaUlten [now
Telltown, in Meath] ensued, in which the three kings were
defeated and killed, their people subdued and great numbers of
them slaughtered, and the power of the Tuatha De Danann
totally overthrown.
The best account of the Battle of Taillten that I am acquainted
with, although still limited in details, is to be found in an ancient
but much-wrecked MS. in Trinity College Library (class H.
4.22), one of those which, for this period, the historian must
consult, and of which he will make copious use.
The Milesians having thus become masters of the country,
HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN. 449
the brotlicrs Kher Finn and Eremon divided the island into two lect. xxi.
parts between them, the former taking all the southern part from 0^^5,3 3^^.;.
the Boyne and the Shannon to Cape Clear, and the latter taking ent tiaai-
all the part lying to the north of these rivers. cemlng the
Each of them then took a moiety of the chiefs and people, cdiony."
who proceeded to settle themselves throughout the country,
and who soon erected all those numerous raths, forts, and
Cathairs, which to tliis day bear the names of these early
invaders.
The brothers Eber Finn and Eremon, however, did not long
remain content in peace ; and after a little interval they met to
decide their quarrels by battle at Geisill (near Tullamore, in
the district now called the King's county). The scene of the
battle was at a place called Tochar eter clhd mhagh, or " the
causeway between two plains" ; and on the brink of the river
Bri damh, the river which runs through the town of Tullamore.
In this battle Eber fell with three of his chief leaders, namely,
Suirc/he, Sobhairce, and Goisten. The name of the battle-scene is
still preserved in the name of the townland of Ballintogher, in
the parish and barony of Geisill; and at the time of the compo-
sition of the ancient topographical tract called the Dinnseanclius,
the mounds and graves of the slain were still to be seen on the
battle-field. The authenticity of the record of a battle at this
place at a period of very remote antiquity, cannot be questioned;
in this instance at l<?ast, the Dinnseanchus can scarcely be
sneered at as a " modern" compilation. Of the battle of Geisill
w^e have now no detailed account ; but as it is recorded in our
most ancient books, iu the same manner as the battles of the
two Moyturas, there can be no rational doubt that, like them, it
too had its ancient chronicler in detail.
On the death of Eber Finn, the ancient authorities tell us
that Eremon assumed the sole government of our island ; that
he left the north, and went to reside to Leinster ; and that in
the year of the world 3516, after a reign of fifteen years, he
died at length at Mdith Beothaigh, in Argat Ross, in which he
was buried. This ancient rath is still in existence, with the
name slightly modified to Rath Beagh. It is situated on the
right bank of the river n-Edir, or Nore, and on its immediate
brink, about a mile below the present village of Bally ragget, in
the county of Kilkenny. It is of an irregular, oblong, and very
unusual form, with a deep fosse on one side, and the river on
the other ; and as the interior surface is above the level of the
adjacent field, there is good reason to believe that the floor is
hollow, and that probably the tomb of Eremon liimself still re-
mains in it.
29
450 HOAV THE TIISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN.
LECT. xxr. Of tlie various events ascribed by our annals and otlier
„, ^ ancient autlioiities to tlie reign of Eremon, no recorded details
Of tntj • ^ •
criiiitmeans, havo como down to US, witli tlio cxceptlon of the coming of
or iicts. ^i^g Cruithnecms, or Picts, into Erinn, their passing hence into
Scotland, and their final settlement in that country.
The events of which I have just given you a sketch, are not
recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, but they are to be
found in all the ancient copies of the " Book of Invasions", and
in the Dinnseanclius, which the historian will accordingly
consult for them.
The CndtJmecms, or Picts, it is stated, fled from the oppression
of their king in Thrace, and passed into France, where they
founded the city of Poictiers, or Pictiers, which is believed to
derive its name from them. Here too, however, they were
threatened with an act of tyranny, which induced them again
to fly ; and there is reason to believe that they proceeded flrst
to Britain, and from thence to Erinn, and that they landed
here on the coast of Wexford. Crimlitliann Sciath-bel^ one of
King Eremon's leaders, was at this period chief of this part of
the country, and, at the time of the landing of the Picts, he
was engaged in extirpating a tribe of Britons, wlio were
settled in the forests of Fotharta (now the barony of Forth, in
Wexford), a tribe distinguished as having been one that fought
with poisoned weapons, and who were known as the Tuatha
Fiodha, or the Forest Tribes.
On the landing of the Picts, they were well received by
CrimJithaiin, the chief, who engaged their assistance to banish
the Britons ; and the battle of ^4rc^ Leamlinachta [or "New-milk
Hill"] was fought between them, in which the Britons were
defeated, chiefly, it is said, by the agency of Drostan, the Pictish
Druid, who devised an antidote to the poison of the weapons.
This antidote is said to have been nothing more than a bath of
new milk, over which the Druid's incantations were recited,
in which the wounded men were plunged, and out of which
they at once came healed and restored.
The record of the battle of Ard Leamlinachta is found in the
Dinnseanchus, but not at great length; and the coming of the
Picts at tliis remote time into Erinn to the Scots (or Milesians),
is spoken of by Venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical History
(chap, i., b. I.) The whole question of the coming of the
Picts has lately been ably and learnedly discussed by the late
Mr. Herbert and Dr. Todd, in the edition of the Irish version
of the old British historian, Nennius, edited by the Rev. Dr.
Todd, for the Irish Archajological Society.
HOW THE HISTORY OF KRINN IS TO BK WRITTEN. 451
From tlie time of Eremon down to tlie time of Ugaine Mor lect. xxi.
(or Ugany the Great), though our annals and other authorities co^jj^^^.
record numeroiis events of historic interest and importance, we tion of sketch
have no lengthened separate details of them. I shall, however, sian ulstJiy
shortly continue my sketch from that period, still keeping in
view the Annals of the Four Masters as the foundation for our
historical researches.
Ugaine Mor, or the Great, commenced his reign in the year of of tise reign
the world 4567, — or before Christ 033, according to the chro- °/^,>f "'"^
nology of the Four Masters. In the catalogue of ancient
historic tracts preserved in the Book of Leinster, there is one
set down which described an expedition of Ugaine Mor to the
Continent, and as far as Italy ; but of this important piece un-
fortunately not a vestige now remains ; nor would I refer to it,
but for the pm-pose of showing that, although there is no little
scarcity of those more remote detailed accounts in the books
which still remain to us, still there can be no doubt of their
having been al)undant within the Christian era. I believe,
indeed, that they probably formed a chief part of the lost
Cuilmen and of the Book of Dront Sneachta, mentioned in a
former lecture, as well as of numerous other books, of vdrich
we have never heard, and many of which were perhaps con-
signed to neglect and decay by their owners among the druids
and other learned men who became converts to Christianity,
in their fervour and devotion to the cultivation and propagation
of their new creed.
The Annals of the Four Masters record the death of Ugaine
Mor at the year of the world 4606, in the following words:
" At the end of this year Ugaine 3for, after having been full
forty years Monarch of Erinn, and of the whole of the west of
Europe as far as the Mediterranean Sea, was slain at Tealach
an Chosgair (that is, the Hill of the Victory), in Magh Mui-
redha in Bregia. This Ugaine it was who obtained from the
men of Erinn in general the security of all creation, visible and
invisible [that is, obtained from them a solemn oath on all
created things], that they would never contend for the sove-
reignty of Erinn with his children or his seed".
Ugaine Mor was succeeded in the sovereignty by his son,
Laeghaire JLorc. Laeghaires next brother was Cobht'iach Cael,
who resided in the provincial palace of JJinn High (or the " Hill
of the Kings"), an ancient royal residence founded by the Fir-
bolgs on the brink of the river Barrow, near Leitligldinn
[Leighlin], in the present county of Carlow). This Cohhthach,
we are told, became so full of envy of his brother Laeghaire, that
29 b
452 HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN.
LECL. XXI. lie pined away in secret almost to death ; nor could anything be
found to cure liis disease but tlie deatli of tlie king. Having
of Ugai7ii coufidcd tliis sccrct (or ratlier, having disclosed his murderous
^^'^^' design) to his Druid, the latter advised him to take to his bed,
that Laeghaire would surely come to visit him, and that then he
could not fail of an opportunity to take his life. Cobhthach did
accordingly take to his bed, and his brother Laeghaire soon
came to visit him, and entered the sick chamber alone. When,
however, he stooped over his brother to embrace him in his
bed, the latter plunged a dagger into his heart. Laeghaire had,
however, a son, an only son. Ail ill Aine, and he again had a son,
then a child, whose name was Maen. Cobhthach, therefore, at
once proceeded to take the life of his nephew, — he had that of
his brother, — in order to make his way to the throne : and Ailill
Aine wls murdered immediately after his father. Maen, the
child, was not, however, put to death ; but his granduncle is
recorded to have caused him to be fed on such disgusting food
as that he became stupid and even speechless, upon which he
was considered (according to law) incapable of succeeding to
the royal power.
No part of these details is to be found in the Annals of the
Four blasters, where the mere fact is stated, that LaeghairS
Lore, son of Ugaine, after having been two years in the sove-
reignty of Erinn, was killed by Cobhthach Cael Bi^eagh at
Carman (now Wexford). And, after stating the accession of
Cobhthach, the next entry is equally meagre, namely, at a.m.
4658 (or 542 b.c): " Cobhthach Cael Breagh, son of Ugaine,
after having been fifty years in the sovereignty of Erinn, fell by
Of the reign T-jobhraidh Loingseacli, that is, Maen, son o^ Ailill Aine, with
Lo^ingseach'' thirty kiugs about him, at Dinn Rlgh, on the brink of the
JBeorbha [the Barrow]".
The cu'cumstances which I have just mentioned are taken
from an important tract on the Genealogies of the ancient tribes
of Leinster, preserved in the Book of Leinster itself The
romantic story of Maen or I-,abh7'aidh Loingseach, [the Exile,] is
one of those Histoiie Tales w^liich I selected as an example of
them to lay before you a few evenings ago. It is presem-ed in
the Leabhar Buidhe I^ecain, in the library of Trinity College,
one of the most authentic and valuable of our Historic MSS.,
as you are already aw^are. By consulting these two pieces, —
both of great age and of quite unquestionable authority, — you
can easily understand, then, how large a blank may be filled up,
and with how much detail respecting the events of Gaedlielic
history at these very early periods.
HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN. 453
Let US now pass on to another remarkable era in our history, lect. xxi.
that of the celebrated Conaire M6r Mac JEdersceoil, one of the
wisest of the kings of Erinn, who flourished about a century of ConaiH
before Clirist. I piu'posely confine my examples to showing
you the important use which may be made of the pieces I have
almost at hazard selected as specimens of the Historic Tales,
because the description I already gave you of those pieces enables
me to be more concise, since I need not enlarge on the nature
and extent of the details with which they supply us in such
abundance.
The Annals of the Four Masters simply enter the accession
of Conaire at a.m. 5091 (b.c. 109); and the next entry is a.m.
5160 (b.c. 40), relating his death only, in these words: —
" Conaire, the son of Ederscel, after having been seventy years
in the sovereignty of Erinn, was slain at Bridgliean Da Dhearga
by insurgents". For the circvimstances of this occurrence the
historian will consult the Historic Tale I have described to you
as the "Destruction of the Court of Da Derga", a piece in which
he will find abundant illustrations of the history, both social and
political, of that age, as well as all the details of the event itself.
The great King of Ulster, Conor Mac Nessa, does not make of Conor
his appearance at all in the compilation of the Four IMasters. ^^^'^ ^^'^^*'
His life and exploits we must seek in local chronicles, and the
historian will find the most copious illustration of his time, as
' well as facts connected with his extraordinary career, in a great
many tracts besides those of the Siege of Howth, and the Death
of Conor, which I have opened to you. [See Appendix, No.
CLVL] Conor's time was less than a century after ConairS
3Ior.
The great event which I have called the Revolution of the of the Revo
Aitheach Ticatha (known under the inaccurate designation of ^,^^^"°,[ *^*°
the Attacotti or Attacots), is recorded by the Four Masters fuatha, or
almost as baldly as the others of which we have spoken. The
tract which I so shortly described to you is, nevertheless, a
regular history of this period, copious, accurate, and detailed.
At the year of our Lord 123, the Annals, in the driest manner, of the reign
record the accession of the celebrated Conn of the Hundred °^ *'"""■
Battles ; and the annahst proceeds to record, in connection with
this great king, but one fact, and that only in reference to the name
of the gi'eat roads discovered, or finished in his time (viz. : Slighe
Asail, Slighe Midhluachra, Slighe Cualann, Slighe Dala, and
Slighe AJor), namely, that the Slighe Morw&s the ''^ Eiscir Riadd!\
454 HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN.
i>ECT. XXI. and tlie division line of Erinn into two parts, between Conn and
„,,^ . Eoqlian Mur. But tlie historian w^ill find in tlie remarkable
of Cmm. ° tale called tire Catli Muiglie Leana (Battle of Maglr Lena), all
tlie particulars of the contest between the great king and the
celebrated founder of the chief Munster families ; while in the
Tochmarc Momera (the Courtship of Momera), or story of the
voyage of Eoglian to Spain, and his courtship and marriage
there, he will be supplied with numerous details, both historical
and social, in illustration of tliis period.
Of the reign The Four Mastci's are equally concise in respect oi Niall
of mall -^j^^^ Ghiallach, or Mall " of the Nine Hostages", at a.d. 379
and 405. His accession is barely noted, and his death almost
in the next line: " Slain by EochaidJi, son o{ Enna Ceinnsecd-
ach, at 3fuir n-lcht [the ' Ictian Sea, that is, the sea between
France and England"]. Of this event, and of much else con-
cerning Niall, we are minutely informed by the tract called the
" Exj)edition ofNlallio the Ictian Sea, and the Death oiNiall".
Of King The death o£ DatJii is described (at a.d. 428), without even
Dat/n. mentioning liis accession (he, in fact, succeeded Niall) : " killed
by a flash of lightning at Sliahh Ealpa\ But of VatJd the
historian will find many things recorded in the tales in great
detail ; and the history of his last expedition is given at very
full length in the tract I lately described to you under the name
of " The Expedition of king Datlii to the Alps".
ofthenseto I could go On for hours, instead of the few minutes to which
the™iistoric I niust confine myself, to give you hundi-eds of examples of the
same kind, respecting the mode of using the materials which it
has been the object of these lectures to introduce to your notice.
But it would be a waste of time to do so, for the few examples
I have selected will be sufficient to convey what I mean. I
shall for the present only ask you to place confidence in my
assertion, when I assure you that there are few important pas-
sages of our early history which may not be thus illustrated,
and very few distinguished kings and chiefs recorded in our
annals, concerning whom considerable details may not be found,
by reference to some one or more of the existing historic tales,
most of which are precisely of the same nature as those of which
I have spoken at length, by way of specimens of this class of our
materials. From the Historic Tales, the facts, personal and
historical, necessary to complete our early history, may thus be
gleaned, for insertion at the proper place in the general narra-
tive. With respect to the Christian period, many important
Tales.
HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE AVRITTEN. 455
facts are also to be foimd in the lives of tlic early saints, every lect. xxi.
part of wliicli deniands tire most attentive stiuly ; and the value ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^
of these authorities is greatly increased by the circumstance, te made of
11 • • 11 1 , i Vl the Histui-ic
that they are compositions generally almost cotemporary witn xaies.
the facts recorded in them.
But the recital of the facts of history, however detailed,
cannot satisfy those who seek in a history properly so called a
lively as well as truthful report of the life and character, the
thoughts and manners, of their ancestors, as well as a record of
their government, and of the heroic achievements of the kings
and chieftains among them. History is only really valuable
to a j)eople for the lessons it gives them of what their race has
succeeded or has failed to do, — for the lesson it gives them in
the capacities as well as the faults of the men whose blood is in
their own veins to-day, and whose peculiar virtues and vices
their descendants have probably inherited, and will perpetuate
to the end of time. History is really valuable when it revives
and strengthens the bond which connects tis with our fore-
fathers,— the bond of sympathy, of respect towards themselves, —
of pride in and emulation of their brave deeds and their love of
country. We want to know not merely of the existence of the
kings of ancient Erinn, but we Avant also to become acquainted
with themselves, to be able to realize in our minds how they
and their people lived. To do this, the historian must intro-
duce us to their laws, to their social customs, to their mode of
education, and, above all, to so much of their private life as
sliall exhibit to us the relation in which the stronger and the
Aveaker sex stood to one another ; in short, to the nature of the
civilization of ancient Erinn in detail.
Of this part of the historian's task I have no need to say
more, than to allude to its importance. Long before any con-
siderable amount of research can be applied to the other portions
of our historical materials, we may expect the completion of the
labours of that commission to which I have already alluded. We
may expect then to have before us, with full translations, con-
cordance, and notes upon every part of it, the great body of the
laws of ancient Erinn. We shall have, in that vast collection,
the most detailed information upon almost every part of ancient
Gaedhelic life; and we shall find in it, besides, an immense
number of what I may call anecdotes recorded (generally by
way of example), which w^ll largely add to the amount of his-
toric facts elsewhere to be found. By the light of this great
Avork we shall also be far better able to understand the descrip-
tions and allusions which, as I have already observed, make the
456 HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN.
LECT. XXI. historic tales so vali^able to the historian, with respect to this
^r^v . department also of his labours.
Of the use to -l , . . . .,
ije made of Jb or the samc purpose an accurate examination must be made
Tiues,— the'' of the various monuments, remains of buildings, of graves, etc.,
rem'ium — "^ and of the various ornaments, arras, and other works of art and
and the Kc- manufacture, which have come down to us, with a view to dis-
miss, cover, if possible, the era of each class, and the progress of the
development which took place in them in successive ages.
Lastly, as to the Christian period, the various ecclesiastical
tracts I have already described to you at so much length, will
supply, as you may readily understand, a vast quantity of
valuable details of life and manners.
Of other mis- I am sure I need hardly repeat that no part of these, the ne-
inateriais ccssaiy preliminary labours ol' the Historian of Erinn, has ever
o7E*inn."^'^ yet been completed, nay, even attempted. Still less has the
attention of writers been directed to the equally indispensable
investigation of the many soiu-ces of information likely to throw
light on ancient Gaedlielic history and antiquities which are to
be found in the books and MSS. of other coiuitries and in other
languages than ours. I allude here not only to the various
Anglo-Norman and British accounts of Ireland, from a period
even before the twelfth century, but also to the Latin corres-
pondence of many of the Irish saints at home and abroad, and,
besides these, to the allusions to this island and her people,
which are to be found in the classical writers, and which ought
to be completely collected and considered for us as Amadee
Thierry dealt with them "wath respect to some of the most inte-
resting passages in the ancient history of France. I allude
also to the valuable illustrations which must needs grow out of
a proper investigation into the antiquities and history of all the
other Celtic nations, in which so much has been done of late
years in France and Germany.
These labours completed, how easy would it not be to write
at last a History of Erinn ! how easy, even now, to make a com-
mencement of so grand a task, if the historical student were
only first acquainted with the Gaedhelic Language, so as to be
enabled to apply himself to the study of the MS. materials lying
unopened, but in svich excellent preservation, in this very city !
It is very true that the critical examination of these vast mate-
rials must demand much time, much labour, much knowledge,
before it can be satisfactorily completed : but at least the mate-
rials themselves are not wanting, as I hope I have by this time
demonstrated to you ; rather they are, perhaps, more abundant
than the ancient and cotemporary records of any other European
country could supply.
now THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTEN. 457
If I have succeeded in showing this much, I have done all lect. xxi.
I had proposed to myself". I believe there was little idea, not ~~
only on the part of the general public, but even among educated sity for the
literary men, that such a mass of valuable matter as that of which GaedheHc^^
I have endeavoured in these Lectures to describe the nature and language.
extent, existed at all in the long-neglected GaedheUc tongue.
If these Lectures shall have served but to make known to the
future student and historian wliither he must go for really full
and trustworthy information, and to what to apply himself, my
object will have been completely accomplished.
Of the various divisions in wliich I have treated the o-eneral
subjects of these Introductory Lectmes, every one should
properly form the subject of a separate course, in order to treat
it with anything hke justice ; and if it please God to permit
me sufficient opportunity, I hope on future occasions to develop
them, one by one, in more satisfactory detail. In the mean-
time, let me again assvu-e those who wovdd be students of Irish
history, that their first necessity is to make themselves acquainted
with the language ; for whatever may be done towards the
translation and publication of the ancient MS. materials of Irish
history, vast as is their extent, it must be perfectly clear that,
without the assistance of a National Government (assistance
certainly not to be hoped for in the present generation at least),
the whole can never be given to the world. One thing only is
wanted. We have, with some exceptions, a really good grammar
of the Irish, in that of Dr. O'Donovan. We are not yet furnished of the want
with an accurate and copious Dictionary. This want, however, ll.y_ ^"=''"°'
there are now some hopes of seeing supplied in the course of a few
years ; and immediate exertions would have been made upon the
subject before now, were it not that the labours of the Brehon
Law Commission must throw very great hght on the mean-
mgs of the words and the structure of the language ; and wliile
those labours are in progress, the preparation of an important
part of a complete dictionary may be considered as constantly
in progress too. A few years ago an influential Committee was
appointed by the two Councils of the late Celtic and the
Archgeological Society, to undertake the preparation of a
dictionary, and my lamented friend, the late William Elliott
Hudson, siibscribed £200*^^-^ to that Committee, towards the
(^"-) Mr. Hudson, in fact, subscribed for £500 ; and, having intended to pay
over tlie amount in cash to the Trustees of tlie Dictionary Fund (Lord Talbot
de Malahide, tlie Rev. J. H. Todd, and Major-General Larcom), he made no
provision for it in liis will. He did transfer to the Eev. Dr. Todd a sum of
£200 stock, but his sudden death, which, unfortunately, took place a few days
afterwards, prevented the completion of his design, and his representatives
have not thought it mcumbent on them to fulfil his patriotic intentions out of
the ample property which came to them by his decease.
458 HOW THE HISTORY OF ERINN IS TO BE WRITTE>\
LECT. XXI. accomplisliment of this great national object. T\Tien the Brehon
,^,,, . Law Commission shall liave completed its duties, that Com-
Of the want . . . .J- ' .
of a Diction- mittec wili iosc no time m pressmg on the work. The materials
^^' for a dictionary already collected are enormous ; they will by
that time I hope be almost complete ; and money alone will
be wanted to enable us to bring them into shape, and to publish
them to the world. But though the sum required must be
very considerable, I have yet but little doubt that Irishmen of
wealth, and Irish Institutions especially interested in so great a
literary undertaking, will feel it an honour to come forward, in
imitation of Mr. Hudson's noble example, to assist in this
patriotic enterprise.*^^^-*
Conclusion ^ have detained you to-night, I fear, too long ; but I have
now done. I will not attempt to express to you the delight I
felt when first I learned the determination of the founders of
this University to erect a chair for the cultivation of the history,
the archaeology, and the language of Ireland ; and beheve me
my satisfaction was far from being merely personal. I expected
no less from the Catholic University of Ireland than that it
should become the national institution for the education of our
country ; and I felt that it peculiarly became a national Univer-
sity to take the lead in this department of learning above all
others. Let me add, that the hope that it will do so, and yet
more effectively every year, forms the chief interest which an
humble professor feels in the honourable position which he has
been selected here to fill.
(53) Even since the above Lecture was put to press, an important addition
has been made to the fund commenced by Mr. Hudson's donation. Mr. John
Martin, formerly of Loughorne, Newry, has placed at the disposal of the Com-
mittee a sum of £200, which had been presented to him by the Irish inhabi-
tants of Melbourne on his leaving Australia, after his release on the occasion
of the amnesty accorded to some of the political exiles of 1848. Mr. Martin
selected the enterprise midertaken by the Committee as one essentially patri-
otic, while unconnected with mere pohtics. He has, however, annexed to his
donation the condition that within a limited period the funds at the disposal of
the Committee should be raised by other donations to the amount of £1000 in
all ; and his invitation has already, I beheve, produced a further donation of
XlOO from an Irish Literary Society (the Saint Patrick's) in Melbourne.
APPENDIX
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX, No. I. [Lect. I., Page 2 ; (note (^')].
Of the pli and "PitToecc.
The "word -pti is ordinarily translated, and properly, "poet".
But tliat it was considei'ed by the learned in former times to signify
strictly much more than this, will be seen from the following deri-
vations of the word, taken from old ^ISS. of authority :
1. In Cormac's Glossary : —
"Pill .1. p A nAei]A, ocui" ti A ihoLa-o in pti. jrili "oin .i.
yiAt^'111, ^'Ai -peite.
[Viti, i-e, poison (-p) is his sath-e, and beauty (b) is his praise,
■pi li, then, i.e., a ■pAl-ftn, i.e.., a ■pmireiLe, a professor of generosity or
hospitality (fi'om the richness of the gifts of knowledge which he
bestows).]
2. In the vellum MS., H. 2. 16. (T.C.D.) :—
"Pill, 5l^^^' ■^ f^^ AmAcop, .1. i^ei]\ci-o ^ro^bomo. Ho pie
.1. ii, p [.1. p] -jTopA Aeip. octi-p bi -popAe mobcAt).
[Vibi, Gi'eek, afilo (philo), ^ amator^ ; i.e.., a lover of learning. Or
Vibe, i.e.., p ti, that is -pi (poison) on his satire, and ti (beauty) on
his praise.]
3. In the vellum MS., H. 3. 18. 16. (T.C.D.) :—
pb .1. pAbpAi .1. -pAi 11 At); Ap Ani ip -p^Ab bAipn pbit) 1]^
l^eip, no poipcecAb ipn ngnAcbbepbA; conA "oe aca -peAbmAc,
ocnp i:eAb-|"tib, ocu-j' pbi, ocui" pbi-oecc. tlo pbi .i. pi ocnp
bi .1. p"i A omnA [a Aeipe] fAiiA ocnp bi a "OAnA.
[pibi, i-e., a pAb-pAi (or -peAl-i-Ai), {i.e., a professor of poetry] ;
for what is -jreAb A\'ith the poet is i'eif, or -poi-pcecAb [l^nowledge, or
instruction], in the common language ; so that it is from that comes
treAbtriAc [a son of knowledge or instruction, a pupil] ; and ^eAb-pub
[a philosopher], and inti ; and pbi-oecc [the knowledge or profession
of the ■pli]. Or pti, i.e., p and b, i.e., the poison of his satire upon
him, and the beauty of his art [in laudation].
4. In the veUum MS., H. 3. 18. 81. (T.C.D.) :—
1^1 be, 5l^^c, A pbo .1. Anio]\e ixienciAe. 116 pi l-i'i -i- p \o\\
A Aoip, ocuf bi fop A mobA-o. Tlo pAb bi .1. bi tiApAb nA
peer n^pAT) pbi .i. obbAiii, An]AA'6, cbi, cAnA, "oop, niAc ptup-
miT), pocbbAch.
[Vibi, Greek ; a ''filo\ i.e., amove scientice. Or pi-bii, i-e., p [poison]
on his satire, and ti [beauty] on his praise. Or p^t-ti, noble beaxity
Of l]ie Fili T7 „i 1 ,„i
and File- Foclllacll
dec/it.
462 AFPKNDIX.
[or gloss], i.e., the noble gloss [slieen, or beauty] of the seven
orders of the poets, Ollamh, Anradh, Cli, Cana, Dos, Mac-Fnirmidh,
5. In the vellum MS., H. 4. 22. 67. b. (T.C.D.) :—
pile .1. pAt-pui \.Ay 1 tnbiAC -petmAic .i. -|nii*6, ajaa ireAl X^Aiy
inpte i]"ei-p no i:oi]\ce"OAt a-|")ti jnAcbejilA, coriA -oe aca
^etiTiAc, ocu]" -|:ett^"Ani ; pti ocu]" ptToecc .1. iio -pAltnAi^cA]!
1 pf fech riA tub.
[pti, ^'-^M a itiaIi'ai [ji- professor of knowledge or mstrnction],
with whom there are students ; i.e., a ym-6 [professor] ; for what is
■peAt with the pU is ye^y [knowledge] or -poipcecAl [instruction] in
the ordinary language ; so that it is from that conies -petmAc and
■pell-i'Aiii ; irili and yibTDecc, i.e., he reigns [rules or governs] in know-
ledge beyond any one else.]
6. In the vellum MS., H. 2. 15. 85. (T.C.D.) :—
Ce]'c, CIA cpuch ot)obe]iAH ;gHA'OA ]:o]\ -pitex) ;
Tlin. 'CAi]"benAX) a -oneccA -oo .i. 'oo oblAmAin, octi^^ bit) ha
•pecc 5|AA-6o ^"ibe-6 occai, octi^^ ^Aibci iii ]wt^ iiia Iaii jpAt)
cuccA, ocu]" moo -pocbAX) AjA in coitAm a-j" a '0]\eccAib ocui^ a]"
A AnncAi, ocii]" A.yy TonA .i. TonA i:o-6bumA, ocu]' i*6nA beoit,
ocui" TonA tAime, ocu]" tAnAmnm^", ocu-j" TonA inn]\Acui|' a-|\
JAiu, ocu-p b^Aic, octif in-obi jit), octi]" i-onA ctiiup nA poib acc
Aen li-peing 1ai]", Ap At)bA'LAi]\ cpe coibbgi ciAbAip.
[Question : In what form are degrees conferred iipon a poet ?
Answer: He exhibits his compositions to him, that is, to an OJlamh
[a Master of the arts of poetry, etc.] ; and he has the qualifications of
each of the seven orders [of poets] ; and the king confirms him in
his full degree, and in what the Olhimh reports of him as to his
compositions, and as to his innocence and purity ; that is to say,
purity of learning, and purity of mouth [from abuse or satire], and
purity of hand [from bloodshedding], and purity of union [marriage],
and purity of honesty [from theft and robbery and unlawfulness],
and purity of body — that he have but one wife, for he dies [in
dignity] through impure cohabitation.]
7. In the "Book of Lecain" (R.I.A.), fol. 155, a. (from an
ancient Grammatical tract) : —
"Piti .1. i:eAb]"Ai .1. [v'SAt] i^o^tAiin, octi]"i"Ai yogbiiiuAbepnini,
lApi^Ani bit) I'o^bAincigi aici ic -[.'ogbAim .i. yeAbi^Ai, no pAb-
^'Ai. 11o p Ani AepA^', octi-p bi, Alii inobti]\ 1lo pbi oni i^"
pbioi'opu-p .1. -peAbbi^Ain, Ap obijit) m pbi 50]iob ]:eAbbpAm.
[pli, i.e., yeAl]-A^, i.e. [yeAl], is learning, and he is a doctor of
learning, because of the fact that he has learners mth him at learn-
ing, i.e., he is a learned master, or a generous master. Or p is what
he satirizes, and ii is Avhat he praises. Or -pti is from the Avord
Jiliosopus, i.e., a philosopher, because it is required of the poet that
he be a philosopher.]
And O'Flaherty, in his Ogijgia, adopts the term " philosopher" as
APPENDIX. 463
the best translation foi' pb. " All those", he says, " who were in- app. i.
structed in every liberal art, and those who by their wisdom con-
suited the real advantage of their country, Avere called Fileadha ^nd rue-
[pleAT)<.\], i-G; poets ; wherefore Fileadh [pleAX), or more correctly <iecht.
y\\A ] may be considered the same as ' philosopher'. Maxinuis
Tyrius [he flourished in the reign of the emperor Commodus] from
the school of Plato, shows that philosophers were comprehended
imder the name of poets; he says: 'They who were in fact philoso-
2ihei's, but by appellation poets, have brought an odious character on
that profession, which used to flatter and entertain the people ex-
ceedingly'". <'> ' [O'F., Ogug. (Hely's Translation, voL 2, p. 72), pt.
iii. ch. XXX. " Of the Irish Letters".]
APPENDIX No. II. [Lect. I., Page 4.]
Of Writing in Erinn before Saint Patrick's time.
It is perhaps impossible, now, to arrive at any certain conclusion
as to the nature of the writing in which the records were kept, and
history, poetry, and literatiire preserved among the Gaedhils of
Erinn, in the ages Avhich preceded the coming of Saint Patrick. In
the absence of any known remains of the Avriting of the pre-Christian
period, it may, indeed, be reasonably asked what reason there is to
think or believe that the Gaedhils were at all acquainted with any
form of written characters? Do we find any names still preserved
in the Gaedhelic language and ancient writings for a book, parchment,
writing, pen, ink, page, line, stave, etc., in use in or havmg refer-
ence to these early ages?
These are important questions, and I must confess that I have
not paid so much attention to their consideration as to enable me to
give any thing like a full or satisfactory answer to them. At the
same time I must observe that I believe the subject to be one Avhich
it is now too late to attempt to clear up ; so scanty are the remnants,
and so widely dispersed, of our very ancient books, or rather of those
copies of but a few Avhich have come down to us. Enough, how-
ever, in my mmd, remains to show (at least I myself feel perfectly
satisfied) that the pre-Christian Gaedhils possessed and practised a
system of "WTfiting and keeping records quite different from and inde-
pendent of both the Greek and the Eoman form and characters,
which gained currency in the country after the introduction of
(1) Tlie Latin text of OFlaherty is as follo-ns:—
" r'ileadha J. Poeta? apud nos olim nominabantur dootrinas omnis liberalls esperti,et qui reip.
sapientia sua coiisulebant I'.iide Fileadh quasi idem, ac pliilosophus. Philosophos poetarum
nomine comprehensos indicat e Platonis scliola llaximus Tyrius, ( — Commodo Imperat.
floruit — ) ; li, inqi;lt, re ipsa philosophi nomine autem poetse rem invidiosam ad earn aitem
revocavunt, qucc populum adniodum demuleeat'. [" Ogtgia : seu lierum Hibernicarum C'hio-
nologia (etc.); Auihore Rodkrico O'Fi.ahertt, Armigero ; Londini, ad insigne Navis, in
Coemeteiio D. Pauli, a.d. 16S5". (p. 215).]
464
APPENDIX.
Of the use
of the
Oghuim,
on stone and
on wood.
In the Tciin
bo Chuailgni.
In the Tale
of BailA
Mac Buain.
Christianity in the first part of the fifth century, if indeed they were
not known here even a considerable time before that era.
It is not my purpose here, however, to offer any opinion as to the
characters in which the Saltair of Tara, and the Cin Droma Snechta
Avere originally written; though I dare say it may have been but
the modified Roman character of the time. But I may place before
the reader a few references to another mode of writing, to characters
which are repeatedly spoken of in all our old historical books, and
of which numerous specimens (though in a limited form) have re-
mained to astonish and puzzle the learned, even to this day. I mean
the Oghuim characters, which are still to be seen in some of our oldest
books, as Avell as on many stone monuments, the remote antiquity
of which cannot, I think, be denied. It is not, however, to what
is written in these books, or inscribed on these stones, in the Oghuim
character, that I intend to call attention at present, nor even to all
the numerous references to the writing of Oghuim to be met with
in our most ancient books, that subject being now in the able hands
of the Rev. Charles Graves, F.T.C.D.; but in the absence of more
direct proofs it has occurred to me to refer the reader to a few passages
of authority, by way of example, in which Oghuim "\\Titing is spoken
of as having been employed to record historical events, and even sustained
historical or romantic tales, among the Gaedluls, long before the
supposed introduction of the Roman letter about the time at which
the Gospel of Christ was brought among them by lettered scholars
of continental education.
Passing over, then, the frequent mention of the general custom
of inscribing monumental stones with Oghuim characters and words,
I shall briefly note a few instances in which this species of writing
is spoken of as havuig been applied to a different purpose and in a
different way.
First, as regards the material in Avhich or upon Avhich the ante-
Christian Gaedhils wrote, besides stone, we find it mentioned under
four different names — CAtnlongA Vi'Li'6? that is. Staves of the
Poets ; CAbAtl ■Lot\5A, Tablet Staves ; CAibli pb-o, Tables of the
Poets (the same thing, though apparently a more modern form
of the first name, evidently modified from the Latin Tabula, a word
with which, nevertheless, I think, it can be showTi the former had
originally no connection) ; and i:leA-pc pli, the Wand of the Poet.
In the cAin "bo cViuAiljne (Avhich we have in a part of the Leahhar
na h-Uidhre, a IMS. as old as 1106), we read in more than one
instance of Cuchulainn having written or cut an Oghuim in hoops or
wands, which he had placed in such places as that they should be
found by queen Meave [iiieTab] and her army; and that when they
were found, they Avere always carried to Fergus, the other great
Ultonian champion, in the camp of the queen, to read and explain
them, Avhich he Avas always able to do.
There is, besides this, another very ancient tale, from which Ave
may learn what Avas, at least so long ago as in the time of king
APPENDIX. 4G5
Cormac Mac Art, believed to have taken i)lace at a period corres- app. ii.
ponding to the very commencement of our common era — a romantic
tale, indeed, yet even itself so far of authority that it is founded on ^^,,7/
facts in the main to be taken as true — of the loves and tragical J^«c Buain.
death of Aillinn, the daughter of Fergus, and of Buile, the son of
Buan (who was the sou of , the son of Capha^ the son of Cinga,
the son of Ros, the son of Riidhraidhe, who was monarch of Erinn,
and died am. 4981, that is, about 212 B.C.). This story is shortly
as foIloAvs : —
Bdile "the sweet-spoken" Avas the favourite lover of Aillinn, the
daughter of Lugkaidh, son of Fergus Fairge, king of Leinster.
There ap^^ears, however, to have been some impediment in the way
of their union, and they proposed to hold a private meeting at Ros-
na-Righ, on the south side of the Bojaie. Bcdle set out accordingly
from Emania, and proceeded as far as Dun-Dealgan, now called
Dundalk. While resting himself here he saw a fierce, forbidding
looking man approaching from the south; and Baile sent to ask
liim Avhence he came, and whither he was going. The stranger
answered, that he was on his return to the mouth of the Bann
from INIount Leinster, and that the only news he had was that
the daughter of Lughaidh son of Fergus, who had been in love
with BaiU Mac Buain, and was on her way to keep an appoint-
ment vfiih. Mm, was overtaken by the men of Leinster and killed,
or died in consequence of the violent detention to Avhich she was
subjected, in fulfilment of the prophecies of the Druids and wise men,
who foretold that they never would meet in life. The stranger then
disappeared from them "like a gust of wind". The moment that
Baile Mac Buain heard this he fell dead on the spot; and the
tale relates that he was honourably biu-ied on the sea shore, whence
that place derived its name of " the Strand of Baile', and that
a yew tree shortly afterwards sprang up out of his grave, having
the form of Bailees head on its top.
In the meantime, as the princess Aillinn was sitting in her "sunny
cham]:)er", the same fierce-looking man suddenly entei'ed it and
in the same way he told his ' news' to the lady ; that he saw the Ulto-
nians holding an assembly of lamentation, and raising a Raith, and
erecting a flagstone, and ^vi'iting on it the name of Baile Mac Buain,
who died there when going to visit a favourite lover of his ; for
it was their fate never to see or meet each other in life. The man
' sprang away* then, and the lady Aillinn fell dead on the spot. She
also was buried in the usual way, like her lover, and an apple tree,
says the story, immediately sprang from her grave, and became a
large tree in seven years, with the form of Aillinn' s head on its top.
At the end of seven years the poets and prophets and seers of
Ulster cut down the yew tree which was over the grave of Baile,
and made it into a Taball Filidh, or Poets' Tablet, '•'• and they iviote",
we are told, '■'■the Visions, and the Espousals, and the Loves, and the
Courtships of Ulster in it". The same was also done to the apple tree
30
466
APPENDIX.
Tale of
aiU
Mac Buain.
nscribed
talilets
before the
time of Art
(A.D. 166).
Ancient
iillusions to
the Tale
of Baili
Mac Buain.
over the grave of Aillinn, and the Courtships, Loves, etc., of Leinster
were written in it.
Now, a long time afterwards, when Art, the son of Conn of the
Hundred Battles, was monarch of Erinn (in a.d. 166), on the
occasion of the great periodical feast of Samhuin, or November Eve,
the poets and the professors of all arts came, as was the custom,
and brought their tablets with them, and, among the rest, the
tablets above mentioned; and the two tablets were brought to Art,
and he had them in liis hands face to face. Suddenly, then, says
this singular story, each tablet of them sprang upon the other, so
that they became bound together in the same way as the Avoodbine to
the green twig, and it was foimd imj^ossible to separate them. And
they were thenceforth always preserved, we are informed, like all the
other jewels, in the treasury at Tara, until the palace was burned
by Danlaing, the son of Enna, king of Leinster, at the time that
the maidens were killed by him at Tara. (This happened in the
year 241, when Cormac the son of Art was monarch.)
This singular legend of the growing together of the two tablets
was most probably a poetical accoimt of some inscribed tablets of
the time of King Art, which had at that early period become oblite-
rated or inextricably clung together, very much as so many ancient
leaves now in existence which belong to a period above a thousand
years before our own. The value of the story for the purpose for
which I cite it lies, of course, in the evidence it supplies of the exis-
tence in Art's time of what Avas then believed to have been a very
anciently Avritten book, and, of course, of the existence in and before
Art's time, at least, of letters (Avhich some perhaps will say
could not well have been Oghuim), among the pagan Gaedhils.
[The Tale itself is altogether so curious, that as it is very short, I
have thou.ght it advisable to add the text of it, as well as a litei'al
translation, at the end of this Note (see pp. 472-474).]
As the genuine antiqiiity of the history of the lovers alluded to
in the tale must, of course, be a matter of the last impoi'tance to
the value of the evidence supplied l^y it, I may give here from the
conclusion of the two copies of it which I ha^-e met, short quotations
which they preserve from ancient poems containing allusions to the
trajjic fate of Baile Mac Buain and Aillinn: —
" The apple tree of noble Aillinn,
The yew of Baile, — small inheritance, —
Although they are introduced into poems.
They are not understood by unlearned people.
•' And [Ailbhe'\ the daughter of Cormac, the grandson of Conn,
said : —
" What I liken Aluime to,
Is to the yew of Edith Baile';
What I lilven the other to.
Is to the apple tree of Aillinn.
APPENDIX. 467
*' Flann Mac Lonan dixit : — app. ii.
" Let Cormac decide Avitli proper sense,
So that he be envied by the hosts ; anusf "ns to
Let him remember, — the ilhistrious saint, — the xaie
The tree of the strand of BaiU Mac Buain. Mac Huain.
" Tliere grew np a tree under "which companies could sport,
With the form of his face set out on it's chistering top;
When he was betrayed, truth was betrayed, —
It is in that same Avay they betray Cormac.
" Cormac dixit : —
Here was entombed the son of White Buan".
*****
The first two stanzas of these quotations in the Tale (as given in
H. 3. 18) are taken from a most ancient and singular poem, pre-
served in the Book of Leinster (H. 2.18. T.C.D.), known indeed
from the context thei'e to have been Avi'itten by Ailbhe, the second
daughter of king Cormac Mac Art, but directly ascribed to her in
the MS. in the British jSIuseum, from which I have taken these ex-
tracts. (Harleian, 5280, p. 75, and H. 3.18. T.C.D., p. 47 ;— but
Ailbhe is not mentioned by name in the lattei-.)
The poem in the "Book of Leinstei-" consists of nine stanzas;
and in the absence of any direct historical reference to the occasion
of its composition, I am inclined to believe, from the allusions in it,
that it was Avritten on the occasion of the elopement of King Cor-
mac's elder daughter, Grainne, ^yiih one of the lieutenants of Fimi
Mac CumhaiU, Dermot O'Duibhne, the famous Adonis of the Fenian
Tales. The fate of Dermot was tragical on account of this elope-
ment ; but if these stanzas have reference to him, they were written
before that event, and while he was yet with his fair one traversing
the country to escape the vengeance of his offended commander. [I
have thought it right to insert this curious poem also, with a literal
translation, at the end of this Note (see pp. 476, 477).]
The verses quoted from Mac Lonan (chief poet of Erinn, who died
A.r>. 918), are exceedingly ciu-ious, as they appear to have been ad-
dressed to the Holy Cormac MacCuilen7uiin, King and Archbishop of
Cashel, Avho was slain in the battle of Magh Ailbhe in the year 903.
The allusion in Mac Lonan's verses to the betraj^ed of Baile Mac
Buain could not possibly bear on any event in King Cormac's life
but that of his betrothal to, and subsequent repudiation of, the cele-
brated princess Gormlaith, daughter of Flann Sionna, the Monarch
of Erinn, and his entering into holy orders and becoming Arch-
bishop of Cashel afterwards. Whether Cormac's breaking off the
match with the monarch's daughter was occasioned by any malig-
nant slanders, by motives of policy, or, as it is stated in a poem
ascribed to himself, by a simple desire to enter the Church, I am not
in a position to say; but Mac Lonan's allusions certainly lead us to
believe that such events did not occur without some deep intrigues,
of which, however, no precise accoimts have been hitherto dis-
30 B
468 APPENDIX.
App. II. covered. It will have been seen that Cormac wrote some verses, in
~~ answer, I should suppose, to Mac Lonan ; but of these, unfortunately,
cientVse'of Only one line remains, and that only in the copy of the tract pre-
Ts^effTvia' served in the MS. H. 3.18. T.C.D.
tohy Cormac That Kinp; Cormcic MacCailenndin was versed in the knowledge of
niHii ^ ' ^^^^ Oghuim writings, as well as in that of the current literature of
his day, may be gathered from an allusion in a poem, written by the
Cormac Mac same Mac Lonan, Avhere, in pajdng compliments to many of the
versed in kings and chiefs of Erinn, his contemporaries, he devotes the fol-
oghuim. lowing stanza to Cormac :
" Cormac of Cashel with his champions,
Munster is his, may he long enjoy it;
Around the king of Raith BicUj are cultivated
The Letters and the Trees".*^^^
The '"Letters" here signify, of course, our present Gaedhelic alpha-
bet and writings; but the "Trees" can only signify the Oghuim letters,
which were named after certain trees indigenous to the country.
Cormac himself, in his Glossary, often speaks of the Oghuim writ-
ing, as having been in use among the older pagan, as well as the latter
Christian Gaedhils ; as at the word Fe, which he explains to mean a
pole or rod with which bodies and graves were measured, and which
he says was ahvays left in the cemetery, and in which the people
" wrote in Oghuim whatever Avas hateful or detestable to them".
Tale of the Another early example of the use of Oghuim occurs in an ancient
Mif8^of°z>!af Tale, called Loinges Mac nDuil nDermait, or the " Exile of the Sons
Dermaie. of DuM Dermctit" ; an Ulster story of the time of Concohhar Mac
Nessa (who flourished at the time of the Incarnation). In this tale
we are told that three personages mentioned in it disappeared mys-
teriously, and that Cuchulainn was enjoined to discover them. It is
stated that he accordingly went from the palace of Emania to his
own town of Dun-Dealgan (or Dundalk), and that, Avhile taking
counsel with himself there, he observed a boat coming to land in the
harbour. This boat, it seems, contained the son of the king of
Alhain (Scotland), and a party, who came with presents of purple,
and silk, and drinking cups for king Conor. Cuchulainn, however,
was at the moment in an angry mood, so that he entered the boat
and slew aU the crew till he came to the prince liimseh". The tale
then proceeds : —
^nmAin mnAnm^jin a CucubAinn, if hac ACA-o^enAniAp,
G]i-pe. In f?ecAp cit) -piic cpi mAccu 'Ouib 'OepmAic a]' a
rip, o]\ CuctibAinn. nicon|.-ecAp ob in coctoec, acc aca
mu]i-in"oetb bim ocu)" -pocicepcAp 'oeicpti, octif pocbiA in
cupAC, ocu'p ni i-oicbeA An]:ip x)e. 'Oo bepc CucubAinn a
■pteijin X)6, ocn-p "oo fopne o^um ninx).
(2) COIMDAC CxMpL COHA CUpi,
bei]' niiinni, co|\ nietA ;
U]\A5<M'o im -pi 5 Uaca bicLi,
Ha Lic|m if nA ir<?A'6A.
APPENDIX. 469
" 'Grant me life for life, 0 Ciichulainn! you do not know me', app. ii.
said lie [the prince]. ' Do you know what carried the three sons of '
Duil Dermait out of their country?' said Cuchulainn. 'I do not ' Exile o/the
know it', said the youth ; ' but I have a sea-charm, and I ^vill set ^""^ "{^'"'^
it for you, and you shall have the boat, and you shall not act in (circa a.d. i.)
ignorance by it'. Cuchidainn then handed hun his little spear, and
he (the prince) insciubed an ogum in it".
Cuchulainn then, according to the story, went out upon the sea,
and his talisman directed him unerringly to the island, in which
the objects of his search were detained. This tale is preserved
in no less a MS. than H. 2. 16. T.C.D.
In the Book of Leinster (fol. 206), we find another instance of Tale of (7orc,
son of
the iise of the Oghuim in the story of Core, the son of Lughaidh, king lugiuddh;
of Mimstei', who was driven into exile by his father about a.d. 400. ^^•^- '^^'^^■
We learn that when forced to fly to the court of Feradach, king of
Scotland, not knowing what reception he might find from that kmg,
he hid huuself and his few attendants in a grove near the court, to
consider Avhat course to take ; and that there he was soon discovered
and recognized by Grtdbne, the king's poet, who had known him
at his own father's court, in Munster, where he had often visited
previously. The poet, we are informed, addressed the prince, and
learned his history, and, while examining his shield, detected an
Oghidm inscription on it. " Yv^io was it that befriended you with
the Oghuim which is on your shield? it was not good luck he
designed for you", said the poet. "What does it contain?" said
Core. " What it contains", said the poet, " is, that if it was by day
you arrived at the court of Feradach, your head should be ciit off
before evening ; and if it Avas at night, that your head should be off
then before morning". Here, then, Avas a regular letter of a very
serious character written in Oghuim many years before St. Patrick's
coming ; but what is strange in the story is, that the young prince
and future long shoidd not be able to read and understand it him-
self. It appears, however, from all we know, that the Oghuim
writing had often, if not at all times, a secret and compHcated cha-
racter, and required a special education to read and imderstand it.
The learned Rudhraidhe (Rory or Roderick) O'Flaherty, in his
Ogygia, devotes a chapter to the discussion of pre-Christian writmg
in Ireland, from which the followmg extract A\ill be sufiicient for
my present purpose :*^^^
" There are five peculiarities belonging to the Irish language, in CFiaUerty
each of which it differs from the language of any other country; of Letter^
that is, the Name, Order, Number, Character, and PoAver. And be- ™ ancient
' 5 5 5 5 Erinn.
(3) Hely's translation not teing always either full or correct, it may be well to extract the
passage from the original of O' Flaherty: —
" Scoticis literis quiuque accidunt, in quorum singulis ah aliarum gentium literis discrepant ;
nimirum Nomen, Ordo, Numerus, Character, et Potestas. Et quia imperiti literarum in
chartd, aliave ulla materia ad memoriam pingendarum harum rerum ignarus incaut^ effutiit
Bollandus, de materia allquid prsEfabor. Ea ante pergamenae usum tabulje erant d betulla
arbore complanatas, quas Oraiun et Taiblde Fileadh A. Tabulas Philosophicas dicebant. Ex
his allquas inter antiquitatum monumenta apud se superfuisse, ut et diversas characterura
470
APPENDIX.
APP. II.
O'Flaherty
on the use
of Letters
in ancient
Eiinn.
Of the
ancient
Gaetlhelic
Tablets.
(Taibhli
Fileadh.)
cause Bolland says ' they were ignorant of writing on paper or any
other material', as he was himself totally unacqiiainted with these
matters, I shall premise something concerning their writing mate-
rials. They were made of the birch-tree before the mvention of
parchment, which they called Orainn [qn. Crainn, trees], and Taibhle
Fileadh, that is, philosophical tables. Not long since, Duald
Firbiss, the only pillar and guardian of Irish antiquities while he
lived, and whose death Avas an irreparable loss to any fiu'ther
improvement in them, wrote me an account of his being in posses-
sion of some of these, and of the different forms of some of their
characters, Avhich he sums up to the number of one hundred and
fifty, and of Ci'aobh-ogham, i.e., virgean characters; !Mr. Ware
says as follows in his Irish Antiquities, cap. 2 : ' Besides the com-
mon characters, the ancient Irish used various occult or artificial
methods of writing called Ogum, in which they wrote their secret
and mysterious aftairs. I have an old book filled with them. The
letters themselves were anciently called Feadha, i.e., woods' ".
[_Og)/gia, part iii., cap. xxx. (page 99 of Hely's translation).]
The most curious and important part of this quotation is the
reference it contains to the fact, for such it has been beheved since
O'Flaherty's tune, that Duald Mac Firbiss had in his possession
some of the ancient writing tablets of the Gael, with the characters
inscribed on them to the number of one hundred and fifty, besides
some in the Craobh-oghum, or virgean characters. To me, how-
ever, it appears that O'Flaherty must have mistaken Mac Firbiss,
and that, instead of Tablets, he ought to have understood him as
meaning Alphabets, or Tables of Alphabets, such as are preserved
in the " Book of Ballymote". At all events, O'Flaherty's words
are of little value, as he does not enable us to form any idea
of the forms and particulars of those supposed tablets, as to what
was their shape, how written on, whether it Avas with a stylus or a
knife, Avhether they were waxed tablets (hke those found in the bog
in the north of Ireland and noAv preserved in the IVIuseum of the
Royal Irish Academy), etc. To say that ^lac Firbiss had ancient
tablets, Avritten in an hundred and fifty different Oghum alphabets,
or characters, as O'Flaherty calls them, is Avhat no Avell-groimded
Gaedhelic scholar Avill readily beheA^e.
NoAv, Avith respect to the name Taibhli Fileadh [Tablets of
the Poets], it appears clearly enough to be a Hiberuicism of the
Latin " Tahelloi\ and the plural of the Avord Tabhall, or Tabella.
But this form of the Gaedhelic name, though ancient, is not the
most ancient or the best description of the Gaedhelic Tablet of the
Poets. The ancient Gaedhelic Tablet took, I beHeve, more the form
formulas, quas ter quinquagenas h Fenisii usque tetate numero, et Craohh-oghatn .i. virgeos
characteres nomine recenset, non ita pridem ad me scripsit Dualdus Firbissus rei anti-
quaria; Hibernorum unicum, dum vixit, columen, et extinctus detrinientura. De his virgeis
notis ita habet Dominus Waraeus Antiquit. Hib. cap. 2. Prwler characteres vulgares uteban-
tur etiam veteres Hibenii variis occulHs Scribendiformulis, seu artificiii Ogimi dictis, guibus
secreta sua scribebant. His re/ertum habeo libellum membraneum antiquum. Ipsse literaj
Feadha A. Sylrae antiquitus dictse sunt". iOgygia; Ed. 1685; p. 233.]
APPENDIX. 471
of a fan than of a table, — a fan which, when closed, took the shape of app. ii.
a staff, and which indeed acti;ally served as such to the poet and
the historian. In a very ancient article in the Brehon Laws, which ancient
prescribes the sort of Aveapon of defence whicii the different classes ^a,<^5"'«'i'<=
of society were allowed to carry on ordinary occasions to defend. {TaiOhu
them against dogs, etc., in their usual Avalks, a passage occurs which -'^*'«'"'^)
throws some light on this subject. The article belongs to the
Christian times, I should tell you, in its present form, as it prescribes
a slender lath or a graceful crook for a priest, while it assigns to the
poet a Tahhall-lorg, or Tablet-Staff, m accordance with the privileges
of his order, etc.
The name of Tahhcdl-lorg, or Tablet-Staff, appears however to be,
though ancient, yet a still modernized or Latin-Gaedhelic form of a
much older name for the same thing, as may be seen in the follow-
ing extract from the curious old tract known as the Agallamh na
Seanorach or ["Dialogue of the Ancient Men"], preserved in an ancient
vellum ]\1S. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and in the copy of the
Book of Lismore hi the Eoyal L'ish Academy. The passage occurs
in one of those pretended conversations, which are said to have been
held betAveen Oisin (or " Ossian", as his name is mis-spelt in mo-
dern English) and Caeilte, the two ancient Fenian warriors, and
Saint Patrick. In the present story, Caeilte gives a list of the
officers of the Fenian army to Diarmait Mac Fergusa Cerrbheoil in
a pretty long poem, after which : " May you have victory and
blessmg, O Caeilte'", said Diarmait Mac Fergusa Cerrbheoil; " and
Avhere are the seniors and antiquarians of Erinn ? Let this be
■written in Tamhlorgaibh Fileadh [Headless Staffs of Poets], and after
the manner of professors, and in the language of the Ollamh; so that
every one may take his copy [or share] Avith him to his OAvn territory
and land, of all the knowledge, and all the history, and all the topo-
graphy, and all the deeds of bravery and valour, that Caeilte and
Oisin have related". '■'■And it was done accordingly".
This Avord Tamldorg or " Headless Staff', is beyond any doubt the
more ancient, the original name of the Aviiting tablets, or rather
squared staves of the Gaedhils ; on the angles and lines of which
they AATOte or carved in the Beithe Luis Nin, that is, in the Birch-
Alder Letter (N'in being the ancient name or Avord for any letter of
the Oghuim, as Avell as for the particular letter n itself). [See
Uraicept, p. 19 of copy in my possession.] For this kind of Avriting
neither pen nor ink Avas required ; and the person learned in the art
need ncA'er be at a loss for Avriting materials as long as he carried
a square staff in his hand and a knife in his pocket.
It is not repugnant to my argument that the period to Avhich the
pretended dialogue betAveen Caeilte' and Diarmait is referred, comes
Avithm our Christian era ; it only shoAvs that even Avithin that period
the old system of record AA^as still in use, or beUeved to be so; and
this, for A^arious reasons, may haA^e contmued to be the case for a
long tune afterAvards. But if there be any reason to doubt the au-
472 APPENDIX,
APP. II. thenticity of tliis accotint of the Tablets, or " Headless Staffs" of the
poets, there can scarcely be any reasonable ground for doubting
in Erinn ^ wliat is Stated in the Preface to the Brehon Law compilation, known
p'it^ick*'"* ^^ *^^® "Book of Acaiir, described in these Lectures.
In that Preface Ave are told that Cennfaeladh, during his illness,
had listened to and committed to memory the lectures, or instrac-
tions, which were delivered in the College of Tuaim Drecain during
the day, allofivhich he ivrote in slates and in Tahhlibh at night, and this
he put again into a " charta-ioo^'".
In what characters Cennfaeladh marked his notes in slates and tab-
lets it is not in our power to say; but it is pretty clear that they must
have been characters capable of much contraction and condensation.
So far, then, for our accounts of the possession of an independent
alphabet and mode of writing from the most ancient times by the pre-
Christian Gaedhil or Scots of Erinn (and the Britons appear to have
had a similar mode of writing, at least until they lost it, as well as
their native literature itself, under the Saxon rule) ; but Avhether the
books of Erinn were written in this alphabet, — whether the Cuil-
menn, the Saltair of Teamhair, and the Book of Droni Snechta, were
written in it, — ^is quite a different question. My o"wti opinion is, that
they probably were not, but that they were written in the popidar
Roman characters of the time, modified, perhaps, as at present; and
that these characters were first brought in by the druids and poets Avho
from time to time travelled in pursuit of their studies to the continent,-
or attended the many distant foreign expeditions Avhich took place
from this country, even previously to the period of the Incarnation.
It is, at all events, however, quite certain that the Irish druids and
poets had written books before the coming of St. Patrick in 432 ; since
we find the statement in the ancient Gaedhelic Tripartite Life of the
Saint, as well as in the "Annotations of Tirechan", preserved in the
Book of Armagh, Avhich were taken by him from the lips and books
of his tutor, St. Mochta, Avho was the pupil and disciple of St.
Patrick himself.
{^Original of the Story o/Baile Mac Buain, from the M.S., H. 3. 18.
T.C.D., p. 47 (see ante, p. 466).]
IDaiIc tDinnbeitlAC niAC 'biiAin.
-^aieof ^1^^ ^""^^^ CAfDA, mic Cin^A, mic TlofA, mic tlti-6]AAi5e
juiiie .1. 111 on AC, ocu-i^ bAite, [.1. 1311 All] 0CU1' pe]\co]\b, a qinbuf
Mac Buain. ^^^^ mbuAin, OCUf "OaiI Cllipb, OCUf IlloilAlg A\\AX>.
^on mAC btiAin, "bAiie, bA fAinfe]\c j^eoin -oi Aibtinn
injen btij-OAC mic 'Pe^AjiifA ^Aipje. Ho -oinpii CoJAin mic
*Oaci, octif bA i'Aini'e]Ac -oo jAcb Aon a-oci-o, ocii]' -00 ctuinet),
et)ip ppu octif mnA Ap a upi^^ebAib, copo "OAibf ec coip coiiroe
Ag 1lof iTA II15, occ LAinn IllAob-ouib, a]\ bpii boimie bpej.
Uauiic in ]:ep AC11A15 -oia coppAccAin o 6niAin IIIaca cAp
APPENDIX. 473
StiAt) "PiiAT), rA]\ 111ti]\cemiiie co U^^aij mt)Ai'Le. Ho rtipiiAic app. ir.
A CA]\]0AC, ]\o ci.i]uc Aiieic -|:oi\ e^\ ingetc, "oo jnii^ec Ainei" ocMy ~~
Ai'bne]\ Baii^
AnibACA]\Ann conAccArA]\ elpAic iiac1iiiia^\ en-OAine cucca '^'^'"^ ^""*"'
Aii'oe'p, bA ■oiAii A ceiiii ocu^- a ciAtiAix) imcecc, nieice lAi-p ha
-pAicex) in CAtmAiii Anuvit y^^e -["eij "Oi Aibb, 110 jaoc "Oi ^Ia^"
iiiui]\. A cte y\\^ z\]\.
A]\<\ C11T0, A^ uAite, conpA]\-|:Ai5e "oe cto cet) no CAnA-]'
CAinic, no CIA yAic a cinnenui]\
T)! ITviA^ 1nbe^\ ceigim ajaai]" 1.10C1.IA15 Anof a o ShtiAb SiiToe
"Lai jen, ocvif ni y\.u1 -co -p^etAib tunn acc ingen l/Ug-oAc inic
pe^A^nivx cue 51k\-o x)i OAite iiiac QuAin, ocn-p cAinic x)ia
coinx)e, CO pnci'Au 615 LAigen ]:vi]\]\i, ocni' iiiA]\bAic in yo yoy-
CA"o, AniAib ]\o ^ebbi'AC •o]\Ai*6e, ocii]' "oe^ivvi-oe -ooib, nA coni-
1\Aic"oi-p AnibecAi^, octi^^ con]\ic|'A"OT|" ia^|\ nA mbA-|% ocni^ nAc
•)xe|roAi|" q\iA bicti. 1pAc pn mo ixetA. Ocu]^ nuiixei-oe
UAib, mA]\ I'l^e 5Aif e ca^ ^bA^' nni!]\, ociii^, nipcA]\ cuimgec a
popcAX).
Oc ciiaIa iDAibe AniTj^m "oo i:uic mA]\b cm AniiiAin, ocii]'
cbAi-ocei^ A i--ei\c, ocnp a llAir, ocnp pAice]\ a biA, ocup -oigni-
che-|A A AonAch ^nbcv La bllbcti. •<:\ci.ip a^ai^ 1p1ni]\ c]ma nA
bi^e conibA ^eib yu<st, ocup -oebb cinx) l)Aibe yoy a bA]\|i,
un-oe UiiAi^ ml3Aite.
lA-pum iiui)'bA bu-oep in yey ce"onA co liAijAin a mbi aii
injen, AibtDenn, ocufoicm^ipn g-jMAnAn. CAn nc in ci nAc-
5envimA|i, a^\ in injen. xX ciiAi-i'ce]\c bece C]\enn, o UUA15
Inben ocup peAco peo co SliAp Suwe tAi^en. S^ebA bee a|\
in in^en. Hi i:uilec P^cLa Ap CAince punnA, acc AcconnA]iG
Ubbcu Ag AonAC gubA, octip AC cbAi-oex) 11aca, ocnp ic pAtA-o
biA, ocup A5 pgpibAt) A AnniA bAibi mic buAin, Ilig-oAmnA
tlbAX) -oo cAob U]\A5bA iDAibe [noc -oo 65], ipe Ag copAccAin
"LennAin ocup innA peipce -oia cue 5pA"6, Ap ni pnib An-OAn
•ooib CO pifCAip A mbecAig, no nee -oib "opAicpn -oiApAibe inA
mbiu. 'Oibin^ aiiiac lAp nintJibb in inipceoib. 'Oo pine
-Aibbenn inA]\b cm Annnnn, ocnp cbAicep a pepc, ocup ApAibe.
Ocup ApATO ApAbb cpiA nA bi;5e, ocup tiA gepjA mop 1 cmn
pecc mbbiATJAn, ocup "oebb cmn Aibbenne po]\ a UAccAp.
1 cmn pecc mbbiA-oAn cepcAi-o pibi"o ocup pAToe ocup pipi-o
m clbup boi op t)Aibe, ocup mupjniic UAbAbb pbi-o "oe,
ocup p5]\iboic y\ye ocup yeye ocuy pe]\CA ocup cocmApcA
■UbA*6mci. pon pti cecnA p;5]\ibcAp cocmApcA l^Aijex) mcipi.
tDiA puACC m cSAinom iA]\]nncbe ocup -oo ^niche]^ a yeip
bA b-dllC ITIAC Cumn. UAUCACAp pi bit) ocup AOp gACA "OAnA
yon peip pm AmAib bA be^, [ocup "oo pAcpAC a cAibbi beo,]*^^
(•i) Egerton, 5280.
Mac Buai7i.
474 APPENDIX.
ocuf ciAgACfum, ocu-p "oiif CI A\\c, ocu-)^ 6c connA)AC mii-p-
comAinc, octir cucAt) cuis© in tJA CAboIx) co mbACAn inA
Tale of . , J '. .' 1 . . ■^ . 1 11 ' 1
Bai/^ LAinAID AJATO -j."];! MAJATO. Inulf LltlJ m rADOL-O ^0\\ A-|AAlLe
"oib, cu]\ iiiinAi-i^cet) aiiiaiI yeictmn im uiai^Iaic, ocui" tit-p
ctitngeA'o A nim]"5A]\A'o. Ocu-]" bACAjA AmAib cac -pet) Apn
[i-p An] cAifcet) hi Uem^Aig cunof boipc 'OunbAng ttiac
CrroA .1. ■oiA]\ o]\c in nin5en^\Ai'o i UemnAig:
tic 'oicicui'. :
AbAbb Aibtinni a]\"oa,
1bA]\ t^Aibe bee -|:o|\bA,
CiA "oe be|\Aic i LAigib,
Till' CU1C1C "ooeine boiibA,
Ocu]' Acbe]AC in^en Co^aiiiaic bin Cuint) [.i. Aibbe*^']:
^r Tl^r fAnil-Aii"''' -Atnime,
P]\i b1bti]A tlACA tDAibe,
PHi-j' conbA^AAitn A]\Aibe,
■p]\i]' in -AbAibb A Aitbe.
'plAn'o tTlAC "LoiiAin -oixic:
'Oeipi'o Co]MnAC iim ceib c6i]i,
Coni-o y\w\- po]\inAc in c^^buAij,
UAb^AAT) 'OlA Aii^e, iiAom nA-|i,
In c]\Aob "00 Uli]AAi5 iDAibe DuAin
'^o\\ bui]\-|A bite, buix)nib i^eb,
llobbA A "oebb, c]AUiiiib co]\,
'OiA'iA cebjAt), po cebjAic y^\^,
AmbAit) pn \\o cebjAic Cop.
CopniAC "Dixie :
Sunn "00 cbAi-oex) niAC DuAin bAin.
* * * *
[translation.]
Bail^ the Sweet-Spoken, son of Buan.
The three grandsons of Capha, son of Cinya, son of Ros, son oi Rudhraighe,^^^
were — Monach, and Baile [recte Buan\, and Feixorb, a quibus Dal mBuain
and Dal Cuirb, and the Mouachs of AradhS^>
Buan's only son was Baile; he was the specially beloved of AilUnn, the
daughter of Luyhaidh, son of Fergus Fairge''^ (or [as some say] the daughter of
Eoghan, the son of Dathi) ; and he was the specially beloved of every one who
saw or heard him, both men and women, on account of his novel stories. And
they [himself and AilUnn'] made an appointment to meet at Ros na Righ, at
Lann Maolduibh, on the [south] brink of the Boimi [Boyne] in Bregia.
The man [^BaiW] came from the north to meet her, from Emuin Macha,
over Sliabh Fuaid,'-^> over Muirtheimhne^-'' to Truig/i niBaile [Dundalk]. Here
(5) Rudhraighe. — He was monarch of Erinn, and died a.m. 4981, according to the Annals of
the Four Masters.
(6) Dal mBuain, Dal Cuirb, and the Monach, were the tribes descended from the three
grandsons of Capha, and the territories which bore their names were situated iu the present
county of Down.
(7) Fergus Fairgi.—'He was the son of Nuadhat Necht, monarch of Erinn, who was slain
A.M. 5090 [Four Masters], or one hundred and three years before the Christian era.
APPENDIX. 475
they unyoked their chariots, sent their horses out to graze, and turned tliem- ^pp_ jj^
selves to pleasure and happiness.
While there, they saw a horrible spectral personage coining towards them from Tale of
thejsouth. Vehement Avas his step and his rapid progress. The manner in BaiU
which he sped over the earth miglit be compared to the darting of a hawk ^'^"'^ Buam.
down a cliff, or to wind from off the green sea. His left was towards the land
[he was coming from the south along the shore].
Let him be met, said Baile, to ask him where he goes, and where he comes
from, and what is the cause of his haste.
To Tuagh Inbhcr [the Mouth of the River Bann] I go back, to the north,
now, from Sliubh Suidhe Laiyhen [now " Mount Leinster"] ; and I have no
news but of the daughter oi Luijkaidh, son of Fergus, who had fallen in love
with Baile Mac Biiain, and was coming to meet him, until the youths
of Leinster overtook her, and she was killed by the forcible detention [i.e., lost
her life for having been detained] ; as it was promised [foretold] by druids and
good proi)hets for them, that they would not meet in life, and that they would
meet after their deaths, and that they would not joart for ever after. This is
my news. And he darted away from them Uke a blast of wind over the green
sea, and they wei'e not able to detain him.
When Baile heard this, he fell dead without life, and his tomb was raised
and his Edith ; and his tombstone was set up, and his fair of lamentation
[assembly for games, etc., in honom* of a deceased personage] was held by the
Ultonians. And a yew grew up through his grave, and the form and shape of
Bailees head was visible on the top of it, unde Trdigli mBaile.
AfterAvards the same man went to the south to where the maiden Aillinn was,
and went into the grianan [sunny chamber]. Whence comes the man that we
do not know ? said the maiden. From the northern half of Erinn, from Tuagh
Inbher, and [I go] past this place to Sliabh Suidhe Laighen. Have you news'?
said the maiden. 1 have not news worth relating now, but that 1 have seen
the Ultonians holding a fair of lamentation, and raising a Raith, and erecting a
stone, and writing his name, to Baile Mac Buaiu, the Righ-dhamhna [royal
heir] of Ulster, by the side of Trdiyh Bhaile, [who died] whilst he was coming
to meet a favourite and beloved woman to whom he had given love ; for it is
not destined for them that they should reach each other alive, or that one of
them should see the other alive. He darted out after telling the evil news.
Aillinn fell dead without life, and her tomb was raised, etc. [as before in the
case of Baile^. And an apple-tree grew through her grave, and became a
great tree at the end of seven years, and the shajie of Aillinn's head upon its top
[that is, the top, as in Bailees case, took the shape of Aillinn's head and face.]
At the end of seven years, poets and prophets and visioners cut down the
yew which was over the grave of Baile, and they made a poet's tablet \_Taball
Filidh'] of it, and they wrote the visions, and the espousals, and the loves, and
the courtships of Ulster in it. [The apple-tree which grew over Aillinn was also
cut down and] in the same way the courtships of Leinster were written in it.
When the November-eve (Sa/;//i«m)had arrived, (long) afterwards, and its fes-
tival was made by Art, the sou of Conn, the poets and the professors of every art
came to that feast, as it was their custom, and they brought their tablets with
them. And these Tablets also came there ; and Art saw them, and when he saw
them he asked for them ; and tlie two tablets were brought, and he held them in
his hands face to face. Suddenly the one tablet of them sprang upon the other,
and they became united the same as woodbine around a twig, and it was not
possible to separate them. And they were preserved like every other jewel in
the treasm-y at Tara, until it Avas burned by Danlang, the sou of Enna, namely,
at the time that he bm'ned the princesses at Tara.
Ut dicitur :
"The apple tree of noble AilUnrC (etc., as supra, p. 4G6).
(8) Sliahh Fiiaid.—'E Midi's Mountain, a mountain near Kewtownhamilton, in the county of
Arinagh.
(9) Muiriheimhne, or ^fagh Muirtheimhne, an ancient plain which extended from Drogheda
to Dundalk andCarlingford.
476
APPENDIX.
APR. II.
[Original of the Poem o/Ailbhe, daughter o/Cormac Mac Airt, from
Poem by *^^^ ' "^^^^ °^ Leinster', (MS. H. 2. 18., T.C.D.) fol. 105. a.b. (see
Aiioh^, ante, p. 467).]
daughter
of Cormac a ^ ^ i
Mac Airt. Ailoe injeti Cno]\iTiAic mic ^i]\c, cecmic.
tlA]\ in t<\ce -00 'Liimttiine
Itteic teinne icAi^e Ain,
1-p tiA]i dt) "o'lngm 11 Chuint),
■poitcej" A moin^""- Altomg Iaui
1f i^Mf fAmtAim toinlAine
X\(\ IIda^^ 11aca bAite
'P^iicoc-i^Amto]^ A UheuiiA,
PH1-|- in AbAiit A li-Ate.*
-AbAtt Atinni A^xo^
IbA^i bAibe bee no]\bbA, ^'"^
Ce "oo be|ACA|\ ibtAi-oe,
tlif cviCAC "OAine bo]\bbA
1]' \\\^X fAmbAim tomUxme
"P^;! IDAiii '0tjbA]icAc 'O^M^iien'o,
IPincocfAmtA^i A UheunA,
P]\i 6itce 'OjAOinmA 'Oju^nent)
^X Vl^r r<^i'<itAin toiTilAine
i^\\\ I'tACCAib pnDcnibt Aible,
If i:]\ii" i^AiniAiin]"e UecnA
"pjAi ^xACAib UAccAin bAinne.
-c\ l^nnntAine in -hahacaii'
Cobble 'OAbeA^i^ AC S]\ub l)]\Ain,
KAnAeui" 'Pe]\rA ITlAjen
Ha Sui-oe l/Agen AnAip.
A lyiiinibAine nACAniluAit),
TlACAincAi'obe'o IlleA^coin tlluAit),
tTlAnibecif t/ecA b/Ui^-oec Li]",
Coin l3ie t)Aibe ]\ocbeci]".
C|A'TofeA-pe ino meAnniAn mine
In^en -jm^ UenijiA ctiA'oe,
Ocn-|" C]\'TO-|''eAiic inAmriAn
^ibbAn^iAX) AbniAn tiAiie. 11.
A "LtinnbAine nACAinbuAix)
A 5i^Ain jAibe, a 5]\ein I'^biiAij,
TDa •jAopi'AnibAi'o I'eo a]\ \ex:
pcoiiA-pe A|A nee in cac uaiji. 11a]i
* .1. A IiAIhTO.
(10) The tl in both these words ought to be dotted; but we are unfortunately not in pos-
session of the necessary type to express a di.tted 11.
APPENDIX. 477
[translation."] j^pp^ J J
Allblic, the daughter of Cormac Mac Airt, cecinit.
A cold day for Linnluine,''^^^ Ailbhi,
In half a cloak pursuing pleasure, daughter
It is cold, too, for the dauirliter of O'Cuinn, "/. <""'•'!"';«
Who waslies her hair in a full basin, (circa a.d.
It is what I liken Lomlainc^^^> to, 2C0.)
To the Yew of jRdith Baile,
To what I liken his Tethna
Is to the Apple-tree from Ale*
The apple-tree of high Ailimi,
The Yew oi Baile of little land.
Though they are put into poems,
Ignorant people do not understand them.
It is what I liken Lomlaine^^i to,
To the dark-shaded Buck of Drigrend,
What I hken his Tethnd^-^ to
Is to the does of Dromm Dri(/nendS^^>
It is what I liken Lomlaine to.
To beautiful White-hazle rods,
What I liken Tethna'^-> to
Is to the shadows of the top of milk.
O! Lumlaini'^^' hast thou reached
To Lee ddBhearg^^*^ at Sriibh Brain?'^^1
I have reached Ferta Maghen^^^>
By Suidke Lag/ien,^^^) on the east.
* i, e. from Ailinn.
(11) I have to express my regret that I am quite unahle to trace either the history or alhi-
sions of this singular poem. There is an explanatory note in the margin of the old book, but,
most unfortunately, tlie ink is so decayed and injured by friction that it is illegible for any
satisfactory purpose. Who tlie person called Lumluini, Lumlaini, or Lomlaini, was, I am at
a total loss to know. The name appears to have been a familiar one, or descriptive, com-
pounded of hmi. or lorn (bare), and UmU, or laini (pleasure, merriment); so that the name
■would signify the bare and cheerful man. — an appellation somewhat borne out by the line
which follows, which represents him as pursuing his sports in ' half a cloak'. This, I admit, is
but taking the component parts of the name at their ordinary value; and such a process
does not at all, in every case, applj' to the better understanding of the real name of an
unknoANTi personage. It is singular, liowever, that there really was such a family name in
Ireland as O' Lumhani, as will be seen from the following entries in the Annals of the Four
Masters, at the following years : —
A.D. 1170. " Corbmac Va LumUiini, the chief professor [or master] of Cluain Ferta Brenainn
[Clonfert], the sole remains of the professors \i. e., the last of the great scholars] of Erinn in
his time, died".
A.D. 12.59. " Corbmac Ua Luimluinn, Bishop of Cluain Ferta Brenainn [Clonfert], and high
sage of Erinn, died; a saintly senior of long age". (It may be presumed that the bishop was
son to the professor, and tliat the famil)- was a literary one.)
(12) Tethna — Whether tliis is a real personal name, or a name only descriptive or figura-
tive, I confess myself unable to determine. It must be a proper name, or else an abstract
noun substantive expres.sing some property or quality of Lomluine himself. In the second
and fourth stanzas, by placing the possessive pronoun 'a' (his) before ^Tethna\ the word is
made to signify some appendage, or beloved object, of Lumhiine; but in the tifth stanza,
this pronoun is left out, and the emphatic suffix (.s^) inserted to till \\\) the measure ; thus
leaving the word Tethna an independent noun, and apparently a proper name. No such
name, however, ha.9, to my recollection, come under my notice before.
(1-3) Dromm Drignend — The mountain ridge of Drirjnend; a place unknown to me.
(14) Lee Cor Leac) Da Bhearg. near, or at Srubh Brain; its situation is unknown to me.
(1-3) Srubh Brain, or Bran's Stream.— There were two places of this name in Erinn; one
in the west of Ken-y, and one in the north of Ulster. It is to the latter that our poetess
refers ; and the following note, fuiTiished by Dr. John O'Donovan to the late Rev. Dr. Matthew
Kelly's translation of Cambrensis Everstcs, .shows that the name and situation are still
known : — "Srubh Brain, now Shruve-Brin, or Stroove-Brin. It is the name of a well-known
place in the north-east extremity of the barony of Inishowen, in the county of Donegall.
AVater oozes from the bank, and forms a well, near high water mark '—Ca/n6. Ev., vol ii., p.
786, note 20. According to Dr. iveating, who quotes from the ancient Book of Cluain Eidhnech,
the' diocese of Rath Bhoth (Raphoe) extended from Eas Ruaidh (Ballyshannon) north and east,
along the sea, to Srnbh Brain, and from Cam Olas (Green Mound) to Sruibh Brain. And
Dr. John O'Donovan, in a note to the Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 1417, p. 832, says:—
478
APPENDIX.
APP. II.
Poem by
AiJhhe,
daughter
of Cormac
Mac Airt.
(circa A.i).
260.)
O ! Lumlainc, urge me not onwards,
That I be not touched by a MescJiohi Muaid,''^'
Were it not for Leca Lugdach Lis,'^^^>
Eoiii Bic BaiW^^> would be in existence.
The heart-love of my softest desire,
The daughter of Tara's king, in the North ;
And the beloved of my soul are
The young warriors of cold AlnihainS^'^^
" It is quite evident that it (Cam GlasJ is the hill now called the Tops, which is situated on
the boundary of the diocese of Deiry and Kaphoe, and between Raphoe and Donoghraore.
Donoghmoi-e Cluirch stands to the right of the road, as you go from Stranorlar to Castlefiii,
within one mile of the latter". Struve Point is marked on Beaufort's Ecclesiastical Map,
inside Inishowen Head, on the bay which forms the entrance to Loch Feabhaill (Luugh Foyle).
(This Loch Feabhaill it.self derives its name from Feabhall, the son of Lodan, the father of
Bran, one of the Taatha Di Danann.)
(16) Ferla Maiglien. — This name would signify the Graves of the Field, that is, of some
particular field, or place. In our ancient laws, Maighin diyhona signified an inviolable enclo-
sure surrounding a man's liouse.
(17) Suidhe Laighen, — now Mount Leinster, in the county of Wexford, on the east side of
which Ferla Maighen must have been situated, according to our text. Suidhe Laighen is
believed to signify the Seat, or Sitting-place, of the people of Leinster, at some of their great
meetings. There can be no doubt, I think, that this mountain was the same as the Sliabh
Suidhe Chonchorb (fol. 24 of the Book of Leinster), or, more properly, Sliabh Uight Chonchorb,
that is, the Mountain of Ctichorb's Fate, or Death, as it is called also in the same Book, at fol.
241. [See Note on Cuchorb, and Aleadhbh's Elegy, at the end of this Appendix (p. 480).]
(18) Meschoin Mnaid. — Leca Lugdach Lis. — Etiin Bic Baile. Although these words are all
intelligible in their direct and ordinary signification, )-ct it would be totally impossible for
any one to discover, without some explanation, what connection they coultl have with tlie
present te.Kt. This explanation has come to light, in whole or in part, very unexpectedly, in
several distinct places, none of them in direct connection with the poem, tliougli one of
them has reference to it. The first place in which the explanation is found is in the ancient
vellum ilS. chiefly consisting of Laws, (class H. 3. 18. T.C.IJ.), a volume which has been already
so often referred to in the course of these Lectures. At page 4 of this volume, in the lower
margin, and apart, of course, from any connection with the laws, is to be found this very
stanza of our poem which requires the explanation, with some curious variations of the text,
and an interlined gloss, which, however, is not affected by the difference of text. The verse
runs as follows: —
0 Flann of Line, urge me not onwards,
That I be not deluded by a JiIeschoin(.a)
Muaidh(b)
\\^eve it not for Leca Lugdach Liss(c)
Eiiin Bic Baile(d) would be in existence.
TlA'o i\ocb]\eccA'o me^'coiii (a)
iiniAit)(6)
triAinbA'o teACA ttig'OAch 'Liff(c)
e6iii bice \)■cs.^'ie(d) nocbeicif.
The gloss (on the preceding words) is as follows :-
(a) barren, [impotent.]
(6) a jealous man.
(e) blushes and disgrace.
(<0 a kiss, and a strumpet.
(a) Tnefcoin .1. "oibixAi
(i) niuATO .1. -pep ecAi'O
(c) beACA buj'OAc bif]' .1. iwiici ocu-p
A1C1f
(<f) eoin bice "bAibe .1. poic, octi]*
nieip'0|\ec.
Literally and ordinarily, a Meschu (oblique, Meschoin) signifies a lap-dog ; Leca Lugdach
Liss signifies literally, the Flag-stones of Lugaidh's Fort, or Palace. Fdin Bic Baili, signifies
literally "Birds of "little good"; but it would signify also "Little Baild's birds". [In the
Sinnsenchus it is stated that ' Fdin Baile, were Four Kisses of Aengus of Brugh na Boinni.
(son of the Daghda Mdr, the great necromancer and king of the Tuatha DA Danann), which
were converted by him into ' birds which haunted the youths of Erinn". This allusion
requires more investigation than I have yet been able to bestow on the passage.] The words
in the text, however, probably derive their poetic significance from some acts of persons
of the names of Lugaidh and Baile. Of any person of the latter name we know nothing
except the hero of the preceding tragedy; but of the name of Lughaid, there are many
remarkable men to be found in our ancient history. There was Lugh, or Lughaidh, Mac
Eithlenn, the famous philosopher, and king of the Tuatha Di Danann, who holds so distin-
guished a place in the Second Hattle of Magh Tuireadh ; he was the founder of Naas, in the
county of Kildare, and hence that ancient city was called Lis Logha, and Lis Luighdhech, or
Lugaidh's Palace. He was also the founder of the ancient Tailltin, in Meath, and one of the
primitive courts, or forts, there was called after him, Raith Lughdhach, or Lis Lughdhach.
I should have little hesitation in referring tlie words of our text to either of these ancient
courts, but that the following more appropriate application of them is made to what appears
to me to be a different Lis Lughdhach. The words occur in the interlined Gloss to a poem
APPENDIX. 479
0 ! Lumliiine'^^^^ urge me not onward, j^pp. u.
Thou Victory of Valour, thou Sun of Hosts,
If it is like this our path shall be. Poem by
It shall cause our death every time [some time]. Aiwiii,
^ ^ -I daughter
of Cotmac
■written by Cinaeth 0' Hartagain (who died a.d., 975), on tlie JIanner of Death, and Place of Mac Airt.
Sepulture of several of the most distinguished Kings and Warriors of ancient Erinn, of the Mi- (circa a d.
lesian race. My copy of tliis poem, with the Gloss, I made myself some years ago from a 2b0.)
vellum MS. belonging to Jtr. William Monk Mason ; and there is another copy of it in the Book
of Leinster, but without the Gloss. The poem consists of thirty-eight stanzas, and begins: —
■piAnnA bACAyv m eniAin Warriors that were in Emain,
1 Uaic C^MIACAII, In Ce11U\1]^, In Haith Crttcickan, in Temair,
1 'LtlACAl]\ LuAlTDe]' cu]\at6, In Luadmir, where champions trod,
1n All,llTO, in lAp lllliiilAin. In AilUnn, in West Miunhain.
The tenth stanza of this poem is that with which we are now coucerued, and the following
are the two first lines of it :- -
■Lecc Cotii\tii In Sieib mi]Y, Conrui's grave in Sliahh Mis,
tecc t-ui^'oec yo ieccAib 'i^Y\'. Lughaidh's grave under the flags of his fort.
The Gloss on this last line runs thus : —
Ce6]\A beccA \.^-y biiig-oec .1. j^xeff, The three flags oi Lugaidh's fort were, Mur-
ocu]' yvuicci, ocuf niebub. <Jer, and Disgi-ace, and Treachery.
There can be no doubt but that the Lugaidh mentioned here was Lugaidh-niae-na-tri Can,
that is, ''son of the three Cons (or Cii's") ; that is, of Curoi Mac Daire; Cuchulainn; and
Conall Cearnach. He was called Son of the three Cnns (or Cii's) because it was believed that
his mother, Blathnait, the wife of Cnroi, had had connection with the two other CiVs, as well
as with her husband. It was this Lugaidh that killed CiKhu/a^nn, one of his reputed fathers,
at tlie gi'eat fiaht of Muirthemne ; but he was followed home by his other reputed father,
Conall Cearncch, who overtook and killed him in turn at Coirthe Lughaidh (or Lughaid's
Rock), in Airget-Ros (a district lying on the west side of the River Nore, below the present
town of Ballyragget, in the present county Killvennj-;. Lughaidh was buried here, as will
be seen from the following lines of the thirteenth stanza of the poem : —
ACA becu buij'oec ce coif, Lughaid/i's grave is, though silent,
■pon CAIMin 111 muig -AiAjACIxoi-p. Under the Carnn, in the plain of Argatros.
Whether the alleged circumstance of Lughaid's paternity, and that of slaying treacherously
Cuchulainn, one of his reputed fathers, be the most prominent of the three disgraces which
formed his grave in place of flags, it would be useless to inquire farther; but that the allu-
sion in Ailbhe's poem refers to liim and them, cannot, I think, be well doubted. Farther
speculation, however, would be fruitless, and I must leave the elucidation of the curious
metaphorical words in the text to some more profoimd or more fortunate investigator.
The third allusion, by inference only, to this stanza is found in the MS. so often referred
to, Harleian, 5280, fol. 127, British Museum. The following words only appear in the lower
margin of the page :—
eoin bAibi .1. bee oc«|' inebtib, -no " The Birds of BrfzVi, t. e , sin and shame ; or
1DOC ocuf IDU-OAIIA. a kiss and soitow".
Several other singular figurative expressions occur in our ancient MSS , such as : —
" "Ol mji" bAip .1. "Dyvvilf OCti]- " The two daughters of Folly, Lustand Evil
■ooAiiAbi". Counsel".
" p6c ■OA bnotiAit .1. -poc CWA ocuf " The kiss of the two sorrowful persons, i. c,
x3iT)Aim". ^^^ ^^^^ "^ ^"^^ ^"^ Adam", etc.
I may mention one other remarkable instance of allusion to this Leca Lugdach Lis, in a
poem given in the " Wars of the Danes". The first verse of this poem is as follows :—
A •oubtAA'6 1Mb -oub •po'oeAT, — You were desired to go to the South,—
•UnbAm beir,— AC UnjeAC bll" Ready, too,— at Lughaidh's Lis
T)o ■oebAiT. ne cezrUc CAib : To battle with the house of Tal:
■OA IM ACC 6 t:e1T^|^A15 V^b py. From Temair of Fdl comes the message.
The poem is introduced thus:-When Brian 5oroimfte demanded Ma ehecl, Iannis ahii^^^^^
tion, the latter sent the chief poet of Uladh (Gillacomgum ^' f/^^,t''"t anarch^ reHe ThI
of Ulster, to induce him to come with his forces to the threatened monarch s relief 1 he
noet arrives at U-Neills court, and addresses him in a long poem, of which this is the first
Stanza ThI Lwhadh Li^ (or Lis Lughachj here means Tara, so named from the same Lngh
3/:"£.7«i«»^etre mentioned. The'hou^ of T.U ,^«'»^^t!^V?*!.•lff ^^Son^^niie'ldze")
from an ancestor of Brian, who had the surname of Mac Tail (literally, Son of the Adze ),
480
APPENDIX.
APP. II.
Poem by
Afeadhbh,
daughter
of Conan.
(B.C. 1.)
[Of Cuchorb ; with the original (and translation) of a Poem on, his
Death, by Meadhbh, the Daughter of Conan ; from the Book of
Leinster (MS. H. 2. 18. T.C.D., fol. 24 b. b.)]
(See ante, Note (17) to App. II. ; ante, page 478.)
\_Sliabh Suidhe Chonchorh. — This Cuchorb (in the gen. case, ' Chonchorh')
was the son oi Mogh Corb, who was the son of Conchobhur Abradliruadh, who
was Monarch of Erinn for one year only, when he was killed, a.m. 5192, the
year before the birth of Christ. Cuchorb had to his wife the celebrated
Meadhbh Leith-dherc/, or 'Meave, the Half-red', daughter of Conan of Cualann,
but she eloped from him with the man who slew him. Cuchorb was killed in
a battle (of which our annals preserve no account) by Feulhliinidh Rechtmhar,
father of Conn of the Hundred Battles, somewhere in Leinster, — probably
at this mountain, where he was buried. His former wife, Meave, it appears,
was present at his interment, and pronounced an elegy over him in a poem
of eight quatrains. This poem is so curious, and one copy of it so ancient, and
so interesting in a philological point of view, that I am induced to give it a
place here. The poem is introduced by a short sketch of the queen herself: —
■R.O 'bu'6 m6-j\ C)\a, ne|\c ocu]- cii-
mACCAtl1ei'6'beifiii,i:o]\p]\ii e]\enn ;
OiijMp nA ieije-o i\i <x CeiiiAi]\ 5A11 <\
beic -pein Aije 11A 11111AI. Ocui' 1]'
te coii-|\ocAcc itTpi5]\Aic fo^^ cAeb
Cemy\A .1. IIA1C niei'olie. Ocu|' "oo
•peine fi x:\\e\) cojAitje ipii f\Aic pii,
imbicif t\i5<-\; OC11]" obbAnivini jaca
t>AiiA. Ocii]" ip 111 nie'o'b pti -DO
■|Aoine 111 ■niA|\iiAi'oli -00 Comcopb
mcAn -po tiiopbAT) he. Ag -pAfnni)
riA cboici -pi -pop bigi Concopp ic
Sbeib tliTbe Concopb ip Aim x>o peine
JTlet)b in niAphnAi-o op-opAic.
The strength and power of this
Meadhbh [Meave] was great over the
men of Erinn ; lor it was she that
would not permit any king in Temair
[Tara] without his having herself as
wife. And it was by her was erected
the royal Rdith by the side of Temair,
namely, Rdith Madhbhe{20) [Meave's
Raith]. And she built a choice house
witliin that Rdith, in wliieh kings,
and the chief maaters {Ollamhs) of
every art used to assemble. And it
was that Meave that composed the
death song for Cuchorb when he was
killed. At setting uj) the stone which
is upon the grave of Cuchorb at Sliubh
Uidhe Clioiichorb it was that Meave
composed theadmirabledcath-song: —
mAcc tllejAcopbb celAp ctu,
CunpepAp cpii 'OAnA jAib,
Alb UApA bigl bA I1AC,
bAplAI'Oe cblAC tJAp CblU lllAlb.
Moghcorb's son conceals renown,
Well sheds he blood by his spears ;
A stone over his grave, — 'tis a
pity-
TV ho carried battle over Cliii
MdilS^^)
because his foster-father was a carpenter. The Fdl mentioned here was the Lia Fail, the
ancient stone on wliich the inonarchs were crowned at Temair {incorrectly supposed, as my
readers are aware, to have been afterwards taken from Erinn to Scone, in Scotland, and
thence into England; incorrectly, for the stone so long in Westminster Abbey, upon which
the English kings are crowned, whatever stone it may have been in ancient times, is now
known for certain not to have been the celebrated Lia Fail).
(19) Almfiain. — Now the Hill of Allen, in the county of Ivildare, the ancient residence and
patrimony of Finn Mac Cumttaill; and the warm ailusion to it in the te.xt may, perhaps,
be taken to Kive some countenance to the idea that Finn, or some one of his warriors, was
implicated in the adventure, whatever it was, with King Cormac's daughter.
(20) Baitti Meidftbtii.—This great old rath or fort remains still a conspicuous object, on an
eminence a little south by east of the Hill of Tai'a.
(21) Cliv, Mdel.—Cliu was an ancient district in tlie barony of Coslea, in the county of
Limerick. It received the addition of Mael from Mat, the son of the monarcli UgaiiU Mdr
having been slain there.
(22) At/i Fiim Fail.—'' The fair (or white) Ford of Fdl". This place is not known to me;
but it must, I think, have been situated in Leinster, and probably near the shore, or island
of Beg Erinn (which was anciently called hiis Fail), in the bay of Wexford.
APPENDIX.
481
t11o|\i5 All, ni t\Ai'oet) goe
b^ •oe]\b A 0)\oe in cec nAi|\c ;
"OubiTd^x ^1 b|\t\ri A bi\«xe,
Jibi-oijA A cneff 1\A liAet,
A^\6eii |\o conciAjiiuMf a|\ CAe,
•<Vl]\t)T)1C1t\ A I'CIAt -[M yCAt,
Sicicip A lAni ]\i l,Ae.
■po|\c* jM 1ie|\eiTO civojriAib c]\iac,
llA cotJUAij fcu\c |M CAc i'ce6,t
e-pCAj blAec§ blACAIf -OIA h}\\\\
Uacaii' a^ -{mjv in cAc gteo,
Secc CACA )\A bAe niA ci^a,
1mi\Ae T)ib mA\\ cac iiAibu;
Ca cac "oib, nijnA-o 111 bee,
11 AC ■omgbAt) cec m cac ai^xc.
r]\i CA^A Ac A pn-o V^ib,
Cac Aca m ScAib b^fCAe ^Aeii ;
Cac VofCA^ bA -|:o|\i\ac iiiatj**
^oce|\ )\A c^MActt niAige niAein.
Cac jtAi^^^e C]\ic1ie ^A cboe,
nice [recte luce] •oiAmbAe bpecA
A|\ bAi5 ;
Cac beiMiAiftJ yvAbe^c in Cu,
TlACA1J\D1H A chtu CpU fAgAlb.
.1. gobAb -jM t^S^iib lienenT) 6.
t .1. CAnjm.
t .1. rniA-o.
§ .1. mAC cif e.
II -I- 5^e.
Tf .1. fO-pyUT) TIA 50|\C.
** .1. c^enfe^.
tt -I- 1M.
J J .1. ubi lAije^ UecA 1T16|\.
My noble king, he spoke not false- ^pp jj
hood ;
His success was certain in every poem \)y
danger ; Meadhbh,
As black as a raven was his brow ; daughter
As sharp was his spear as a razor, (g c."!.)'*'
As white was his skin as the lime ;
Together we used to go upon refec-
tions.
As high was his shield as a cham-
pion,
As long was his arm as an oar.
The fork* against the kings of Erinn,
sons of cluefs,
He maintained his shield in every
cause ; f
CountlessJ wolves§ fed he with his
spear,||
At the heels of our man in every
battle.
Seven battles fought he for his land, —
He swept over them like any
razor ;
What battle of them — admirable
the deed ! —
In which he warded not off an
hundred in every danger?
The three battles of Ath Finn Fai^'^'^'i
The battle of Aih an Scdil<-'^^^ of
bloody field ;
The battle of Fossnd,^ — 'twas the
puissance of a hero,** —
Was fought by the Chief ft of3Iagh
MaeinS^'^^
The battle of Glaise Criche^^^^'i he
broke [gained.] —
The man who had the deciding of
battles ;
The battle of BernasH^-^^ the
Hound^^^) fought, —
His valour brought blood upon his
spears.
* i. e., he was the sustaining forked
column (or prop) of his country
against the kings of Erinn.
t i- e., cause.
J i. e., much, many.
§ i. e., a wolf.
II i. e., a spear [so in second copy.]
^ i. e., the Camp (or residence) of the
Two Fields.
** i. e., Knight, or Champion.
tt 2. e., King.
JJ i. e., ubi Laiyhes Reta Mor.
(2-3) Ath in Scdil. — "Tlie Ford of the Champion". Kot known to me.
(24) Magh Maein. — " The Plain of Maen". It happens, singularly enough, that the situation
of this ancient plain can still he traced with sufScient if not perfect accuracy. By an
Inquisition taken at New Ross, on the yth of April, 1638, it was found that one William
Furlonge had been seized of the manor of Horeto^vn, otherwise Carnrosse, and the castle and
31
482
APPENDIX.
APP. TI.
Poem by
Meadhbh,
daughter
of Conan.
(H.C. 1.)
■0«x|\ niAiAli 1M5 r\A|\ bo ic\c ;
CopiAni 5AL1AI1 Jigiiif pell,
bA '01]AfA11 "OIC A]\ 111 niAC. 111.
He defended by his arms bis land.
When he killed kings who were not
weak ;
To conquer GaiUainf-^'> he raised a
contest ;
Alas, that destruction has come on
the son. [The son, etc.
APPENDIX, No. III. [Lect. I., Page 5, note ''>'\.
Three Poems Tlivce Poems hii *Ovil!)tAc 11 A tuTTAiii, Chief Poct of the Monarch
A.D. 4o2), on the trmmjjhs of
of Duhhthach
Ua Lugair ;
(A.D. 430.)
LAeJAi]\e (loho fiourished
GniiA Ceni^elAC and his son C]\inicAnn, Icings of Leinster
(from tlie Book of Leinster [H. 2. 18., T.C.D.], fol. 25).
•oublicliAcli .b. U13A111. cc.
AiTO]'ii immAixbAig im lAjmb,
"Lacu^x i:e|\t)A,
lAbixAiT) bonji'ec i\oinAiAb Cliob-
CAC,
1 CtiAini cenbA.
DUBHTHACH THE SON OF LUGAIR
CECINIT.
It is difficult to contend with Lein-
stermen,
In manly actions.
Lahhraidh Loinc/sech'-^^ it was that
killed Cobkthach
At Tuaim Tenba.
village and lands of Horetown, as -u-ell as many other lands that we meet with, not set forth in
this note; and also, of one corn mill, and fulling mill, called Fonck's mill, and the advowson
and right of presentation to the church and rectory of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of Horetown,
otherwise Maghmaine. It was found in another Inquisition, taken at Wexford, the 17th of
August, 16-tl, that Mat." Fitz-IIarris, late of Mackmayne, in the county of Wexford, and
Anstace, his wife, had been seized, during the term of their lives, of the village and lands of
Mackmayne. And again, on the Kilth of April, 1641, in the same place, it was found that
Mat. Fitz Harris had been seized in his lifetime of the manor of Maglimayne, and of the
■\illage and land of Maghmayne. (Horetown, I may state, is now, or was lately, the seat of
William GofF, Esq. ; it is situated on the old road leading from New Ross to Wexford, and
about three miles south-west of Taghmon. See Leieis' Topographical Dictionat-y.)
(2-5) Glainse CricM, literally, "the boundary stream". — This stream was situated in the
county of Kildare, and formed the eastern boundary of an ancient territory which extended
from it to a place called Vada, in Laighis (Leix), in the present Queen's County. {Book of
Lecain, fol. 93, 109.)
(26) Bernas (ubi Laighes Etta M6r).—Beriias means, literally, a Gap in a Hill. Laighis
is the present district of Leix, in the Queen's County; and Reta M6)\ Great Reta, or
Magh Reta, was the name of an ancient plain in that county. The name is still preserved
under thelAnglicized form of ' Jlorieh', and is a manor in the barony of Portnahinch, adjoining
the great Heath of Maryborough, in the Queen's County. (See O'Donovan's Annals of the
Four Mastei's, a.m. 3529, note 9.)
(27) ifo!i?jd— Cm signifies a Hound; Corh (or, more properly Corp) "signifies Body; hence,
Cii-chorp, Hound's body. Corbmac Mac Cuilenndin gives a different meaning to Corb: that
of " corrupt", or " chariot" ; but neither of these could well be compounded with Cm.
(28) Gailian ; an ancient name of Leinster.
(29) Labhraidh Loingsech.—llo killed the monarch Cobkthach Gael, his own grand-uncle,
A.M. 46.58, and assumed the sovereignty himself Labhraidh was born in Leinster. Tuaim
Tenba, where this occurrence took place, is the place long known as DinnRigh. It is situated
in the townland of Ballyknockan, a quarter of a mile to the south of Leithghlinn Bridge, on
the west bank of the river Barrow, county of Carlow.
(;W) Eochu Ce7iselach.— His surname of Censelach Giterally foul-laugh, according to our old
etymologists) was applied to EochtCs father, Enna Censelach, and not to himself. His father
was king of Leinster ; and, to secure his fealty, the monarch Niall, when come to the supreme
throne in a.d. 379, insisted on having the yoiuig prince Eochu placed in his hands as a hostage.
The prince, however, soon escaped to his own country ; and years afterwards, when Niall
made his last expedition to the continent, he was followed in disguise by this Eochu, who
found an opportunity of killing him with a dart, with which he shot him, across the river
Loire, in the year 405.
APPENDIX.
483
0OCU CeiifelAc niAC GniiAi,
bA ]\] -[aacIkvcIi,
A]\ iigemile-o jiaII in A|AbA^'CA]\
niAlL
niAc eduxcVi.
Ifci'o lliiAnn necc tiu\c SecriAi,
SAe\\ A bl111AT>,
'RonK\i\b ©ce^xi^ceL rtiAC OojAin,
x\]\-D]\i5 tlUiniAn.
^yc^X) 1i:e]\-^i\f niAC II615 ni UirAil'),
n All 511 1' njAlniAiA,
■AltlLt niAC llOfA llUAIT),
■pilAll^ 'OA WAlAbAT).
llA C|\1 1UlAT)-C111"0 bAT)! tAJIllb,
bAecTJA inc^^obAiig,
•mA]\bfAc bugATO* ocuf ConAi|\e,
OCU^' COIIAbb.
ei\c iriAC CAi]\piM cboci\i 1ie^\en'o,
ConA uii]\Ain'o,
reiTo inbAi\i\-piTO beiicAif a ceiro
"Oe CoinciibAHTO.
of Duhfi/hach
Ua Luriair
(A.D. 4^0.) :
Eochu Censelach ""^"^ the son of Eima, ^pp_ jjj
Was a prosperous king ; '-
After INiall] liaving bound hostages, Three Poems
he [Eofhit-] killed Niall
The son of Echaidh.
And Nuadhu Necht,<'^^'> also, the son
of Sctna,
Noble his origin,
He killed Ederscel, the son of Eo-
f/han
The high king of Munster.
And Ferghus Mac Roigh, ^^-^ also, of
the Ultonians
Of the gallant deeds,
It was AiUll, the son of Ros Ruadh,
He found to kill him.
The three Red-heads' ^^' were of Lein-
ster,
A valiant cluster :
They killed Lughaidh* and Conaire
And Conall.
Ere, the son of Cairpri,^^*^ famed king
of Erinn,
With his multitude.
Stoutly the Fair-haired one cut his
head
Off Cuchulainn.
* i.e., [Lughaidh'], the redstreaked.
* .1. iMAbiToe|\5.
(31) Nuadhu Nechl. — He was the son of Setna Siihbhaic, kingof Leinster, and slew the mo-
narch Eterscel at Ailinn (near Kilcullen, in the present county of Kildare), a,m. 5089, when
he assumed the monarchy himself.
(32) Ferghus Mac Eoiffh.~He was son to Ros Ruadh, and grandson of Rudhraidhe, monarch
of Erinn, who died a.m. 4981. Fergiis was one of the most celebrated of the Knights of the
Royal Branch of Ulster; hut, after the treacherous death of the sons of Uisneach, for whose
safety he was guarantee, he passed in disgust into Connacht, where he was well received by
Queen Meadhhh (Jleave) and her husband, Ailill, who was the second son of another Uos
Ruadh, the king of Leinster. He was subsequently slain, at the request of AiliU, by Lughaidh,
that prince's brother, through jealousy. He was called Ferghus Mac Roigh from his mother,
Roich.
(3-3) Tlie three Red-heads.— AXfhowga. these " Red-heads" are set down here as Leinstermen,
it is stated, in an ancient account of the death of Conall Cernach, that they were of the
Erneans of Munster Lughaidh Riabh-nderg, monai-ch of Erinn, died, a.m. 5191, of gi-ief for
the death of his wife, Derbhfhorgaill, daughter of the king of Lochlainn (according to the
Annals of Clonmacnois and other authorities). I have never read anywhere but here that he
fell by "the three Red-heads". Neither is it mentioned in the very ancient account of the
death of the monarch Conairi M6r (a tale known as Bruighen Da Derga), that he fell by the
Red-heads, although they are introduced into the story as messengers of ill omen to him.
Conaire met his death at tlie place now called Bothar na Bruighne, near Tamhlacht (or Tal-
lacht)inthepresentcountyofDublin, at the hands of British and Irish outlaws, A.M. 51G0. Conall
Cernach, one of the celebrated Knights of the Royal Branch of Ulster, retired in his advanced
age to the court of AiliU and Meadhhh (Meave), at Cruachain, in Connacht. Here he was
well received, until the queen, in a moment of jealousy, incited him to avenge her wrongs on
her husband, AiliU. The old warrior threw a spear at the king, which inflicted upon him a
mortal wound. Conall fled then, but was pursued by the three " Red-heads", who, at this
time, were in the pay oi Aillill. They soon overtook and beheaded him, after which they
carried his head into West Munster, in revenge for the death of Curoi Mac Dairi, king of
that country, who had been shortly before slain by Cuchulainn and the Ulstermen.
(34) Ere the son of Cairjm.— Caii-pri Niafer was king of Erinn for a short time, at or
about the Incarnation ; but he is not counted among the Jlonarchs. It was his son Ere
that beheaded Cuchulainn after the great slaughter of Muirtheimhni, and it was in revenge
of this act that his own head was cut otf afterwards by Conall Cernach, as will be seen in the
note on AcaiU, near Tara [Appendix, No. XXVIII.].
(35) The son of jVatfraech.— This was Aenghus, the sob of Natfraech, king of Munster, who
was the first person baptized by St Patrick in that covmtry. Eithne Uathach ("the detestable"),
daughter to the Crimthan, king of Leinster, mentioned in the next .stanza, was his wife.'
They were both killed in the battle of Cill-Sosad, or Cill Osnadh, near Leithghlinn, in tJie pre-
sent county of Carlow, a.i>. 489. Of Degha, who slew the queen, we have no farther account
31b
484
APPENDIX.
>PP. III. C^'° ^'"^^'^ llATDf^ A1C Oenju^niiirtiAH,
— C01U\ -f-AllMITO
Three Poems 1c Soi-fAt) CVielt bA1\-p(\CAlb A ceiTO
of Dtibhtharh t^ xMillU
tfa Ltujair
(A.D. 430.)
■OOlAOcllAllA An-O eicne tlACAC,
Aiiitn 'OA]\c|\ebA,
5)\Am cotigAiixje, bA 'oo bAjmb
CAi-pp^M niAC 'OejA.
CiTD Aibibb 111 obc cocAc Oca,
"bA -pi -pACAcIl,
Co uT\icAic cec •ooi\iAAc 111 ec
CyvitncAn cACAc.
t:oy\c]AACA|\ fuiTO iiAifie 1ie|\en'o
■niAlA^AA 1lA'0]\A'0,
Ife Ari'oiL ceiToitiibbA'o
tlA |\15 jAAgtAII.
Ar\X)]-u.
Even the son of N(itfraeck,'^^"> Otngh us
of Munster,
With his forces,
At Sossad- Chell, he left his head
With AililL
There fell there Eithne Uathack,
A name beyond tribes,
(A barbarous deed !) Of the Lein-
stermeu
[Was] Cairpri, son of Degha.
Even Ailiin^^i Molt, till the battle of
Ocha,
AVas a prosperous king ;
With thirty hundred, he was hurled
to death
By Crimthan of battles.
There fell there the nobles of Erinn,
As was foretold ;t^')
That was their fate, without dis-
grace.
The kings most noble.
It is difficult [etc.].
I'oeni 'O^ibcliAcb ceicinic.
C|viincAri cboci\i coicit) hCixenn
"OiMiinne 'oo|\ inibib inobcA,
'b|\ui'Dni bei\5A.
bl\1At;A|^ i:ii\eii tiA 'bi\e^'Aib beobAig
tllic piACAC,
1n bAi\ i:A|\b]Minnib liitjpeg liib^A-
CAC,
1n ■J'CAb f C1ACAC.
1n fceb i*cAibi>o bAi^VT) bAi-og "bAnbA
"Pah liibiu iiib^\i5Ac,
1ii \>\\ey bec*t\Ac, in 'b\\e6 bAjAc,
1n jLeo gn'iniAc.
1ti 5*1 uij' AbAint) Af bAjnecAib
bipi be|A5iii6i|\,
1n pAb i:o|\cAib, A|\cee ■pnc6l|^,
1n i-Uao "oei'igoijA.
(.1. lie)\eiTo).
IDEM DUETHACH CECINIT.
Crimthan, the famous king of [the]
province of Erinn,
The Hector of Elgga ;*
The topping chief of a tho\isand lau-
dations.
Of bristling mansions ;
A righteous word, the grandson of
Bresal Beolach,
Son of Fiacha;
The vigilant chief on the border of
Bregia ;
The shielded hero.
The fame Avhich is proclaimed by the
boastful bards of Banba
Throughout the great world ;
The puissant king, the battle-torch;
The [man of] deedful conflicts.
The splendid countenance above the
Leinstermen
Of the broad-bordered Liffey ;
The munificent prevailer in every fair
succour ;
The mountain of red gold.
* (i.e., Erinn).
(36) Ailill Molt.—Ailill (or OiliolT) Molt was son to the celebrated King Dathi, and succeeded
King Laeghairi in the nionavchy in a.u. 4.5S. He Wiis I^illed in the battle of Ocha (qu., Ochain,
near Tara?), a.d. 478. Crimhthann, the son of Enna Censelach, king of Leinster, for whom
this poem was written, tooli part in tliis battle against the monarch ; but this is the only place
in which I have found it stated that the monarch fell by him, except in a marginal note on
O'Duinn's poem on the Triumplis of the Kings of Leinster, (at folio 24 of the Book of
Leinster.) [See 0' Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 478.]
(37) As was/oretokl. — See stanza 22 of the next poem, where it is stated that St. Patrick
foretold this victory for Crimhthan four years previously.
APPENDIX.
485
1n 'DOi'i' "oicne^- 'o^aouja 'OomiuMTo,
■Don Ch&yi 6Acb<xc,
In iDAi-dtTi ^op ini-oi, iinuMX) nii|.-^\ec
1n nAI-OTtl 11AC1\AC.
1ii iio|\c iiAnci\ent), ik\ Cvxeniii.xcAM]A
clot) 1U\ CO^CvVO,
CpuAit) A'oefcot, C|\inicAn coni-
b{u\1T),
Ifco cofco]^.
Cac n<\ SoiiiK\'ii\e c\|\ Saw aim,
T)v\ cue 111 iii<xif)m AC UlAit D^efAit,
A]\ tllAlg niOTfAI-O.
(A.D. 430.)
The tree which wardstheDomnann'^'' ^pp jjj^
multitudes '- '—
Off the death-battle plain ; Three Poems
The defeat of Meath, mad, terrified ; "f DtMuhadi
The serpent's knot. UaLugair;
The intolerable strength that cannot
be
Subdued or checked ;
Hard his battle, Crimlhan with vic-
tory
And with trophies.
The battle of the Samair,<^^^ at Satn-
kain,
It was he that sustained,
When he gave the overthrow at
Upon Magh MossaidS*^')
(38) TTie Domnann nniUitudes. These were the men of Meath, poetically styled here the
Domnann multitudes, from Inbher Dcmnainn, now the river and hay of Malaliide, in the
county of Dublin, so called from a party of the Fir-bholg, the Domnann section of them,
under their leader Sengand, having landed there. Ihis Inbke.r Domnainn is mentioned in the
Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, where it is stated that he sailed from Inbher Dea (now Wick-
low) to Inbher Domnainn^ and fiom that to Inis Patraic (the island of Holme Patrick), and
so on to Ulster. Other evidences could be adduced in support of this identification. Indeed
a singular evidence of it remains on the .spot itself; for, even to this day, the current and
eddy below the present bridge is by the inhabitants called "Moll Downey", which cannot
possibly be anything else than a corruption of Maeil Downainn, Maeil being <an ancient
name on tlie east coast of Erinn for an eddying or whirling current.
(39) .S'am/iau-.— This is the river now corruptly called the Camhair, and, therefore, trans-
lated into the "Morning Star". It rises at the western extremity of the chain of the Gailti,
or Galtee, Mountains; runs through the town of Eruff ; and passes into the Maigue a little
below Bruree in the county Limerick.
(40) Railh Breasail.-H was at Hdi/h Breasail that the great convention of the clergy and
laity of Ireland was held unoer tlie auspices of the illustrious Midrchearlach 0 Erien, king
of ilunster (and indeed of all Ireland), in the year 1110. The situation of the place has not, I
believe, been known or identified in modern times. Finding it set down in this poem, as in
the route of tlie valiant Crimthann, and in connection with the Siiiir (the river Suir), and
in Magh Mossaid, leaves, I tliiiik, no fiii-lher doubt of tlie district and province in whieli it was
situated. Magh Mossaid Itself has not been, I think, identified by any writer of modern times ;
indeed I have never seen the name of f liis place in print at all, nor have I met witli any one
that ever heard of it before. I have, however, myself been fortunate enough to meet with
two more references to Magh Mossaid besides the reference in tlie poem, and these are of so
clear a character as to leave no uncertainty whatever of the actual situation of this plain.
There is a very old story preserved in our ancient manuscripts, which gives an account of
the first discovery, in the forest, of tlie place in which now stands the celebrated city of
Cashel of the Kings. The discovery was made by two swineherds, one belonging to the king
of Eile and the other to the king of MuscraighA, both territories lying to the nortli of Cashel.
When Core, son of Lughaidh, king of Jlunster, whose residence was situated farther to the soutli,
heard of the discovery of tliis subsequently celebrated spot, lie took immediate possession of it,
and foithwith built a palace there, with tlie intention of making it his future residence.
Conall, the kinc; of Ei!4, having heard of this, was much angered. "And tlieii Conall, king
of Eili, said : 'Why is it that he has taken possession there? for the place which lie has taken
is ours'. And he ordered his people to go past Magh Mossaid southwards to Aircetal that
night. And certain news reached them there next morning, namely, that a great feast had
been prepared by Core, son of Lughaidh, in Caisel''. And when Conall heard this, he
countermanded tlie march, and went himself forward in a spirit of amity to honour the
housewarming of his friend by his presence (H. 3. 17., T.C.D., fol. C7.5).
There is some reason to think, from passages in the Irish Life of St. Moehaemhtig (or Pul-
cherius), that the king of Eiles palace was situated somewhere near the ancient church of
Liath M6r Moc.haemhog, now called Leamokevoge, in the pariyh of Two-Mile Burris, barony
of Eliogarty {EiU UiFhogartnigh), and county of Tipperary. This valuable Life, however, con-
tains anotlier reference to Magh Mossaid, which will enable us to fix its southern boundary
with precision. At the time that St. Moehaemhog settled at Liath M6r, Failhhe Flann
(who reigned a.d. 622 — 033) was king of Munster, and residing at Cashel of the Kings.
The king took a fancy to a meadow belonging to the saint, and had his horses turned
into it to graze. St. Moehaemhog having heard of this act, went and had the horses
turned out of tlie meadow. When the king heard of tliis. he was very angry, and he
commanded soldiers to arrest tlie king of EiU .and his children, and " to kill tiiem if
they would not expel the saint out of that land. The saint gained intelligence of this,
and he went straiglit to Cashel, where the king was. After some sharp conduct on
both sides, the parties made peace, and the saint returned quietly to his church.
APP. III.
(A.D. 430.)
486 APPENDIX.
iriAc enriAi CetTofeiAij, comlAin, The son of perfect Enna Cendselach,
CoiTo ^'oiTo pne, Head of an original family ;
Three Poems ■bAfi'it Sn)ii\ -oA.^ gl^i-i" ^^St^A^S^i The Siilir^'^'^^ flowed Over the knees of
of Dubhthach Sec X)t)n Sire. his horses
y^^'-v-'nl' ' Passing by Dun- SigkeM^)
CopiAniATO ■he|\emD iiite, The conqueror of Erinn all;
ecu AC Aiie, The victor of [Cnoc] Ane;^**)
Acce]Y mi'OAc tllAije y:'^^^e The hero of Magh F>ne'*^'> Avas seen
Sec e^Y mAje. Passing over £ss-ilfa2^/ie.(^6)
1'no|\fiiTo ruepiec, ociii- tYlAfcen, The great fair-man of Mesnech,'*''^
Ocuf tnupiA, and of MasffiM, (^^J
1t1e)\ATo CO h]\&t nAn'oe]\nA And of Mughna ;
Ac At 111 ic UignA. For ever shall live, what he did
At Ath-Mic LughnaS'^^)
Some nights after this the king had a vision. A comely Old Man, with a beaming counte-
nance, came to him, and taking him by the hand, led him from his chamber to the battlement
of the walls of Cashel on the south side, from which he sa\v the whole of Magh Feimheii full
of a host of white saints in flowery forms. The king asked the Old JIan what noble host
they were. The Old Man answered, that they were St. Patrick and the saints of Eriun, who
had come to the relief of St. Mochaeinli6(j ; and he further told the king, that if he did not
make terms with the saint, he would soon die. The king slept then, and he saw again that
the Old Man took liim by the hand and led him to the battlement on the north side, and he
showed him a vision similar to the first, namely, Magh Moisaid, filled -with a flowery host, all
clothed in bright white garments. And it appeared to the king that they stopped at the
point of contact of the two bordering territories, namely, between Magh Fcmhin and'Magh
Mossaid. These were St. ISrigid of Kildare, and St. Jte of C'luain Credhail (now Killee'dy, in
the county of Limerick), accompanied by all the holy virgins of Erinn, who had come to the
relief of St. Mochaemliog, who was the nephew and pupil of St. ltd.
I need not say more now than that Magli Mossaid, at least its southern part, must have
been that part of the present barony of Eliogarty which adjoins the northern boundary of
the ancient Corca Eathrach, now the barony of Middle Third, in which the city of Cashel is
situated.
Of Rdith Brcasail, which, according to our poem, was situated in the plain of Mosad, I can
give no farther account. Even our profound ecclesiastical historian, Dr. Lanigan, had no
conception of the situation of Raith Breasail, as will be seen from the following passage :
" Our writers do not tell us where Rath Breasail was situated, but, if we are to judge from
the name, I should think it was in the district anciently Hy-Bresail, now Clanbrassil, in the
county of Armagh; or in the other Hy Bresail, that formed part of Ily-Falgia [Ui Failghi]
(the ancient Offaly) in Leinster" — Lanigan's "Irish Ecclesiastical History", vol. iv., p. 87.
(41) Magh Mossaid.— See last note (40), on Raith Breasail.
(42) ,S/«(>.— The river Suir.
(43) Dun Sighe. — Not known to me; but it must have been situated to the west of the
river Suir, and in the direction of Cnoc Aine (now called Knoekanj'), county Limerick.
C44) .4ini. — Cnoc Aini, now Knockanj', near Bruft', in the county Limerick.
('40) Magh Fini. — The Plain of Fine, probably some place in Leinster, but unknown to me.
(46) Ess Maighe.—IXtaX is, the cataract of the Maigh, now the waterfall of Cathair Essa
(Caherass), the noble seat of .Sir David Roche, in the county of Limerick.
(47) Mesnech. — Tliis must have been the name of a place bordering on the north side of the
territory wliich the i)oet received in reward of the poem. (See below, note 5!i.)
(48) J/asteM— genitive of MaisHn.—T'his was the well-known Mullach Maisteii (Mullagh-
mast), in the county of Kildare.
(49) Ath Mic Liig?ma.—The Ford of the son of Lughna. Of this son of Lughna I have not been
able to obtain any account, and it is only by an inference (amounting, however, to certainty)
tliat I have been able to flx the locality in which the Ford was situated. The I3ook of Lein-
ster in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and the MS. classed Harleian, 5280, in the Briti.sh
JIuseum, both contain an ancient tale, entiil^iX Soil Miticci Mic Ddthd, or tlie Story of the
Pig of Datho's Son. The true name of Mac Ddthd was Mesroeda, and he was called Mac
Ddthd, [dd th6] or the son of the two silent persons, because his father and mother were deaf
and dumb. Mac Ddth6 was king of Leinster, and brother to Mesgedhra, king of Leinster, the
same with whose bi'ain foi-med into a dried ball Concobhar Mac JVessa, the king of Ulster,
was struck in the head by C'eat, the son of Magach, of Connacht. [See Appendix, No. CLVL]
Mac Ddthd reared a famous hound, whose fame spread all over Erinn ; and messengers came
to him from Ailill and Meadhbh, the king and queen of Connaclit, begging a present of this
liound from him. Other messengers arrived at the same time on the same errand from
Concobhar Mac d^essa, king of Ulster. Mac Ddthd saw in this coincidence a chance of drawing
the two northern jjrovinces into a battle, or perhaps a war, which would weaken the powei
of both ; for the weakness of the restless northerns was the strength of the soutlierns. Mac
Ddthd told the messengers of the two kings respectively that he had already promised the
hound to the master of the other, and that he saw no way of getting out of the difficulty
but by both kings, with their nobles and choicest warriors, coming to his court at an ap-
jiointed time, to partake of a feast whieli he intended to jirepare for them, and where he
(A.D. 430.)
APPENDIX. 487
Vokjiii ini cViiMinclvMi'o tiK\c entiAi The Leiiistermen around Crimthan ^pp, m,
tlejxcAic cOklniAi, sonofEima,
Ace itiuiici|\ mrni rtKuTOulem, Strong and valiant, Tluce Poems
nimcli A rokniioi. Except the hosts of Heaven with their of Dubhtimch
Creator, ,?/"i?rn'''"
There is none to equal.
1j"e C]\inic^iTo <^iiine^' <.\)\cokd, It is Crimthan that excels every one
Co 'fi.t innlei, In the bloody cause ;
Ife oeti]:e]\ ifi:^i\t\ "oo fil, He is the one man, the best of the
SAe'oet nguinec. seed
Of the wounding Gaedhils.
1|'e C|MmcAnii cinne'p a^xcac, It is Crimthan that excels every one
CecAib ^\iiAcliAi\, In hundreds of expeditions;
floc)\Ai-o c^vicA cbeninA Ab^\ACA^A, He has tortured the lands of his
111et)bA C|\iiACAn. cousin's allies,
[That] of Medhbh [Meave] of
CruachainJ^'^)
1-pe |\oc|\eici •oo pAct\Aic, It is he that believed Patrick (^'^
Cen x>u\\ ii-oLijiT), Without hard conditions;
tlo]' jAb •oAnincA]\Aic CAiT) c)\e"0Ail;, He received him as a chaste holy
Oc IIaic biiir. soul's friend,
At Ruith BiUghS^"'^
might probably so arrange between them as to extricate himself from his diflBculty. The
appoInteJ time came, and the northern kings, with a selection of their nobles and champions,
arrived in due time at Mac Ddtltos comt, which appears to have been situated in the southern
estremit.y of the present county of Carlow (Ceatharlach). The generous host had killed for
the occasion his famous pig (for some account of which see Battle of Magh Ldna, published
by the Celtic Society, page 14, note 7i). The comjiany having sat down to the feast, a diffi-
culty arose as to which of the northern provinces should have the cutting up and distribution
of the great pig. After a sharp contest, in a comparison of the relative military merits of the
two provinces, carried on chiefly by C'eat Mac Marjnch of Connacht, and Conall Cearnach, the
famous Ulster champion, the cutting was conceded to the latter. Conall sat at the pig's tail,
and distributed it liberally to his own countrymen ; but when he thought at last of his neigh-
bours of Connacht, he found that he had nothing remaining but the pig's two fore legs, and
these he threw to them disdainfully, and with a sneer which hinted that they were emblem-
atic of the speed with which the Connachtmen fled before the Ulstermen. A fierce conflict
ensued, blood was spilled in abundance, and the Connachtmen retreated northwards. The
hound, which had been let loose by Mac Datlw, joined the Ulstermen, and, coming up to the
chariot in which AiJiU and MeacVibh were on their retreat, sprang upon it ; the charioteer
struck it in the neck with his sword, so that the head fell into the chariot, and the body to
the ground. The hoimd's name was AUblie, and It was believed that it was troni it that Magh
Ailhhi (Ailbhe's plain) where it was killed, derived its name. This plain is believed to have
been on the borders of the pi'esent counties of Carlow and Kildare, but within the border of
the latter, and a short distance north of the present town of Carlow. The king and queen
pursued their course northwards still, to Belach Mughna of old Roirinn (now Ballaghmoon, in
the count)' of Kildare, where Cormac Mac Cuilenndin, King and Archbishop of Cashel, was
killed in a.d. 903), over Ath Midlibhinni (a locality not now known), to Maistin (now the cele-
brated MulUich Maisten, or Mullemast, in the county of Kildare), past Druim Criaigh (called
cm Dara, Kildare, at! this day), past Edith Imghain (Rathangan^, to Fidh n-GaibhU (the
wood of the Gabfial, or fork of the two rivers, which met near Clonsost, in the north-east
corner of ancient Ui FaiUjhe or Offaly, and of the present King's County, north-west of Kath-
angan) ; to Atlt Mic Lug/ma (the Ford of the Son of Lughna) ; this ford must have been upon
the north-east branch of the Gabhal) ; past Druim da Mhaiglte (the Hill of the Two Plains),
now Drumcaw, in the parish of Ballynakill, barony of Coolestown, in the north-east corner of
the King's County [see O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. 1556, p, 1543, note m.] ;
over Lroichet C/iairpri, — (Carpri's Bridge ; not known to me, but probably it was the same as
Tochur Cliairpri, [Carpri's Causeway], a place lying south of Clonard, [Cluain Iraird,'] along
which the boundarj' line of ileath and Leinster passed to Geisill, near Tullamore, in the King's
County. — [See Keting in the divisions and boundaries of the five provincesofErinn.]— Carpri's
Bridge was over the Boyne, in the present barony of Carbury, in the northern corner of the
county of Kildare) ; to Alh Chinn Chon (the ford of the hound's head), in Fera Bili (now
barony of Farbill, in Westmeath). It was here he (the charioteer) cast the hound's head
out of the chariot. And hence the name of this Ath Chinn Chon, or the ford of the hound's
head, now very probably Kinnegad.
I have designedly followed the chariot of king Ailill and Queen Meadhbh thus far, to the end,
that the authority of so ancient a tract as the story of Mac Ddthd's Pig should bear evidence
to the antiquity of the above several topographical names, as well as to the accuracy with
which they have been identified by Dr. O'JJonovau in his learned notes to the Annals of the
Four JIasters.
(00) Mi:dhbh of Cruachain. —This was the Meadhbh mentioned in the preceding note. Her
488
APPENDIX.
APP. III.
Three Poems
of Duhhthach
Ua Lugair;
(a.d. 430.)
1n"bennA6cu •oo-pAcnocor>u^\6i\An'o,
A\\ nieill cotti,
A]\ inutlAc "Oaci,
1]"fO-[\ cViyiimcAn'o. C.
■OllbcllAC tmiYI ■"14C "OO lugAIT),
trie iAo-ppAipc i]"|vo-p|:o|^5AitL,
■pAc cen 'oib'oii'D,
trie fvuc innecA-o HAf AiAgut) "oo,
tetn^'A cecriA bAc'LA-p 'di|\cac,
1f c|\of ctoce,
1)'fe tno cimcAc |\Abo^ im cVi^micAn
ICAc Oce.
tno bulled iAii\n, mo i^ciac imiA,
IDocnei' mo ca^aac,
"bA-poccAbc -pein, i:e|\, ha iiA^|\ec,
ll^et) )\onAnAcc.
X)ii|\iv\n -pbAic i:u\b iroiAf A ^\oemt'o,
1leim AccontiAiAc,
Aibibb 111 obu inci -pAyifnimmAixc,
Ida ]\i ConnAcc.
Secc c6c "Dec cenei'bAi'o noenpix,
11i]\Aii fvoengo,
■RomA-pb CiMmcliAiTo icac Oce,
Sill pii cento.
Tlae blessing which he gave never
decays,
Upon bccautiful Mell,^^^")
Upon Dathi's liead,*-**'
And upon Crimthann.
Duhthach am I, son to Lugaid, [sic]
Poetic, fully subtle ;
It was I that gave the judgment
between Laeghaire
And Patrick.*
It was I that examined and that sen-
tenced—
A cause without extinction ; —
It was I tliat gave Mm revenge for
his violation,
And forgiveness.
It was by me an oratory was first
built,
And a stone cross ;
It was my cloak that was upon Crim-
thann,
In the battle of OcheS^^^
My lorica of iron, my shield of bronze,
My side, my friend, —
He admitted himself, the chief of
the chiefs.
That 't was it that saved him.
Pity the munificent Mug who was
defeated.
Whose career I witnessed ;
Ailill Molt,^^^^ the man who was sub-
dued.
Was the king of Connacht.
Seventeen hundred, without the want
of one man,
It is no sweeping falsehood,
Crimthann killed in the battle of
Ochi;—
That number in the one day.
* Ay<. lluA-OAic nneixg mAc Heibb ixomA-pb Otiiaaii a|\a Pacixaic tMicAt) in
mbixecbi'eo .i. a inAi\bA'o ocui' nem •oo iA|\uAin. [It was upon Nuadat
Derg, the son of Niall [and brother of Laeghaire'], who killed Patrick's
charioteer, tliis judgment was given ; i.e., to kill him, and give him Heaven
afterwards.]
consort, AiliJl, was son to Boss Ruadh, the king of Leinster, and consequently a far back rela-
tive of Crimthann.
(51) Jt is he that believed Patrick.~lt was Patrick himself that haptized Crimthann, ac-
cordhig to the Tripartite Life ; but my copy of that important tract gives no farther detail.
(52) Rdith Biligh. — This is the well -known Ravilly in the present county of Carlow.
(53) J/e/?.— She was tlie wife of Crimthann and daughter of Ei-nbrann, king of the Deisi,
(now the Decies in the county of Waterford). See Book of Lecain, fol. 101, b.b.
(54) Ujwn Dathi's Mead.— This Dathi, who received the special benediction of St. Patrick
on his head, and we may presume baptism at the sanie time, was the direct ancestor of the
O'Riain family, of Ui Drdna (now Idrone, county of Carlow), and of the O'Cuileamtiain
family of the ancient district of Sil Mella (that Is, of the descendants of Queen Mell, to dis
tluffuish th»m from Crimthann's sons by other wives), of whom the brave Colonel Ricliard
O'Cuilramhain, or Cullcn, Lieutenant-General of the "Catholic Army" of Leinster in 1643,
was descended, as well as the present worthy Comarba of St. Lorcdn O'Tuathail, the learned
and Most Eev. Paul O'Cuileamhain, Ai-chbishop of Dublin.
(55) Oche, or Oc/id.— This battle was fought a.d. 478, and although Ocha, where it was
fought, somewhere near Tara, was the spot (Ochain) in which, I believe, il^m/^of theNine Hos-
tages was buried, it is remarkable that all remembrance of its precise situation should be lo.st
in modern times, although it (Ochain. or Ochnn) is mentioned in the Tain Bo Chuailgne as
situated between the river Dubh and Slane, on the North of the Boyne.
APPENDIX.
489
ceniiAC cu^'leo,
tlocAiiMijeixc pdc|\Aic "oo C^Mtn-
cIlAIIX)
1fe lAoi'bfMfpe'o.
'Oob^ifT' enriA X)a p^\inicAc ■oec,
'Oa'Lcii' t-nili,
A|\ U'lb neiib b<\ 5Ai]Mn jAU CAi|\e,
"Oob^M^ CiMtncliAiTO ceu|\i caca
Va'OO -o ebb Aim,
1 A]\ feif]' 1\i fneibtm-mjib iinnjlMn-o,
Ingin &]\nb]\AiiiT).
A-obAIC •OAWTA ec TIIAbb inoiijAC
tlAC'pAir -pbuiT),
A]\T>omcALtA inAtbi -|\oiticbAiinA,
Ij'ixomciniu'o.
Co^Aib i:6m co'oei]\eD •ootriAin,
"OiiA-p mo -otiAne,
Co|\op ec bAf cAtAm ci|\e,
aLa-o {JAne.
V«lb UlUpiTObA A]\AfeC11A15,
C|\ec1iiiAi5 cobpnAibb,
couch <.\1K* m coii'omAec iMfcom-
cim,
-ponniAet, t^on-o-Rtuni.t
x3ie]\bubb oc bxMlA bt\ecq\UA-!'o,
1lA llAbt) IIAIIXTD-Oe,
CeiTo AcyvecmmiMi, ■& ceux>
A cpecmm^ii ha -pAiiAge.
VincA|\ lib becec iia c|\ice,
■potxfAngebAm,
O StAlf inA^-CAlb jMpTOAbAm
Co triAg Se^VAT).
SecA TAiix riA 'j'Aij 1Y1eii'nec,
Co [miii|\ mibAc ?],
A]" yo-oef^' 1 ci\ei'^' c]\e6bbA
Co hefY n"OimmA.
* 11 omen boci.
t llomiriA bocofum.
Four years before that battle, j^pp, uj.
Without any default,
Patrick propliesied for Crimthann Tlnee Poems
That it was he that would break of Oub/ithac/t
[gain] it. UaLugair;
(A.D. 430.)
Enna broke [gained] twelve prime
battles,
In which blood was shed,
Upon the Ulhh Neill ; ^^^) it was a
distinction without a reproach.
Was the whole defeat.
Crimthann broke four battles.
Twice, I assert,
After espousing Mell, <^*' smooth-
white, soft-pleasant,
The daughter of Ernhraan.
He bestowed upon me a slow hairy
steed,
Which seeks not to stale.
Because I was deprived of the other
on which I had been set,
And which to me had been ap-
pointed.
That it may be under me to the end
of the world.
The i-eward of my poem.
That it is a horse of land and country,
Speckled, green.
There are three humps upon his body,
Sea-bound, slow-waved ;
ToRCHAiR, '^3' it is not a soft wave
that threatens it,
FORMAEL,*"*^^ FOKDRUIM.f^^)
His tail is at Bana,"^^') the red-mixed.
Against a high cliff;
Stiff his noisy wave, his head
In the noisy wave of the sea.'^*'
Would you know the breadth of the
land
Upon which we shall settle.
From Glais-in-ascaii>,<^^3^ with which
we meet, [mere]
To Magh Serad.(S9^
Pass it eastwards, seek not Meis-
NECH,'^^-'
To [the fishy sea?]
From it southwards by rapid motion,
To the cataract of Dimma.'^^^
(Nomen loci.)
(Nomina locorum.
(56) AiliUMoU (or Oilioll ^fol1).—'RQ was the son of tlie famous king Dathi, and succeeded
his relative Laeghair4,the son of Niall, in the monarchy, in a.d. 458.
(57) Uibk Neill. — These were the men of Ulster and Meath, descendants of Niall of the Niiic
Hostages.
(58) Mell, danrjliler of Ernbrami.—SeG note (53) above
(59) Torchair.—Forniael. — Fordruim.— liana.— The sea. — Glaisin Ascail. — Magh Seradh. —
ifeisneth. — Es Dimma (tlie cataract of Dimma). — Tlicse were the bounds, and a few of the
490
APPENDIX.
APP. III. -AtTo Acbe^c "OacIii niAc CiMnicVi- There, snid Dathl, son oi Crimthann,
" — — ~ AUTO, The residing land
Three Poems 1ti i(:or\x> ^oyvAif, To thee quickly shall be given,
oi Dubhthach tliToreo cotUiAc •oocbiA, The territory thou hast chosen.
topographical features, of the lands which had been bestowed on the poet, Dubhthach, author
of tlie present poem; and it could scarcely be expected, that after such an interval of time
— about 1400 years — any one of the landmarks of so small a territory could be identified.
From the above description it appears that the territory extended in length from the river
Bana to the sea eastwards; and in breadth from Olais in Ascail (which must liave been a
stream), to the plain of Magli Seradh, soutliwards and westwards, by which tlio boundary
passed on to tlie east, -witliout touching Meisnech, and continued tlien southward (and, I
thinlf , eastward still) to Es or Eas Dimma, or the cataract of Dimma. Tliis being laid down as
the outline boundary, we find farther tliat there were tliree remarkable hills or mountains on
tlie land, Torchair, Formael, and Fordruim ; and it will be suflScient for our purpose of identi-
fication if we can, without exact local knowledge, fix within sufiicientiy narrow limits the
localities in which, two hundred years ago at all events, two of these very mountains were
known with certainty to have been situated, if, indeed, 1 may not say that their identity is
preserved even to this day in local names still in use.
This fact will be well understood from the following grant of the fifteenth year of King
James the First of England, that is the year 1C18 .- ''Grant from the King to Sir Laurence
Esmond, Kilt. Wexford Co. In Kinshelagh Territory : The towns and lauds of Limenagh,
otherwise Limerieke, Ballychoan, Ilossballyvonny, and the mountain of BaUycahirvally - Fer-
nioylew Formoyle, 40 acres; Clonglose and Rahindrohurly, 60 acres; Killenerin, 80 acres;
Larahin, 55 acres; Cooletegard, 100 acres; Kallyknockan, 20 acres; Kilbegnet, 41 acres;
Ballymackaw, 37 acres; Tenecarigy, 12 acres; Tenecurra, 62 acres; Agher and Cronaltau,
1C9 acres; BaUycollitan, 27 acres ; Cronedaroge, 37 acres ; Kilkavan, 142 acres; Ballymagil-
leboy, 68 acres; Ballyehin, 89 acres; Ballyliam, 9 acres; Ballylasy, 85 acres; Tomnehely and
Ballynesraglibegg, 107 acres; Coolenoge, 130 acres; Mochoille, 186 acres ; Baroge, 56 acres;
Morgoros, 14 acres; one-sixth part of Kilbeggs or Killebiggs, Cowlernegawny, Ballyvoran, and
Ballyskeagh, 54 acres; together with all mountain, bog, etc., belonging to the premises, ex-
cept 20 acres in Agher and Cronaltan, next the church of Kikjorman, assigned for the glebe
thereof; and except 20 acres in Kilkavan, next the church of Kilcavan, assigned for the glebe
thereof; half of the entire fisliing in the river Owemjorman near the said lands, viz., from
the main sea to the lands of Pallas ; and the entire fishing in the sea, bays, and creeks there",
etc.— [4 Feby.,15th Jac. I.].
I have given this grant verbatim to very near its end, in order that the position of the
mountain " Fermoyle" or " Formoyle", the Formael of our poem, should be clearly and with-
out any doubt established, as far at least as regards the district in which it was situ-
ated. All the places mentioned in this grant are or were situated in the barony of Gorey, in
the parishes, I believe, of Kilgorman and Kilkevan, a few miles north of the town of Gorey;
and, as the charter says, in tlie Kinshelagh territory, which lay to the north of the river
" Owenvarra", now the river " Owenamorroghd", which runs from the south and falls into the
sea about three miles south-east of Gorey.
Again, in a grant from the same king to Sir Edward Fisher, Knt., of lands situated in the
same Kinshelagh's Territory, we find the following lands enumerated: Kilmurry, 205 acres ;
five-twelfths of Ballinglan, Monecheale, Barnufuicke, next to Ballineskevtan, and to the moun-
tain of Torc/iill, 77 acres ; together with all barren mountain, bog, etc., belonging to the pre-
mises; the advowson of the rectory of Kiltynell ; half of the fishing in the ri\eT Oioenvan-a,
near said land, from the main sea to Ballycale ; and the entire fishing in the sea, bays, and
creeks there", etc. [17th January, 15 Jac. I., Patent Rolls, p. 358.]
From these two grants we may gather that a great part, if not the whole of the lands
granted to Sir Laurence Esmond, lay south of the river Owengorman, since we find that he
was entitled to half the fishing in that river, and that must have been the southern half. It
would appear from the second grant, that made to Sir Edward Fisher, that his boundary com-
menced on the north where Sir Laurence Esmond's ended on the south, and that his terri-
tory extended southwards to the river Owenavarra, the southern boundary of the parish of
Kiltennill (or Courtown) mentioned in his grant. And as we find, with certainty, another of
the hills or humps of Dubhthach's territory, namely, Torcliill (the Torchair of the poem), in this
parish, we may with good reason conclude that the whole territory extended from Owengor-
man on the north to Owenavan-a on the south, and from the river Bana on the west, in some
part of it, to the sea on the east. I believe that the river now passing under the compara-
tively modern name of Owengorman, or Gorman's river, was the ancient Glais in Ascail, or
"Stream of the Roar", or thunder ; and that the name is still in part preserved in " Glasgor-
man", the present name of the sandbank which rims parallel with the shore at a short dis-
tance from the mouth of this river ; it is probable, too, that it was from the loud noise of the
waves breaking over tliis shallow bank that the stream first received its descriptive name. If
these inferences be right, as indeed I cin'tbut think they are, then the Es Dimma, or Cataract
of Dimma, must have been the mouth, or some place near it, of the Owenavan-a. And thus we
liave the actual length and breadth of the splendid gift to Dubhthach O'Lut/air, which, accord-
ing to my measurement on Beaufort's Map, was six Irish miles long from west to east, at its
northern boundary, at least ; and five miles broad from north to south ; but I believe it nar-
rowed considerably towards the sea as it approached the southern boundary.
Should any objection be raised to the assumption, that the name of the mountain Torchill
is identical with Torchair, it can be easily answered by reference to the well-known tendency
APPENDIX.
491
Tloi iigpAt) ninii ocu]' iiToectiuvt),
^y^^^z •oitp Liuvgi 'LetnmcAi|\,
•OuAiii C|MTiicOkin. C.
tlliltiUT) init)e, iiioixAT) t.xgeii,
teni 'OAp LwLcAc,
tli cAinic ]\^ bokX) comtiuvicli i c|\i
111 C|\imc)i<Mi.
The nine orders of Heaven, and the ^pp ^
tenth, the order "^"^^ ' '—
Of the mountainous Earth : Three Poems
They are the securities of the price <jf Dubhtimch
vouchsafed f« ^'"J^f!"^
it or CnmthannsT^OQia., C
Destruction of Meath, magnifying of
Leinster,
Leap over Lulcach : "^'^
There came not a king so good into
body
As Crimthann.
Icem "oe eo'ceiii.
COiC riicAi'C0i]A Ci\iiiic1iAti*
■oo ■L^.\e5vM|\e liiiniAp,
Hope incAc ^vfvo Ajiiuvp,
1CO]\CA1]\ 111 |M51\A'0.
Cac cucAfCA^ C|\imu1iAn
■Oo Chu-pc c^Aen -po-pcAf^g,
Hope incAc ]'Ae]\ tocaija,
1co]AchAi]\ TbuAg CA-pb.
CAC Ct1CAfCA^\ CiMmcliAii,
"Oo 'OAi|\e iiAi\ "oubAr),
Kope incAc c|\uait) cbAi'oeb,
■0A]\ •J^'LAI'OeX) fttlAg tllUIIKMI.
CAC CUCA-pCA^A C|MTt1cVlAn
■p]\i Aibibb nAiATi ntiAumA|i,
nil\ be mgleo ceii f Aeu^p,
■OlA]A UjAOecllA'D y\ C|M1ACA11.
(.1. tiiAc ennAi).
ITEM DE EODEM.
A battle which Crimthann* gave
To Laeyhaire of numbers, —
It was the noble, lucky battle.
In which the kings were killed.
A battle which Crimthann gave
To brave Corc^^-^ whom he tamed :
It was the noble, prosperous battle,
In which fell the hosts of Caisel.
A battle which Crimthann gave
To JDaire, ^^^) who was not black-
ened,—
It was the hard battle of swords.
By which were cut down the hosts
of Munster.
A battle which Crimthann gave
Against Ailill'^'^'^> the high, ter-
I'ible, —
It was not a conflict without labour.
In which was subdued the king of
CruachainS''^'
*0'.e., son of Enna).
of the people of the east and south- east of Ireland to modify topographical names wliich end
in ar, air, and inn, to ail, ill, and so on: as Loch Aiiiinn in Westmeath, now called Loch
" Ennill"" ; Loch Uair, in the same county, now called Loch Uail, or "Owel". So Sriithar (a
stream) is pronounced in the south, as well as in the east, "Shrule", "Shrewill", or "Shrowle";
and I am strongly of opinion that the present " Owen Avarra", which could not have been a
really old name, was more anciently called Sruthar Guaii-e. It is remarkable that there ac-
tually was a townlaud -n this very locality hearing the name of "Shrowle", as will he seen
from an Inquisition taken at Wexford on the Stli of April, IC31 (the sixth year of the reign of
king Charles the First of England), which found that " Onora Iveavanagh" was in her life-
time seized of the villages and lands of Clantefin, Kiltriske, Knockdanke, Banogeroe, Tullibeg,
Knockedille, Cooltrundell, Corandonall, Jlongan, Shrowle, etc. Of these lands Kiltriske is
still the name of a parish in the barony of Balleaghkeen, lying between the above river
" Owenvan-a" and the sea, on the south side ; and what is more remarkable still, the parish of
Donoghmore, which lies between the parish of ICiltriske,,to the north, and the mouth of the
same river, contains a townland which still bears the name of " Shrale".
(60) Tlie tenth order.— 1\us,\i, of course, the Church Militant on Earth.
(61) Lulcach. — I am at a total loss to know what this is ; whether it is the name of any river
or mountain, or of any place on the borders between Leinster and JIunster or Meath.
(6i') Core of Caisel [(jashel]. — This Core, the elder son of Luijhaidh, king of JIunster, was
one of tlie tliree kings who formed the Council of Nine, who revised the ancient laws of Ire-
land, and compiled the SenchasMur. St. Patrick and our poet Dubhthach himself were of the
number.
(63) DairL—T[\\s, was Dair6 Cerba, tlie younger brother of the above Core, and chief of Ui
Fiilhgenti in tlie present county of Limerick.
492
APPENDIX.
App. III. Cac cticAfrAj\ C|\inir1iAri,
1c ©I'lMIAlX) bA^AulA'D,
Three Poems llApe incAc c|vuait) cicM-oeb,
oiDubhthach -Oaia -plAI-oer) -pUlAlj 'U'La'O,
Ua Lugair ;
(A.D. 430.)
A battle which Crimthan gave
At Esrnaidh,'^^'^'' where he went, —
It was the hard battle of swords,
By which were cut down the host
of Ulster.
Tho' many did Crimthann give
Of battles about roads,
IMuch more did Enna give
Of battles against warriors.
Enna^ of Ailinn'^^^ broke
Twelve battles, without difficulty,
Upon the plain-land of Tara,
Upon the host of brave Cerna.^''^^
Ten kings did Enna kill
Of the fair kings of Funedh .-(^^^
Aedh of Emhai)i,''0) ^iaU of Ailech,
Flaun of Tara} to be counted.
Lughaidh, and Lore of Limerick ;
Oengus,§ victorious in assemblies ;
Maelduin, which was cause of
plunders ;
Ailill, Cairpri, Cuba.
Enna, the son of valiant Niall —
He was the king of purity ;
It was whence he met his last end
Was from the other Enna.
Enna, the son of valiant Mall,
Was a beautiful, sensible king;
By Enna of the battles
He was killed in the battle of Liam-
Even Liamhain they went past —
The Leinstermen past it into Tarbh-
To the bmniing of Tara,
With Enna the high renowned,
t (e.e., Censelach).
X {i.e., the son of Concobar).
§ (t.e., the son of Dunlaing).
(64) Ailill. — This must have been Mlill [or OililT] Molt, son of king Dathi, who had heeu
forty years king of Connacht before his accession to the monarcliy in a.d. 458.
(6.5) Cruachain. — Tho Itoyal Palace of the king.s of Connaclit.
(66) Esruaidh. — Now tlie cataract of Bailysliannon in the county of Donegall.
(67) Ailenn or Ailinn. — Tliis was one of tlie ancient palaces of the kings of Leinster. Its
remains are situated on a liill a short distance to the north of Okl Kilcullen, in tlie county of
Kildare. (See Circuit of Ireland, publislieil by the Aj'choeological Society, p. 37, note 67; and
see the Story of Jlaile Mac Buain and the princess Aillinn [ante, p. 472, Appendix, No. II.]
from wliora the place took its name, according to the Dinnseanclms, Bk. of Ballymote, lol.
19.". a. b.)
(68) Cerna. — This was the name of a hill not now identifief]. It was situated in the south-
east of Mcath, somewhere near the present f^aristown, and north of Lusk in the county of
Dublin. (See the ancient unpublished Tale of Tochmarc Emeri.—lhQ Courtship of Emir
and Cuclmlainn.)
(69) Fuinedh. — This was an ancient name for Ireland, signifying the western end, or sunset.
(70) Aedh o/£mAain, etc. — It would be difficult, if not impossible, now to identify M'ith cer-
tainty the personages here named among their numerous contemporaries of the same names.
(71) I.iamhain. — Now called Dunlavin, in the county of Wicklow, an ancient seat of the
kings of Leinster.
(72) Tarhhgha. — Some place between Dunlavin and Tara (but in Meath, I think), and not
known to me. There was a Cnoc Tnrblnjha near Cruachain in Connacht, wliich could not of
course be the place referred to in tlie te.\t.
CiT) tn6|A •oo]\Ac C]\imchAri,
X)o CACAib imi\6uti,
\>& mo "ooiAAC enriA
X)o dACAib t\i hocu.
KobiM^ entiAt AiteiTO
"Oa cac •oec cert "ocoAing,
■}ro|\ cuAcniAig iiA Cern|AA,
"Poix I'luAg Ce|\nA c-po'OAitig.
X)ei6 fvig ivoiriA^xb GnnA,
"OO -piTO^I^AllD ■puniT),
Aet) CtiiriA, "niAlb Aiiig,
VbAiToi Cein]\A )\ACU|Min.
ttijAit) If ■Loi'.c ■Lmnnig,
Oeii5ti'p§ Ag -piAi -oaLa ;
1V1 AebTSii 111 bA iTACAi-fvgiie,
.Alblbt, CAIjAp^M, CAbA.
en 11 A 111 AC Tleibb IIA-jAAIg,
llApe in -pi conjl/Aine.
IfAnt) -puAi^x AcnijbA,
t/A-pn nennA nAibe.
ennA mAC neibt nA^AAtg
llAbA |\1 CAeTnciALbA,
Ua heiiiiA nA b^xjA,
11 Abie 1CAC l/iAtnnA.
CiT) biAmAin ^aIouai-v,
bAJin CA|\11 1 CA-jAbjA,
"Oo bofcuT) nA c;eiii|\A
bA ennA nA^At) nAm|\A.
t (.1. CenfebAig).
X (.1. •rnAc ConcobAi|\).
§ (.1. TriAc "OMnbAing).
APPENDIX.
493
"OO 'LoyCll'O 1K\ ClMlAcluM,
A]\ niuiAAt) riA h&innA,
•J^UAC'OA toCAjX tApil,
X)A\\ AC 'Oi.'me "OogAllA.
Ida teiMuip Iajih.
■Ll]\1Cl]\ "OA f CO|\Alb.
tlAi'ciii|\fec A iieocu,
"OA^ m»]\ CApt ctlAVVAIJ,
■RUCI'AC JIAti CAC 11011 DAI p,
"Leo CO tnA]'uin nuAxisiAiii.
\)A iniA'OAc 111 iininci|v,
11obACA]\ oc einiA,
tlopf AC tl^M au'daIa,
Uopj'AC Laiiia c|\enA.
ftOIDfAC 1^111 A ci\eriA,
tlic -pceLA ceil bunAT),
■Ra tec CuiiiT) tiA cbAitDeb,
Ha ni6i\cliUAc'hAib muTHAn.
CA111 CUCAt) -00 ©11 n A,
ALbeic CliiiniT) riA cu|m,
ScixepAbb CACA C151,
Do fiiTO]\uini uibi-
CAir> cwcA'o "DO enriA,
A tlUimAin -pni 5|\e-p]'tt,
tlnji "ooiv cec ii-cim
Iffin bbiA-OAin Ida nefini-
tlopT'Ac iriAci bAjin,
■p)Ai biiTO einiAi irtigbAin,
tloboi ic1i icaIiiiaiii,
tloboi me]' ip'obAi'o.
■RAbicii' A C151,
1 ClbcAlb CA11A1cllbl,
til bey\cif "DA ]\6cAib
■Ap iiAniAin A cAcim.
llAbici-p A C151,
A. ciLcAib -pA cecib,
■RtlCfAC 51 Abb CAC COICI'O,
5Ab]Mc 1AC A]A ecin.
Famous the march he went
To the burning of Cruachain,^''^'>
After demoHsliing Emhain y'^'^J
It was a valiant, contentious deed.
Contentiously the Leinstermen went
Over the ford of Dun Duyhair;^'^'^')
Numerous were tlie Leinstermen,
As numerous were their steeds.
They unyoked their steeds
Upon the rampart of clerical Caisel;
They brought a liostage every nine
men
With them to Mastin of pure
honour.
Honourable were the people
Whom Enna had ;
Numerous were their assemblies ;
Brave were they of hands.
Brave were they of hands —
It is not a report without founda-
tion—
Against Lctli Cliuinn of the swords —
Against the great tribes of Mumh-
ain.
The tribute which was given to Enna
From Leth Chiiinn of the feasts, —
A screpall from every house,
Of JiiiJniini^'^' the whole.
The tribute which was paid to Enna
From Miimhain [was] with slay-
ings,
An uinge'''') of gold from every man-
sion,
In the year that was next.
Good were the Leinstermen
In the time of Enna the pure ;
There was corn in the land,
There were fruits in the woods.
APP. III.
Three Poems
oi Dubhthach
Ua Lugair ;
(A.D. 430.)
Their houses used to be
Upon hills without decrease ;
They removed them not from the
roads
For fear of being expended.
Their houses used to be
Upon hills and upon fair-greens ;
They took the hostages of every pro-
vince ;
They took them by force.
(73) Cruachain. — The Royal Palace of Connacht.
(74) £m/iinn.— The Royal Palace of Ulster.
(75) Alh Dune Doc/hair.— The Ford of Uun Doghair. Not known to me.
(76) Findruiitl— Although this metal appears in several places in our ancient writings to
signify some precious kind of White Bronze, it certainly appears in other places to mean
carved, or ornamented Silver, -which in the present instance, and sometimes elsewhere, would
imply some standard piece of silver money. The Screpall of silver was the value of three
pitu/inns, or pence.
(77) Uing4.—An uingi (ounce ?) was twenty-four Screpalls ; a Screpall was three Pinginns
494 APPENDIX.
■LAbyvAit) bixefAL beLAc, Labhraidh, <''®' Bresal Belach,
■piAcu niAc riA ^tIacIia ; Fiachu, the son of the king :
■UATub -pAcin enriA, From them descended Enna ; —
til fcelA CO CACA. It is not a story to be contested.
Cac. [A Battle.]
APPENDIX, No. IV. [Lect. I., Page 8.]
mlln'^"^' Original of passage concerning the Ctntmenn, from the Booh
of Leinster (the MS. classed H. 2. 18., T.C.D.)^ fol.
183. a.
Coiicom^A^^diA c]\A, pti"o 1vC]\enn "oo SliendiAn Uoi\-
pei-jx, -oiii" in bA mebo]\ teo Uaiii Do CuAlnje innA 651 ; ocii^'
A^^be]\uACA]\ HAT) i:euA]\ "oi acc btogA riAtnniA. /A-|^be^\c
lAjium SenctiAn ^\ia -oaIca 'oui' cia -oib 110 ^\a5A'o a]ia ben-
riAcc 1 ci]\e LecA "oo f'o^bAim tiA Uaiia be^tcA 111 i^u'i i^aih
"OApei]" in Cluitinenn. 'OobbuTO Cnnne .h. Ilinene octi|"
'mii|\5en niAC SencAin -oo cliecc i^ai^i.
APPENDIX, No. V. [Lect. I., Page 9, and note ^^^ (also
Lect. II., p. 31).]
The "Seven Original (with Translation) of a p)^ssage in an ancient Law
Wisdom", Glossary, coi^ijnled hy 'OubAbcAC IIIac 'pi^\bip j, explaining
the ^'■Seven Orders of Wisdom^', from the MS. classed H. 5. 30.
T.C.D. {under the word Caoj-oac).
Caoj'oac .1. Ainm j^aai-o, r]\e iiia^a cAntq' nA cjai caoja'oa
■pAbin ; po^bAinci'oe, 'Oei^^jibAt, ScA]AUi-6e, "PoijAceA'obAnoe,
Saoi CAnoine, X)]n.iiincti.
Aji'in nA i^eAcc n^^AAi-o eAjnA.
'Po^bAinci'oe .1. i:eA-|i aj a inbi eobuf 1 nt)eic teAb|\Aib
"o'-jTocoi^A Aije, tiime pn ^oi^acoa-h "oe ireA-ji ciAccAnA irocoi^AeAc.
'Oej^jibAb .1. -peA]! A5 A mbi i-ocoi^ie nite .1. "oa beAbAjt
■oeAj nA i:ocoi]AeAC.
ScA^itiToe .1. i:eA]A A5 a mbi c]\ioca "o AiceACCAib nAOiiicA
in A -irojboiin.
'Poi1\ceA'otAit)e .1. yeA\\ aj a mbi giAAmA-OAc, C]A0|"An, ocuj'
I'loblAbA, octi|' ^Aime, octif iacaca Jl^ene, octif e^^jA.
Saoi CAnoine .1. -peAp aj a mbi eobtij" CAnoine, octi]"
(or pennies); and a Pinginii was tlie weight of eight [or as it is said in another place twenty-
four] grains of wheat, grown in good land. (See Book of Ballymote, fol. 181, b. h,, etc.) This
was the value and weight of silver.
(78) Labhraidh was the son of Bresal Belach, who was the son of Fiacha Baicidha, sou of
Cathair M6r, monarch of Ireland, who was slain a.d. 122.
APPENDIX. 495
CAIM]' SjetA 1o]'A .1. b]\eiceOkH n-'Oe (ifin iiiat) ^Lah i mbi) app. v.
.1. eACIlA Ca-oIaIC CAtlOine. The"Sevei
'0]\uiincii .1. yeAn a^a mbi eobur lomtAii ha li-eAgtiA, on orders of
eADA]\ Af mo "OA ngoi^rceAjA cuiLmeAn gti^Mn LeADA]\ Af LugA
•OA n5oi]\c;eA]i -oeic b^\eiui^», itiA iToeAcc]\Ai5ceAiA .i. i nx)ej-
coiju^ceA]^ An ciomnA mAiu "oo ^\mne "Oia "oo IllAoip.
[translation.]
[Caogdach, i.e, the name of a grade (or man of degree), because
that he chants the three tunes fifty Psalms ; student, disciple, his-
torian, lecturer, doctor of the canon, druimcli.
These are the seven grades [or orders] of Axdsdom.
Foglaintidh [a student], i.e., a man who has knowledge of ten
books of science, and hence he is called a man who is acquiring
science.
Desgihal [disciple], i.e., a man Avho has knowledge of the whole
of science, i.e., the twelve books of science.
Staruidhe [liistorian], i.e., a man who has thirty holy lessons in
his coiu'se of learning.
Foirceadlaidhe [lecturer, tutor, or teacher], i.e., a man who has
[professes] grammar, criticism, and orthography, and enumeration,
and the courses of the year, and the courses of the sun and moon.
Saoi Canoine [doctor of the canons], i.e., a man who has knoAV-
ledge of the canon, and who relates the Gospel [story] of Jesus ; i.e.,
the word of God (in the pure place in which it is to be found) ; i.e.,
catholic, canonical msdom.
Druimcli, i.e., a man who has perfect knoAvledge of Wisdom,
from the greatest book, which is called Cuilmen, to the smallest
book, which is called Ten Words, m which are well arranged the
good Testament which God made unto Moses.]
The Druimcli was the Ferleigliinn, or Ollamh, in imiversal learn-
ing. These were the graduated professors in the collegiate educa-
tional course, whether lay or ecclesiastical, whether attached to a
church or ecclesiastical estabHshment, or in an achadh (or field).
The folloAving very curious memorandum is found on an unpaged
vellum slip, between pp. 73, 74, of the MS. classed H. 4. 22.,
T.C.D., — a MS. of circa a.d. 1450. It professes to give, quaintly
enough, a sort of philosophical ' pedigree' of Scholarship, and is
valuable as distinctly referring to the degrees of learning described
by Mac Firl)is in the foregoing extract : —
ScotAije, mAC beijint), mic caoiccai-o, mic yojtAncA, mic
-oeifcipuib, mic -puA-o bicp, mic i"ua"6 CAnoine, mic 'o-piiim-
cbAi, mic *Oe bi.
[translation.]
[School-boy, son of Lesson ; son of Caogdach ; son of Foglaiii'
496 APPENDIX.
APP. VII. tidh; son of Disciple; son of Professor of [profane] Letters; son of
Professor of the Canons ; son of Druimclai: son of the Livinoj God..l
The "Seven ' o J
Oiders of r^T^^Q Starutdhe, or Historian, it will be observed, is not counted
vVisaom . /-in • T • -T
as a Graduate m this cunoiis pedigree.
APPENDIX, No. VI. [Lect. I., Page 10.]
'ij^saitair Original of passage from the opening of the poem of CiiAn
IIa LocAin on Tara, coiHaining a reference to the SAtuAip;
from the Book of Ballymote {fol. 89, a. a.).
ctj^n o iocli<\in ceciniu.
Uem<M]A cogA VIA ciiIac,
■poCA G]\111 in'0|\A'OAC,
-<X]TOCACAi^\ Cho]AmAic mic Aipc,
tliic Ctnn-o Ce-ocAcliAij coninAi]AC.
Co]\niAC bA ctin*OAii a niAic,
Da yA^, bA pb, bA i^Iaic,
IDa pp b]Aeiceiii "pejA "Pene,
IDa CAjtA bA coijebe.
Co]\mAc |\A cIai cAejAit) cac,
i'Oo 1'] it Alt) Sa'Luai]\ UemjAAcb,
1|" in cSAbcAip pn ACA,
Ariu^' 'oecb -|ninn fencu-pA.
If 111 cSaIcai]! pn A'obeji,
Secc n-Ai-|i'0|ii 6iiien*o inbi|A ;
C015 pig HA collet) 'oo'pjni,
til 6|\enn ^y a boippi.
1p inci ACA "oe 5AC teic
InA ii-otig CAC pi coipt);
In A n-obi j pi UempA CAip
'Do 1115 jAc cuigi'o ceolAij.
Coim^net) comAiinpepA'o caic,
Cec pi "oiA pAibe "oopAicb,
CpicAt3 cec coici-o p [ocpuAicb],
Oca cpAi jit) CO cponi cuAich.
APPENDIX, No. VII. [Lect. I., Page 11.]
The saitair Original of jjassage concerning the SAtcAip of Tara, quoted
from the Book of the 11a CbonjbAit, in the Book of
Ballymote {fol. 145, a. a.), and in the LeAbAp bm-oe LecAin
{MS. classed H. 2. 16., T.C.D.; col. 889).
"Oo pijneAt) t3in, gmm nA-oAmpA La CoprriAC, e'oon SAtuAip
of Tara.
APPENDIX. 497
Cho|unAic 'oo citiol, coon vo cmoilic pn ocuf i^e^ncAx!) a pp. vn.
6]\enn, im pm-ocAn hiac iiiboc|\A, ocu^- ini PicaI pli ; co|ao
1x]\ibA"0 coinijne'OA, ocu|' C]VAebA coibnui^^A, ]\emin"o a ^m^
OCU]" A ]AU1|\eAC; OCiq^ A CACA, OCUf A C0ni]\l115Cl, ocii-|' A nA]\-
1'AncA aiiaII 6 coi^Ac •ooiiiAin conici i'in : Conix) p, "om, SaL-
cAi]\ Uein]\Ac A]" ]\em, ocii^^ a]- bunAX), ociif a]^ copti]t "oo
l^eAncATOib C|\enn 6]^in ciq- Amu. * * * * * * teAbA^v
HA lillAcongbiiAtA cecimc.
APPENDIX, No. VIII. [Lect. I., Page 12.]
Original of jjassaoe referring to the SaLcai^^ of Tara in the Th« saiiair
Preface to Dr. Keating' s History of Erinn.
A^iif 11' rpe beic ctJincA a ine-OAjraAcc "OAtiA "oo ^ajacaoi
SAbcAi^i riA UeAm^iAC "oon puimbeAbAii "oo bio*6 a]\ iinbAniA]"
OttAiiiAin 1lioj Ci]\ionn f-'ein, A^iij' SaIcaih CAi]'it "00
Ch]\oinic Cho]\inAic lllic CuibonnAin, A5111' SAbcAi]\ ha 1lAnn
X)o Ch]\omic Aenjiii'A Ceibe 'Oe; o\\\ iiia^ ^Y lonAnii p]V\tni
A5UI' x)tiAn no "OAn, itia^a pn \\ ion Ann P]'AtcAi-i\ no Pj'Abce-
]\iuiii A511]' X)i.iAnAiiie.
APPENDIX, No. IX. [Lect. I., Page 13.]
Original of passage concerning the Cm 'OiioniA SneccA, from'^'^c^n
the Book of Ballyviote {foL 12 a.) and Book of Lecain snec/ua.
(fol. 271 b.), both in the R.I.A.
A Cm 'OjioiiiA SneccA in becj'o conui^i Cep\i]i.
APPENDIX, No. X. [Lect. I., Page 13.]
Original of a second passage in the Booh of Lecain {fol. 11 b., ^o„f^!"
col. 2), R. I. jfi., referring to the Cm 'OponiA SneccA. snechui.
*Oo c1imoiti"eAiTi cjia, in jeneAbAci'A 11 a n'OiAiimA'OA a cpoi-
nicib nA n^^'^ei'oet, Ajti-p a SAbcAi^i Cho]\mAic hi CAipt, A^ti-p a
tebAji 'Oume 'Oa teAch^lAp ocu-p a teAb|\Aib 'plAin'o tTlAinip
c|ieAc1i, ocui" A Cm 'OiioniA SneccA, ocui' a liAiTOAbAib ociif a
bebjiAib Aippn, co]\o che^boimi^em co liAen inAO.
APPENDIX, No. XI. [Lect. I., Page 14.]
Original of a third reference to the Cm 'OiioniA SneccA in the ^'^onfl"
LeAbA]\ 1/ecAin {fol. 123 a.), in the R.I.A. snechta.
Acbepc Cm '0]\oniA SneccA coiha'o AmtAi-o box) coi]i.
32
498
APPENDIX.
The Cin
Droma
Snechta.
APPENDIX, No. XII. [Lect. I, Page 14.]
Original of j^assage in Dr. Keating's History of Erinn referring
to tlie Cm "OixoniA SiieccA.
Cui]Aponi po^" Annj'o c]\Ao'b]^5AoiteAt) -|'-te<\ccA ITIIiAjoj "oo
1\ei-p An "LeAbAijA ^aISaIa tda h^oiiaci Cm '0]\omA SneAccA,
A^u]" i"ut cAmij pA-oiwiig A nGi]\mn -oo bi ah c-ii5"oai\ pn
Ann.
The Cin
Droma
Snechta.
APPENDIX, No. XIII. [Lect. I., Page 14.]
Original of passage in the Book of Leinster (the 3IS. classed
II. 2. 18., T.C.D.), concerning the Cm '0]\oinA SneccA; (a
memoranduyn loritten on lower margin of fol. 230 i.)
[G^Anin rriAc] 'OuacVi, itiac -p.i^ ConnAcc, oltAin ocu]" -pATO,
ocn-p i^ni -pencliAppA, ocu-p •pin ecnAi ; i-pe \\o chmot jenel.Aige
^Ae-oet m oen lebo^i, e-oon, Cm 'OpoiiiA
SnechcA.
Pedigree
of Diiach
Gdlach.
APPENDIX, No. XIV. [Lect. I., Pages 15,16; note <'^^]
The Pedigree of 'Ouac 5^^1-<-^c, King of Connacht in the early
part of the Fifth Century.
There is considerable difficulty in attempting to fix to a year the
date of the reign of Duach Galach; but his Pedigree is accurately
preserved. He was the grandson of Eochaidh Muighmheadhoin,
who was Monarch of all Erinn, a.d. 359-379, according to the
Four Masters ; and this Eochaidh was father of the celebrated
Monarch, JSfiall " of the Nine Hostages", whose eldest son, Laegh-
aire', was Monarch at the time of the coming of Saint Patrick.
Duach Galach was, therefore, first cousin of King Laeghaire, as
well as of his predecessor, Datht, the last pagan Monarch of Erinn.
Eochaidh Muighmheadhoin, Monarch of Erinn, died a.d. 379 (ac-
cording to the Four Masters) ; he left Five Sons, of whom Brian
became Lord, or King, of Connacht, and who was the common
ancestor of the O'Conors, the O'Flahertys, and other great families
of that province. Eochaidh was succeeded on the throne of all
Erinn by Crimhthann Mor (of the Eberian race), who, after a reign
of seventeen years, Avas succeeded in his turn by the youngest son
of Eochaidh, the celebrated Niall " of the Nine Hostages". Another
of the sons of Eochaidh, Fiachra, was the father of the Monarch
Dathi, who siicceeded his uncle, Niall, on the throne. The imme-
diate descendants of Niall, Fiachra, and Brian, were as follows : —
APPENDIX. 499
NIALL ("of the Kine Hostages"), Jlonarcli, a.d. 379-406
Laeghairi, il. 429-409 Eogan [a quo the Conal Gulban Cuirpre
j I O'Neills.] [a quo the O'Donnells.] I
LuGHAiDir, M. 479-504 Muiredach Corbmac Caoch.
MUIKCIIE-VETACII, 1[. 604- 528 TUATHAL MAOLGAEBH,
1 M. 528-539.
Pedigree
of Duach
Gdlach.
I I
PoMHNAi.L, M. 559-562, jointly with Feargus
EocHAiDH, M. 562-564
FIACIIRA
Dathi, M. 406-429 Amhalgaidh, King of
I Connacht ; ob. 449.
OiLiOLL Molt, M 459 470.
I E.C. bef. 459
Cellach
Eoghan Bel, K.C. ;
Ailill Inb/ianda, K.C.
BRIAN, King of Connacht.
I
Duach Galach, K.C. [the youngest of (he 24 son.s
I of Brian.]
Eogan Sremh, K.C. Ernin
Muireadhach Mdl
Feargus
I '' \ i
Eochaidh Tirmcharna, Duach Teangumha, K.C. (ob. 499, Feargna,
(a quo the O'Conors, etc.) I at the Battle of (a quo O'Muairc, etc.)
Seaghais.)
Senach
(a quo O'Flaherty, etc.)
[In the foregoiBg Genealogical Tables, it will be nnderstoocl that
" M" signifies Monarch of all Erinn, and " K.C." King of Connacht.
The dates of the obits mentioned are from the Annals of the Four
Masters.]
In a prose tract in the Book of Ballymote (fol. 54), on the
Names and Reigns of the Kings of Connacht, -svitliin the Christian
era, or rather, from about the tinie of the coming of St. Patrick,
32 b
500
APrENDIX.
Pedigree
of Duach
Oaluch.
App. XIV. tlie number of years during which each reigned is shortly stated,
and the above named Kings are recorded in the following order : —
Amalgaidh, 20 years; OilioU (or Ailill) Molt, 11 years; Duach
Galach, 20 years; Eogan Bel, 37 years; Eogan Sremh, 27 years;
Ailill T/tbhanda, 11 years; Duach Teangumha, 7 years. But neither
the number of years nor the order appears to have been exactly
stated there ; as in both respects the record, though exact enough
as to names, is unintelligible Avhen compared with the Annals of
the Four Masters, and other authorities. In the present state of
our critical knowledge in the department of Irish Chronology, it is
unfortunately impossible to reconcile the apparent contradictions of
such authorities in such cases as those of which the above is but
one among many instances. Perhaps, if we could ascertain with
certainty the order of succession in which the princes above named
followed one another on the provincial throne of Connacht, we
might be able to make some approximation to the exact date of the
accession of each. Of OUhll Molt we know that he resigned the
throne of Connacht for that of all Erinn in 459 ; and as his uncle
and predecessor, Amhalgaidh, died in 449, it may be correct to
state that OUioll reigned 11 years in Connacht. Perhaps, also, it
may be accurately stated, that Amhalgaidh had reigned 20 years.
But from the very clear and formal assertion of Gilla-na-naomh
O'Duinn, it Avould seem to be undoubtedly certain that the reign
of Duach Galach must have been before that of his cousin, Amhal-
gaidh, instead of subsequent to the promotion of Oilloll Molt to the
throne of Erinn.
The prose tract in the Book of Ballymote, above mentioned, is im-
mediately followed, in that venerable MS., by a Poem of seventy-four
stanzas or quatrains, on the same subject, written about a.d. 1150,
by Gilla-na-naomh O'Duinn ; and in this poem it is stated, as a
known historic fact, that from the deatJt of Duach Galach to the date
of the Battle of Seaghais, 79 years elapsed. The date of this battle
is pretty well known ; it was the battle in which DuacKs descen-
dant and namesake, Duach Teangumha (also King of Connacht), is
recorded to have been killed. It is stated by the Four Masters to
have been a.d. 499 ; but according to O'Duinn, five years later, or
A.D. 504. This record, therefore, would fix the date of the death
of Duach Galach at a.d. 420, or at latest, at a.d. 425 ; and an
examination of the above Genealogical Tables, Avith reference to
the probable period at which he flourished — grandson as he was of
the Monarch Eochaidh, who died a.d. 379, and first cousin of the
Monarch Dathi, who ascended the throne a.d. 406 — must, I think,
suggest the strong probability of the truth of O'Duinn's statement.
It is right to observe, however, that in a tract on the Pedigrees of
the Connacht families of this race, in the Book of Ballymote (fol.
54, a. a.), Duach Galach is spoken of as having survived to come in
contact with Saint Patrick, to whom he is said to have personally
made submission.
APPKXDIX. 501
APPENDIX, No. XV. [Lect. I., Page 15.] _app. x
Original of a second reference in Dr. Keating's History o/'TiieCm
Erinn to the Cin T)|ioiiu\ SneccA, (in the Early History of a'nJchta.
the Milesians.)
Cuijiiofl-'enuif rS^^^ "^""^ inii-De |\e muiiA-o ha ml bei\lAT),
A]\ lllAig SeAHAip, 'fAn gcACjiAig -QA n^Ai-iMTiionn Cin '0]\omA
SneAccA EoTHENA AniAit A'oei]\ An pte.
[Thus in the ancient grammatical Tract (or Uraichecht) in the
Books of Ballymote and Lecain : —
"Pennif pAnnfAij qiA, niAC CojAin, ociif ^A]\ niAC tleniA,
ocu]' 5^'^©'o^^ ^''^^^c ecuii]\, riA c|\i ]'at6 "oo ]\eip]"eA"o ha he]\-
iu]v\ ec ApuT) e-6ce]\eAm ciiiicAceni A|Aic1"ice.
Fenius Farrsaigh [or Fenius the Antiquary], son of Eoghan, and
lar, the son of Nema, and Gaedhel, the son of Ethiur, the three
Professors \_SaidK]., it was that invented these dialects, et apud
Eoteream civitatem, they invented them. — (Book of Lecain, fol.
152, a.)
APPENDIX, No. XVI. [Lcct. I., Page 15.]
Original of a second jjassnge in the Book of Leinster (H. 2. 18., Jj^^ ^"*
T.C.D.; fol. 149 6.), referrbig to the authority of the Cin sneoua.
'0]\oiTiA SneccA.
A cin 'ouomtiM snechuA so sis.
A^be]\AC -pencAToe, boi tonje-p injen "oGbpib a^i cmx) 1Tlic
llliiit) in he-]Ae, •oop]\AbA An]nir) iiia]\v\ i]']'in nociAn "oo 1lliji|\
Uin]\en, con'OAp]\c\tACA^A in hC]\inn. IDacaii ]\e in h&]iinn •|\e
IllACCAib niibe-o. ApbencACAp iA]\um, '^\\\ ineic Tllitit), bA
rocu -ooib A ri]i i-'ein, ociip ni c|ieicpo]" cen cinpcjiA -p^ini
A|A cAi^roep 'ooib. 1S 'oe ac i:i]\ c]\enx)A iuikx in hC]ie, co
b]iAC, A]\ [p]i] inic|venAic La ha mnA ipn "ooniAn obchenA.
APPENDIX, No. XVII. [Lect. I., Page 17.]
Original of a Verse of the "PetiiAe /Aen^mp (the Stanza for or the
September 3), ivith its Gloss, referring to the Library of fongarad
"LongA-pAt), in the time of Saint Cobtiin Cibbe. tury^™'
coLniAn 'ORomA penuA,
LonjAiiAT) 5RiAn AL<\ib,
nu\c msse co miUb
o clion-oeiiib iiiAiiAib.
l.on5v\i\A"o coi]'pin"o Ainiiij cbuAcbAc i cuAipcipc OppAije
.1. in llib "PoipcbeblAin .i. i IIIai^ ^aivxx), a n'Oi-pui^ic ^'^^^^'^•o
502 APPENDIX.
App. xvii. •pAiri'0]Ati"0, ocuf 1 Citt 5^bnA 1 Sleib IllAijAje, a X^ey lonjA-
Qf t,^g ^\AX). Coi^'pTTO .1. pTTO-pA-o ^CAt, mo|A z]\e HA choffAib; no
Litrary of rberiiTOA A corfA- SviTO te^iiTO, octif vencliAir, ocur bne-
(vi. Cen- cneiiinAii", octii' pLi*oeccAi ne. lb cluii;5e 'oojaaLa CoLum
'""^^^^ CibLe yo\\ Ai^i'oecbc, co]\ cbeit a bnibpA -jrAiii, octi-p irAcbAif
Cobtim CibLe b-|\et:1iin i:o]a a bebiAAibpub .1. conA]\bAr g^AerriAi
tjoc ep, obfe inni iniA iToeriAiio "o^AOchenecb. Ocu-p i^yet) on
■po coniAibbet), A\\ mA]\Aic nA bnibAi]\ beo]" ociif ni bejAnt)
nAcb i^ei^ eAC.
1ncAn *oin, bA ii"iA]\b "Lon^A^AAt) i^yet) innipc eobAij, ciaja
beAbA-|\ 6]Aenn 'oocuioni in ATochei^m. Ho ipAC nA ciaja
i]AAbACAiA liubAin cecb -OAnAi ipn A]\Aciib i^iAibe Cobum Cibbe
■pocbuici^er Ant). Octif niAccnAigit) Cobnin Cibbe octt-p CAcb
Tdui ipn C15 I'ln, ocni' -j^occaic tube y\w rbAi|Aincb]iicb nA
bebA^i, coniT) Ant) Acbe^ic Cobmn Cibbe: tonjA^it), obfe, m
OpiAigib .1. i"Ai CAC t)AnAi, AcbAcb innoppA. ^ouai coa p]Ae-
nnjAt) pn, ob iDAicbin. ^niAi]\pe a]\ p\\ binAit> int), a^
Cobtim Cibbe, octi]" t)ixic Cobtnn Cibbe: —
IS mAi\b t/on [ip iiiA]tb bon],
Xfo Chibb 5<'^1^<5^"0 tno^t nt)on,
t)e-|Mnt) conibA]A AcriteAb,
1c t)icb bepnt) octip -pcob
AcbAcb bon [AcbAcb bon],
1 Cibb 5<^b<^"o "lop ''1"' "oon,
1p t)irb be^int) ocu-p -[xob
1nt)-|"i Cjient) t)A]t a bo]i.
APPENDIX, No. XVIII. [Lect. II., Page 29.]
Leihafhe. 0/ "LecA, the cincient name for Italii in the Gaedhelic.
ancient Irish >/ ' j u
I'tuiT^"'^ That Letlia was the ancient name applied by the Gaedhil to Italy
(and particularly to that part of Italy in Avhich Kome is situated),
appears to be certain, from many old authorities. It is, however,
true that the same word was also used in reference to Letavia or
Armorica, that is, Brittany, in France. It is so used in the Trans-
lation of Nennius, in the Book of Ballymote, and the MS. H. 3. 17,
rr.C.D.) (See p. 69 of the " Irish Version of the Historia Bri-
tonum of Nennius", edited by the Eev. Dr. Todd, S.F.T.C.D., for
the Irish Archfeological Society, in 1848 ; and see a somewhat pert
note (Note XI.) at p. 19 of the Appendix to that volume, by
the late Hon. A. Herbert). See also Note H, on "The Ancient
Leatha", from Avhich Mr. Herbert might have learned to be a little
less authoritati\'e in the tone of his remarks, in the "Tribes and
APPENDIX. 503
Customs of Hy-Fiachracli\ edited by Dr. O'Donovan for the same app.xvtti.
Society, 1844 (p. 411). Dr. O'Donovan refers (ubi supra) to the
filth, sixth, and ninth quatrains of St. Fiach's Hymn to St. Patrick, ancient Irish
as applying the word Lethu or Leatha to Latium in Italy, and quotes "'^'"'^ f"'^'
Mr. Patrick Lynch's statement, on the other side, that this is an
error (see LjTich's Life of St. Patrick; Dublin, Haydock, 1828;
])p. 74, 75, 77, etc., and Note, p. 320). He refers also to the gloss on
the Felire Aenguis (at 27th June), and to a very ancient Irish stanza
quoted in the same work, as showing that the word was intended
primarily for Italy ; he quotes, to the same effect, a passage in Diiald
Mac Firbis' Genealogies ; and he refers to two additional authorities
in the Book of Lismore and the Book of Feenagh.
The following passages (including those referred to by Dr.
O'Donovan in the Felire) Avill be found, I think, conclusive on the
subject. The people called the " Britons of LetlicC Avere the people
of Armorica or Brittany ; but the word Letha is translated " La-
tium", or "Italy". Of the former use of the word Ave have
examples iu that passage from the Irish Translatioii of Nennius (in
the Book of Ballymote, and in H. 3. 1 7) : —
Octif 1]' K\-o fin bixeACAin teACA, "And these are the Britons of
etc. Leatha", etc.
And in the folloA\dng passage in the MS. H. 2. 16 (T.C.D.), col. 781 : —
O SCACA15 'buAnAn'o, injin A|\c " It Av^as from Scdthach of Bua-
■Jemme, x>o t)|\ecAin LecA, i:o|\05- tiaiini, the daughter of Art Gemm^, of
LAitTO CucuIaiito ha ctej^A. tlie Britons of Letf/a [Letavia] that
Cucliuluinn learned the feats of arms".
And in this passage in the Tale of Fraech Mac Fidhaigh, in the
Book of Fermoy (at present in the possession of the Rev. Dr. Todd,
S.F.T.C.D.) :—
nobtit) cocniAiAc CA|\ toej mbeo "That Avould be courting over a
■p-n, A]A "Oonn. II1 h-eAJ, A-p lllToip, living calf" [i. e., courting a woman
oi]\ -00 inA)\b CoiiaLI, ViAAec coha whose husband was living], said
ceiaiMin a bonjbA-iTOAib beuA, aj Donii. " It is not", said i1//f/(V, "for
inn]'Ai5e co h-ebpA. Conall has killed Fraech [the hus-
band] with his hand, in [among] the
Longbards of Letha, while going to
the Alps".
This Letha Avas probably Letavia, or Brittany.
The folloAving authorities, hoAvever, all specifically record the
exact meaning of the Avord Letha : —
The gloss on FiacKs Hymn, (Liber Hymnonun, T.C.D.) is this : —
■Do fATo cA-|\ eb-pA h--uite, He [the Angel Victor] sent him OA-cr
X3e niAi|\, bA Atn^A ^ecA, all the Alps, —
C011T0 -pA-pg^Ab La 5e]MiiAn, This was by far the most admirable
OiiToei' in x)efciu|Ac becA [.1. IcaIia, of runs, —
ubi |ruic JepuAn.] Until he took up with German,
In the south, in the south of Leiha
[i. e., Italia, ubi fuit German.]
504
APPENDIX.
App. XVIII. In the Felire Aenguis, at March 12, (in the Leahhar Mor Duna
Doighre, commonly called the Leabhar Breac, in the R.I. A.) it
Letha the . •. , n -,-,
ancient Irish IS ^vrltten as loilows :
name for
Italy.
JjMgoip Abb ■RuAtriA lAin 'teud.
" Gregory Abbot in full of Rome
OF Letha".
And in the verse of the same poem, as well as the gloss upon it,
at June 27, as follows : —
■Ro iD|AoinuA r:]\e niA|\u|\A
-AcA tiio|\ c]\iimi c|\ecAni
.U11. 1T0e|\bl\ACAl\ CAC1f
1 1liiAirti lecA becAni [.i. a nomine
lAcnnn .i. tecA.]
They were tested through martyr-
dom,
They are a powerful great sea, —
Seven valiant brothers,
In Rome of broad Letha [_i.e., a no-
mine Latium, i. e., Letha.]
Lastly, in the Glossary, H. 4. 22. T.C.D., p. 58 (a MS. of a.d.
1460), we find the Avord derived and explained.
teAcA .1. ©TDAit, no beiceAC. Leatha, i. e., Italy, or breadth.
The C'uil-
menn.
APPENDIX No. XIX. [Lect. II., Page 32.]
Original of passage in the t>eAb«.N]\ m6\\ 'OuriA 'Ooi^^^e (in the
JR. I. A. — commonly called the l^eAli)A]\ L)]\eAc), containing
the word Cuitmenn.
PjAomA -piiTO 'o'pe^AjA'L iTiAC llittiAm yo]i in CuiLmen'o o\X.
The Cail-
menn.
APPENDIX, No. XX. [Lect. II., Page 32, note ^^^^J
Original of passage concerning the xoord Cuitmenti in an
ancient Glossary, classed No. 74, R.I. A. — and another in the
ancient Glossary in the vellum MS. classed H. 3. 18., T.C.D .,
fol. 603.
ColAiTinA -|:eA]Ab .i. CtntnienriA ]:eA^\'b .i. cpoicne bo.
Ctntnienn .i. tebAp, uc e]x, be]\cA in fAi -pAiiA t)A]\eif in
Chuibineinri.
Of the
Beai\ Sidhe.
APPENDIX, No. XXI. [Lect II., Page 36 (note 23).]
Of the t)eii Sit)e. [Si-6. — "Pejip-oe. — tDenp-oe.]
The term si'o [pron. "^Aee"], as far as we know it, is always ap-
plied in old writings to the 2:)alaces, courts, halls, or residences of
those beings wMch in ancient Gaedhelic mythology held the place
which ghosts, phantoms, and fairies hold in the superstitions of the
present day. Of the yei\-fTOe [pron. "farr-shee", "man of the
Sidhs"^ and the ben-i-me [pron. "bann-shee", "woman of the
APPENDIX. 505
Sidhs"^ there were, however, two classes. One of these was sup- app. xxr.
posed to consist of demons, who took on themselves human bodies q^ j,,g
of man or woman, and by making love to the sons and daughters Sean Sidhe.
of men, and revealing to them delusive views of a glorious pros-
pective immortality, seduced them into a fatal union, by which they
were for ever lost from God. [See an example of this class in the
" Sick-bed of Cuchulainn", in the Atlantis, Nos. II., III.]
The second class consisted of the ciiaca "Oe •OAtiAnn, a people said
to have been devoted altogether to the practices of Druidism and
the Black Art. This people, in fact, were the possessors of Erinn
at the coming of the ^lilesian colony; and having been con-
quered by the ^Milesians, and disdaining to live in subjection to a
more material and less spiritual power than their own, their chiefs
were imagined to have put on the garb of a heathen immortality,
and selecting for themselves the most beautiful situations of hills,
lakes, islands, etc., throughout the land, to have built for them-
selves, or caused to spring up, splendid halls in the midst of those
chosen situations, into which they entered, draAvdng a veil of magic
around them to hide them from mortal eyes, but through which
they had power to see all that was passing on Earth. These im-
mortal mortals were then believed not only to take husbands and
wives from amongst the sons and daughters of men, but also to give
and receive mutual assistance in their battles and wars respectively.
[See the same Story pubHshed in the Atlantis.]
Numerous instances could be adduced to prove that the word
signifies a hall or residence of those immortals. The followdng
stanza is taken from an ancient poem by 3Iac Nia, son of Oenna
(of whom I knoAV nothing farther), [in the Book of Ballymote, fol.
190, b.] on the wonders of bjAuj (or 'biAGj) ha "boinne [the Palace of
the Boj-Tie], the celebrated Hall of the ■oa^'oo. nio-p, who was the
great king and oracle of the cuaca 'Oe "OAnA-nn. This poem begms :
" A cTiAemu 'b|\e5 "biMj riAt) 'bi\e5" (" Ye Poets of Bregia, of truth, not
false"), and this is the second stanza of that poem.
VejAi-o in fit) A^ i:o|\ fuil, Behold the Sidh before your eyes,
^\ -pcoe-pc ■oib ^'{^ cpeb -pij, It is manifest to you that it is a
flo 5iiiT) lAipn 'Oaj'oa m^ll1|^, king's mansion,
bA •oinn, bA -oun, Am^AA b]Ai j. Which was built by the firm
Daghda ;
It was a wonder, a court, an ad-
mirable hill.
(See also the most curious, though comparatively modem, Fair}'^
Lullaby, printed in Petrie's Ancient Music of Ireland, vol. i. p. 73.)
From all this it will be evident that ■peiA'pi-oe is a man of the im-
mortal mortal Sidlis, and that the ben-p'oe, so freely spoken of by
modern MT-iters on Irish Fairyism, was a woman of the Sidhs.
[See also the 'Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick', where the
daughters of King lAejAiixe ask him if his priests clad in white are
gods or ' pt^-j-TOe', i.e., men of the ptio, or Faiiy mansions, or phan-
toms.]
506
APPENDIX.
Extract
from the
Tdiu Bo
Chuaihjni.
APPENDIX, No. XXII. [Lect. II., Page 38.]
Original of the description of the champion UeocATO IDac
pAceiiiAin, from the Ancient Tale of the Uaiii bo Chu-
Aitjne.
Uaiiic biii"oen Aite aito tDiiA, pn rul-Aij cecnA i SleniAin
Tnit)e, yo\\ IIIac Hoc. tli comici^ tAec i]' cliAemivi iia in
tAec -f-Ail in Aipintic nA buitDni pn. "potu cobAc 'oeiAg-bui'oe
■pAip. /Aije-Q yocAin, -f-o^ibecAn tAi]']\ llofc iiojbAfi", jo-p-
■pAjraA, i-j^e cAin-oet-OA, jAjieccAC ha cint). "Pe-jA c6i]a ciiciAummA,
i]'e i:aca, yocAet, yobecAii. l3e6it "oei-ixg, cAnAi'oe beiiy.
IDeoic niAni-OA, neniAn-OA. Co]^p ^et, cne^^cA. CA^^An ^et-
"oepg 1 ^Aix)i tiAi'u. Co 6i|i ipn b]nicc oi^ a b]\i.inni. Lene
"oefnob -|Ai5 TiiA 'oe]\5pt'Luit) *oe 'oe|i5-6|\ p\i ^eb cnep\ 5^b
)"ciAch CO ctiAjtn'itAib 'oe]\5-6i]^ pM]^. CtAToeb 6|V0tii]An,
mclA]']"! i:-o|i A chbiu. ^6.e ]:aca -pAeboiv^bA-]', t\e fAjA -peig
l-'obAnuA, CO -puAnemnAib bojA, co i^emniAnnAib i:in-o]\uine
niA tAiin. CiA pic Abe, bA]i ^ibibb in 'Pe]\5ii]\ lT.ACA|:ecAm-
iiiA^i Am Abe, bA]\ fe^i^u]". 1]^ tec n^biAX) |"Ain ; i]' ^aIiut)
combAinx), 1]' boiTO-b]iuch nA]\con cAch cahic aito, lleocAit)
niAC pAcbemAin o Hig-oont) achait) An"o]"Ain.
v^ ^ ^ ^
Kxtiact
from tlie
Tain Bo
Ckuailgni.
APPENDIX, No. XXIII. [Lect. II., Page 38.]
Original of the description of the champion "Peji^nA, /rom tlie
same.
UAnic buToen Aibe Ant) "onA, ipn cubAig cecnA i SteniAin
tlli-oe, yo\\ niAc llocb. t^Aec beccon-i'ocA, o-ooitoa in Aipnuc
nAbui-ompn. pobc -oub i:ai]i. Sicb-bAbbi\At) (.i. coiya'^aca).
l3]iAcc 'oe\\^ pv cA-|"bAi imme. t)|ieccnAii" bAn-A^igAic ii^in
b^iiicc 6y A b]\tinni. t^eni binitJi pn cnep". Sciac q\o-'oe]\5
CO coni]\Aix) ]:ai|\. CbAi'oeb co niiTOiiiAn a^^aic bA]A a clibui.
Sbe^ mbbec, 6]i-c|\iii UA]ni. CiAp'ic Abe, bA]\ ^ibbb ]\\ ^e\\^\\\\
1lACA-}:ecAmA]i Am Abe, bAii pe]\5ui\ ^e:\\ c]\i -ntncce yin.
X^Y n" l^Aicci. pep C111 ^\AmACA. peii c]ii mb|\i^xi. JTep
cp mbuA-oA. ire]\ c]\i mbA^A, "Pe^ijnA niAC 'Pin'oconnA, -pi
l3l3|\A15 HbAt) ACUATO An-o^'Ain.
Extract
f 1 om the
Tciin Ho
Chuailgni.
APPENDIX, No. XXIV. [Lect. II., Page 38.]
Original of the description of Prince G"]ic, from the same.
UAnic buToen Aite Anx), "onA, pn cubAig i SteniAin ITIi-oe,
yop niAc Hoc. ^\- bi i'Dprnx) ecpAmAit \\\\- nA bii-onib
APPENDIX. 507
Ail.e. Aitt b]\uirc "oeinj. Ailt b]\iiir jIai]"^'. A^XX h]\\.nzx: app. xxiv.
5iii]\ni. ^\itt b]\uiuc tiAne, btAe, bAiiA, bui"oe. Iciac Aibte, Extract
eq\ocrA iiAini. 'llnx)'peo hiac liibec, riibjAecoe^Aj, co mh]\uzc ^^^^^^^^
co]\c]\A, ecti]\|\u bA]A ine-oon bA-oe^ym. 66 6i]\ i|" inb]\ucc chuaugni.
6\-A b]\iinni. tene "oe f]\6l, 1^15 bA tDei^jpncbui'o "oe "oei^j-
6]\ i:|\i ^eb-cneiY- ^^M'^^'^'^ 5*^ cuAgmibAib ■oe]\5-6ii\ |'ai]i.
UauL 6i]\ bA]\pn fciAC. bib 6^\\ iriA imcbinicbuibb. CLAix)eb
6]\t)Ui]An bee bA dioiiTiin Aice. 5<^® -^""^ er]\omm 50 ■po'pcA-
CAib UA]"u. CiA inir Abe, bA^^ ^ibibb ]\i 'Pei\5ii^\ 11 At)
■t>ecA|\-|"A Am, Abe, bA|A "Peiiju-p, innA]' ha binx)nii^m, iia in
in AC bee yib inci •O'f-AcbAib |ai tlbcAib "oa]! meij^; acc oen
bAT) "0615 biin^'A AiTO, coinci-p 1AC p]i UbemiAA im G-|ie ttiac
Vetdbiiii llociniuAip. tllAcp'oe CAi^Apiti HiA-pe^A.
APPENDIX, No. XXV. [Lect. II., Page 41.]
Of the Date of the Uaiii bo ClniAilsne. Date of the
J J O xdin Bo
The foUoAving is the entry, in the Annals of Tighernach (Paper MS. Chuaiigni.
in T.C.D. — H. 1. 8.), recording the death of Cuchidainn. The year
is entered in the margin, in the hand-\\i-iting of O'Flaherty, " Ann.
Chr. 39" :—
Kt. nio]\f ConctilAinn ■tro|\ri-p- "Kalend. Mors Cortc«/a(n« fortis-
pmi 1iei\o-p Scoco]\iim, Ia Iujait) simi heros Scotorum, by Luyaidh
[mv\c-iiA-c)M-Coti. octif l,A li-frpc] [the son of the three Ci('s*^3', and by
11K\c niic CAi]\|3)\e niA-pe^A, .tin. Ere] the son of tJie son of^^") Cairpr€
nibtiATDiiA A Aoi-p An tiAifv 'oo jAib Nktfer.^^^^ VII. j^ears was his age
jAii'ge-o. .XU11. An cAn boi An- when he took arms.^*-J XVII. when
■01A15 CAnA "bo CuAibjne. .x.wni. he was in pursuit of the Tain Bo
An CAn AcbAc. Chuailgne. XXVII. when he died".
The words in parenthesis, above, are "ni'itten in the margin of
the MS. (H. 1. 18., T.C.D.), in another hand, with a reference to
the text. Tliey are correct. Tlie text itself is not accurate (see
below, note^*"^). It is unfortunate that in this MS., as Avell as in
many other places, the age of Cucliulainn is recorded in numerals
only, all, probably, originally copied from the same ancient autho-
rity ; if Ave had it given in words at length, we should probably
have the truth of the record. HoAvever, it is not only extremely
improbable that the hero could haA-e died so young as at tAventy-
scA-en (considering Avhat Ave knoAV of his life and exploits, not only
in his OAA'n country, but abroad), but Ave have another detailed
account, much more consistent A\ath probability. It is that pre-
served in the MS. classed H. 3. 17., in the library of T.C.D. (p. 765).
(79) See Xote (18) [Appendix No. II.], post, pp. 478 and 479, as to this Lughaidh.
(80) These words, " the son of", in Italics, should he omitted, ^rc was the son of Cairpri,
not his grandson.
(81) Cairpri Xvifer was Alonarch of Erinn (i.e., king at Tara) according to many of the
ancient Tales ; yet his name does not appear in the Reim Rioghraidhe, nor is it recorded in
the Annals of the Four Masters. [See an example of reference to this Monarch, post. Appendix
XXA'III., and particularly at page .HIS]
(S2) That is, was admitted into the order of Champions, or, as it would be expressed in
modern times, of Knighthood.
508 APPENDIX.
App. XXV. (a MS. of wliicli tills portion dates about 1460), from which I may
extract here this passage : —
Date of the -!_ 11 1 11.
Tain Bo Da "OeiT:nDei|\ "OO ptl "0110 A\\ 'OODA'OAH "OA DUA'OAin
ChuatlgiU. ^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ CUCAt) CAcIl T)]\OinA C]\1A-6, OCU]" "HO JAb
*OeichciAi A inACAi]A I/U^ait) RiAbn'oe]\5 in aLcu]" a|aa i^^acI"),
ocu]" y^o boi .uii. mbhiA-onA pcceAt) A Aef m caii i\o
bo iTiA|^b Cocbo Ai]Miim i "PiAemAtTO, ocu]- x)a bbiA-oAin a\\
.xx.AC [a] Ae]' An CAn [niAiAbAt)]. e-ice|\]"cet ('d-tll. 5080) 15
dp]iAic -AijA^i Al1lAi]xm, octi'p ifin bbiA-OAin cAnAifce iA]Apn
cttcA-o in UAin a chaij'oo jieijiAn cfbeAccApn. Octif bA-OA]i
meic ChAitium .11111. mbbiA'onA a]\ UAnAit) 50 n"oeACAt)A]\ -oo
■oeAnAin a -po^tAmuA, a]i bA-OA^i nA nAitDeAnAib a cbuvbAnAib
in CAn 110 niA]\bA"o a nAchAi^A .ix. mbbiA-onA "ooib ia-ji pn A5
•oenATn Ai'oj'LAmcA .uii. mbbiA-onA iA]ipn ■pogbAnn Ag "oenAni
A nA]Am, A]A ni -pAijbAiceA acc Aen 1a yA bbiA^Ain a njAi ;
octj-p cp bbiA-onA AjA pn -po bA-OAiA meic CliAibinn 15 cinob
ocnp 15 coceA^'CAb "peAp n6i]AeAnn 50 iDebAcb tl1ic tlibc 1
tiling llluipceiiine. ^^^''^'o ^''^ btiAX)Ain nA UAnA in nAemAT)
bbiA'OAin "oeg a]i "oa .xx.'oib Aep ConctibAinn, o Aicbe a
genAinnA co 1iAic1ie a bAip, ocup a .n'l'i.xx. "oo Aip ConAipe
'oo cAicb CncubAnn ; ocu]" a ciito btiA-OAn ]io niApb CeAC
ConcobA]A "o'lncinT) ITIeppgeA-opA. ConAt) AniAib pin imup]Ao,
•00 peip 1leiT)e I11 tllAOilconAiiAe ocup 'plAinn IllAini-p'opecli.
[translation.
[He had cause for that noAv ; for tAvelve years was his age when
the battle of Druim Criadli was fought. And his mother, Dectirey
took Lughaidh Riahli n-Derg to nurse, under his protection. And
TAventy-seven years was his age Avhen Eocho Airiumh Avas killed at
Fremhainn; and Forty-tA\'o years Avas his age when Eterscel was
killed at Tiprait Airghi at Maistin; and it AA^as in the second year
after that the Tain was carried off from the North, according to
this account. And the sons of Cailitin AA^ere eight years after the
Tain before they AA'ent to pursue their learning ; for they AA^ere
but infants in cradles at the time that their father Avas killed.
Nine years for them after that, pursuing their learning ; seven
years after finishing their learning AA^as spent in making their
weapons, because there could be found but one day in the year to
make their spears. And three years after that did the sons of
Cailitin spend in assembling and marching the men of Erinn to
Belach Mic Uilc, in Magh Muirtheimne. So that the year of the
Tain was the fifty-ninth year of Cuchulainn's age, from the night of
his birth to the night of his death. And it Avas TAA^enty-seven
years of the age of Conaire [_M6r\ Cuchulainn spent ; and it AA^as in
a year after Ceat killed Concohar with MesgedhrcCs brain. So that
that such is the fact, according to Neidlu 0\Maoilchonaire, and
Flann of the INIonastery.]
APPENDIX.
509
The following passage is, however, very strong in favoui* of the app. xxv.
record first above quoted. It is indeed subject to the same objec-
tion, that the numbers are expressed by numeral letters, not by Tain no
words in full. It is, however, so minute in the calculations it con- Cimaiigni.
tains, that it is but right to insert it here in full. It is taken from
the Book of Ballyjiote (in the R.I.A.), where it occurs at fol.
7. a. a., in a tract which is identified in a note in the margin, in the
handwriting of no less an authority than Charles O'Conor of BaUy-
nagar, as the Synchronisms of Flann of Monasterboice (see Lect. III.,
p. 53 ; and ante) : —
1]^iii ccAciuMiiA-o bliA-OAiii "oeg "oo ^M^e ConAi]\e ocui^ Con-
cobAi]\ \\o ^eiiAi^A tnuiixe; ocu-]" .xiii. bA -pbAn tdo ChomciiiAiiTO
Anx)pn ; ocu]' ipn ceACjAAmAX) bbiA-OAin ia]a n^ein 1Tlui]\e,
l^luAi^e-o Uatia bo CuAiljne. ^i' yobbuf Ay -|^in ^ti^Ab
cAe]XA UAin HA l3]\UToin ; o]\ x)6i5 ^\- aito i^aii occinAX) nibbiA-
"OAiii "oe^ '00 juge Con<M]\e -I'buAi^e-o Uaiia 06 CuAibgne.
Secc inbliA-onA x>e^ bA ylAii -oo CoincubAUTO AtTOfin .i. i-pA
X)A\\A bliAX)Ain -oeg a]\ .xx. "oo i^i^e OccApn luju^-o in
ybuAi^et) ce-onA. Occ mbbiA'onA ia]\ i^luAi^ex) Uatia Do
CuAib^ne -|\o ^enAiji C-|Ai-pc, ocuf bA i^Iaii -oa btiAX)Aiii 1365
x>o inui]\e Annym; octif .xb. bbi-A-OAn bA i^Uxn -D'OccAirm iriA
IMje Ann]^in, ocu]' in .ui.e-o bbiAtJAin .xx. -oo ^ii^e ConAi]\e
ocuf ConcobAip; ocuf "oa bbiATJAin ia]\ njein Cpifc ccai^-oo
CucuiAin-o ; ocvif .un. bliAt)Ain .xx. i^Aejub ConcubAint)
copn,
[TR.\is'SLATION.]
[In the fourteenth year of the reign of Conat're','-^^ and of Concho-
bar,'-^*^ Mary [the Blessed Virgin] was born, and thirteen [years]
Cuchulainn had completed at that time ; and in the fourth year after
the birth of ISIary, the Expedition of the Tain Bo Chuailgne [took
place]. It is manifest from that the Tain was sooner than the
Bruidhen ;'-^^^ for it was in the eighteenth year of the reign of Conaire
that the Expedition of the Tain Bo Chuailgne occurred. Seventeen
years had Cuchulainn completed at that time, that is, it was in the
thirty-second year of the reign of Octafin Jugust [Octavius Augustus]
that the same Expedition took place. Eight years after the Expe-
dition of the Tain Bo Chuailgne Christ was born, and Mary had
completed tAvelve years then, and forty years complete had Octafin
[Octavius] been in his reign then ; and in the twenty-sixth year of
the reign of Conaire and Conchobar, and in two years after the birth
of Christ, Cuchulainn died ; and twenty-seven years was Cuchulainn s
age to that.]
(83) Conairi M6r, Slonarcli of Erinn (see account of the Bruighean Da Derga, in Lecture
XII., ante). According to the Annals of the Four Masters, Cunairi ascended the throne
B.C. 109, and was killed B.C. 40. The former date is evidently wrong.
(84) Conchobar Mac Nessa, King of Lister, contemporary with the Monarch Conairi.
(85) The Bruighean Da Derga, when Conairi Mdr was killed (b.c. 40).
510 APPENDIX.
App. XXVI. APPENDIX, No. XXVI. [Lect. II., Page 44.]
Description Original of the description of the Jlfonarch CojAiriAC 1TIac ^i^c,
conwc liiae <^^ ^^^^ Assembly of Tara {at the commencement of the third
Bo'okoVt'a- century); from the Book of BaUymote (fol. 142 b.b.), on the
congbkaii. authority of the lost Book of the Ua 011011513^1 1.
Til tiA-pAl o|\iii'oe ^\o 5AbA^xA]\ 'p'LAicuif ocii-|" i:o]itAiiiii|" fe]\
n-e-]\eiiii ]:eAcc riAiit .1. Co]\niAc Ha Cuinx) ep-oe. t)A Iati
in bic "oo 5AC niAic ]iu\ bni'o in jn^pn ; bAime-p ocu-|' ctA|' octj-p
iiiu]\co^\A'6, bAi p"6 ocn-p -pAiine ocu]" imbA. tli bcvi jnin, nA
"oibe^^j pnA -|\epin acc cac nA nniA-o "oncAi-o fo-oein.
'Oo]\ectTiAin5 iA]\uni, niAiti i:eA|i nG^ienn ic ob "Pep Uem]u\c
ini ClionniAC, yeAcc Ant). ^pAt) yo nA "Hi^a bA 1111 coj'ca'o nA
•{.-beip .1. 'Pe]\5U|" 'Onb'oe'OAc, ocu-|' Gocaix) 5^^i^<'^'^» "o<^ I^^S
UbAt). 'Ounbunj niAC CnnA lliAt), pj LAijen. Co|imAC CA-p,
niAC AibibbA Oltiim, ocnp piACU ITluibbecAn niAc GojAin, "oa
1115 TTIniiiAn. II1A iii6i\ HIac Lii^ait) "Pi-nc^n .1. iriAC niACA-|i
Clio]\mAic, ocnp -dex) niAC e-c1iAc1i inic ConAibb, "oa ]\^^ Con
nAcbc. Oen^np ^^'^ifi-^^s^'^c, ^\i iDjieAg. pe]\At)AC tiiac <\pAib
imc Cmnn 'P'enne'OA, ]\^ llli-oi.
IS AinbAix) -oo cingcip AenAip ocn-p nio^TOAbAbA pi]\u Gj^enn
ip in AiiiTi'i]\pin : cac p cunA cbAcc pg timie, ocnp conA
CAcbAii-p 6]\-OA pA ceAiin ; nAi^A ni jAb-OAip rtnonnA pg'OA po]ipo
ACC A ]1A1 CACA n Am 111 A.
AbAint) cAinic Co]nnAc ipn iii6]\t)Aib pin, oip ni CAinic
pAiiiAib A "oebbApon acc ConAipe lllop niAC G-oeiipceoib, 110
ConcobAp mAC CAcbAt), no Aen^tip iiiac m 'Oaj'oa. \)a "oep-
pcAi jcec cpA, ecopc ChopmAic ipin *OAitpin. ITlong boAccA,
pocAppA, p-o]\6]TOA p'Ai]\. 'Oeji^bocoi'o CO pin-oui, octip co nnbti
6ip ocup CO cnA5X)'|\uiiiinib ai]\51'o p'Aip. D]\ac co]\c]\a, CAp-
bcAccA mine. LiA-oeAbj oip po]\ AbpnnToi. Illuncoiic 61 p 1111
A bpA^AiT). b/cni geAb, cubpAt)AC, CO nt)ep5 inx)buiT) (6ip)
tiiine. Cpp 6ip 50 njeniAib "oo bij bo^iiiAi]! cAi]\ip. 'Oa A]yA
mogbAi^i, 6pT)A, CO pibbAib 6ip mine. X)C\ fbeg opcpAi nA bAini,
CO n"0UAbAib ini*0A x)on cpe-omiiAe. IS eipiin lApmn, cpucAc,
CAem cen Ainnii ^en ACAip. IDApbeAc bA p^]\op *oo neinconx)Aib
|\obA"o inA cint). 'OA]\beAC bA -onAb pApcAinji Abeb; bA Jibi-
ce]i pneAccA a copp ivveiroenmAC. IDa CApniAib p"]\i pA]\cbi CAilbi,
no piAn pbeibi a5]\uai'0. CopniAib y]\^ bnJAApnbi. CopiiiAib
pn cAicneAiii njopinbAinni a niAibji, ocup a AbjiAt).
1S epin ct^A, cpucli ocnp ecopc p-o n'oeocbAix) CopniAc ipin
mop-OAib pn p^cAp nG-penn. Ocnp ipe-o Acbepcpon'i, ip ipin
connDAib ip Aipeg-OA "oo lAOiiAt) AnG]\inn piA cpei"oeAm, UAip
ipiAt) nA piiiAccA ocnp nA iieccA 'oo ponA"o pin "OAibpin mepup
AnGpinn co b]iAC.
APPENDIX. 511
-Al'be^xcACAU niAici ^e]\ tiG]\enn cac "oo^tou'oa'o y:o]\ a ceccA ap. xxyi.
yem aco .1. e-oy-\\ ]\1^]^<^^v^, ocu]" ottAninAib, ocui"0]\uca, ocu-p
biuitut), ocur AinrA, ocur cac "OAiii otceAtiA: on bA "oenb teo of king
' "^ . ! ' ' ^ '11 ^^' ^ Cormac Mac
iii-oo]\]\x)ii5U'o -oo gencA Ane-i\inii 1^111 "OAiL^'in la p]\vi i-o-ola, ^fw, inthe
CO]\ob e X)0 blAt) ITTOCI CO b]\AC. 11a1]\ on UAII ^\UC AmAIIA^in ^conabhau'^'
^lun^eb, in pbi, cet) b^iec AnC]\inn i\obA "La pte'OAib in
AenujA b]\eicemnA-p cii]" An imACAbtAini in -oa UlniA]A ine-AtnAin
111aca .1. "pe^iceiAcne pbi, ocu]" Hei-oi niAC A-onA, iiia ciii^ni j
obl^MiiAii. Oa •oo]\ca "Gin, acac in tAb|\A "oo lAbAiiAi^eAT) nA
IMbit) i]^in yui jibti'in, ocu]" ni]\bo tei]A -oonA -jM^Aib ocu]' "oonA
irileA-OvMb m b]\eiceninu]']\tic-]'A'o. 1S Lai" nA p]\ui'A AiiAenufA
A mbnec, ocu-p Aenm-p ocuy eoiuf , "po-pf nA -pij, ni cmcemni ce-
tDii]" A -pAi-oic. IS menn, •ono, ol ConcobA-p, bie-o cint) "00 cac
An-o]'om on"oiu cob]AAC, acc An b]\ec x)ucai5 'ooibfeom -oe, ni
]AicpA An Ailb, ^ebiT) cac a n'0]\ecrA -oe. UAttAX) X)no, b]\eiceAm-
nAp A]\ yiteA-oAib An-opn acc a n-oiicliAi^ *6e, ocup lAojAb cac
'ope]AAib G]\enn a XJ^ecu *oin b]\eicertinup; AiriAib ^AojAb-pAt)
b]\eiceA CcAC mic Lucca, ocu]' b]\ecA ^ACcnA inic ScAncA-OA,
ocu-)^ 5^i^V^^^ CAHA"oniA"o Uepcci, ocu-p b]AecA lllo^uvinx) mic
tTlAin, ocup bjACCA Co^Ain mic 'Ou-p-pcAcc, ocu-|" b|\ecA TDoec
Hemci, ocu]^ bpecA t)]\i5i AmbAi, ocu|" b^iecA 'OiAncecc o
bei^ib. Ce -|Aobc\-oA]Apin In cuf ipin Aimp]A pn, conAimcicAiA
mAici -peA]\ n6]\enn comu]" nAi ocu]" in-o-jxi "oo cac ia]a nA
miATDAiiibAcc \\o 5Ab-|'At) i-|' UA b|\ecAib "neimeA-o. Ho meA-j^c
cac Ap\ -OAn A cete A|\i-p co cauic in m6|TOAibpin nii Cho|\tTiAC.
■Ro •oeibig-i^e'o "oin, A-|\i-p Ae-|" caca "OAnA -p]UA Ajioibi i]^in mo-p-
•OAibpn, ocu-p |\o bo-|AX)Ai'6 cac -o'lb -po^v a -oAn ■oVieA]'.
[See also the "LeAbAi^ t)uit)e t/CCAin (M.S., T.C.D., H. 2.
16.) fol. 886.]
APPENDIX, No. XXVII. [Lect. II., Page 47.]
Original of the commencement of the Preface to the '■'■Book of Extract
AcAibL" (in the vellum MS. classed E. 3. 5., T.C.D.) to"the B^ook^
^ of Acaill, —
LOC X)0n Liubu^\ yo AlClLL A]! AlCe UemAljl, OCU]- A11Tl-|'e-|1 "OO attributed
Aimpi]\ Coipp]\1 Llp'ec1lA1]1, line CopmAIC, ocu-p pe^\fA X)0 macMae"^'
Co]uiiAC, ocup cucAic A-oenmA, CAecliAt) Co]\mAic -oo Aen^xiy ^^^''
^AbuAi-oecb, iA]\ puv\cAc1i inpne So]iai]a mic A]\r Chui^ip "oo
ChetbAch, mAC Co|uiiaic. Ai]u GcIica in cAen^u-p ^AbuAi-
-oecb pn ac "oigAib 5]^eip cennub a cuAcbAib tui^ne, ocu-p
"Oo cuAit) A cec muA Ant), ocu-p ac ib boim a-|\ eicin aito ;
ocu-p -|\o bA cb6]\A -OAic, Api in ben, in^en "oo b-jiAcliApi tDO
•oijAib A]\ Cebl<\ch mAC Co]unAic, ua mo biAT)pA a]\ eicin "00
512 APPENDIX.
AP. XXVII. cAicheAni ; ocu-|' rn i\i.iiinenn tebii]i otc "oo 'oenAni '^\ty in
Extract nifiAi, Achc "OO ctiATO peiiiie -oo iiTOj^Ai^TO HA UcmnAC. Ocuf
to^tiieBook^ ""^l^ jTUinet) -njiAeine ]\o I'lAchc co Uein^AAij, ocuy jei-p vo
of Acaiii,— ■CemjAAij Ai]\ni tAich "OO b^\eic1i itroce lA-p -|:viine-6 i"!5|\eine,
to king Cor- ACC tlA llA1]Mn "00 eClllAICI)" IITOCC ; OCU]' 1AO JAb Acn^tll" 111
Airi.'^^'^'^ CjumAbt Co]unAic AiuiA]' VA beAbcAin^, ociif cue buille
t)! A CettAc 111AC Co]\inAic co]A iiiA]AbtiixA]\ he; co]a ben a
lieochATu "OA^A innb Cho]\niAic co -|\o tec CAech he, ociij" -i\o ben
A hujAbunn a n"0|aiini -pechcAi]\e nA Uem]\Ach, ACACA^A^AAing a
CebbAC, CO ]\o mA^bn^xA^A he; ocuy bA jei]" ^15 co nAinim
•oo bic A Uem]AAi5, ocu^^ i\o cuine-o Co]\mAC aiiiac "Oa beijei'
CO Aicitt A]i Aici UemAi]); ocui" -|\o ciceA Uenu\i]\ a hAicitt
ocuf ni ]:AicceA Aicitt a UeniAi^i; ocu]" cucAt) 1^51 n-e-i-jxenn
r>o Coi|Ap]ii tyi):echAiiA, hiac Co^miAic; ociif if Ann pn X)o
planet) in lebA^A 1^0 ; ocvii^ if e if cine "00 CofiiiAc Ant), cAch
IdaiI aca " bW ocuf "A iheic AfA feife]\"; ocuf ife-o if
ctnc "DO Cin"OfAel,A-6, cac ni ochA fin aiiiac.
APPENDIX, No. XXVIII. [Lect. II., Page 49 and
Page 51, note. ^=^^']
Further Original of the remainder of the Preface to the ^'■Booh of ^cAibl",
Preface to'" giving the explanation of the word ^icill or ^CAibl.
tlie Book A A J, xii /~.
of^raiw,— ^icibL pn, uch oLL "00 fi^ne 'AiceLL, mren CAifpfi, Ann a
attributed ^ • ^ >-» 1 ' 1
to king Co?-- cAinex) ei]\c nnc CAi]\pfi a "oeiibfAchAf ; ocuf -oeifmifecc
Ai]i fin :
Ingen CAifp]\i, "oo iiocAif,
1f -00 peTotenn lloc^iocAij,
'Oo cuiiiAi^ e-ifc, Aebx)A in f Aint),
5^ec 1 n-o'i^Ait ConculAinn.
Ho, Aicebt, ben Cifc mic Cc\ifp]\i bA niAfb "oo cuniAit) a
fif Ant), Af nA niAfbAt) t)o ChonAlt Cef nAC ; ociif t)eif-
mif ecc Aif :
ConAbL Ce]\nAch cue ceAnn Gifc
He CAeb UenifAC nn cfAc ceifc;
If cfUAJ in gn'im t)o t)ecAit) t)e,
U]\ifet) e]\it)i uAif Aicbe!
TTIa fo bAi Aft»Afc t)li5et) Ann, if i eifie cucAt) Ann fin,
Achc rriA fo bi fAeff Ach a]\ IllAig Of eg, Ainuit x>o beifcheA
fAeffAch t)on t»Af a beich, ocuf t»Ae]\fAch t)on tec Aite, im
A tec A fAef Aicittnecc ocuf in tec Aite i n-t)Aef Aicittne.
TTlAnA fAibe fAeffAch^*"^^ offA icif, if i eific cucAt) Ann
(*^)Sao|\|\aic.i. cin jiAllnAtr^MAlAim, cm cu]\u bei<icc-pui-pcin .LATOiciti
riArriA. ni pi mec tiibiT) "oon ^tIaic lAif in I05 pn .1. cem cAi|\e Aimp|\ c6i|\,
no citj Ainmec & mb]\c\ic1i .1. ]"cecce. [H. 3. 18. 380. T.C.T).']
mac Mac
Airt.
APPENDIX. 513
pn Anniit -oo biAt) a ^'Ae|\nAr1i no ieic ocii-p "OAenjAAc "oon ap. xxvni.
ieic Aite, miA tech a |v\e]i Aicittne ocuf in tec Aite i n--OAe]i p„,.ther
AlClttnechc. extract
... 1 4 . . ,4.4 fiom i'leface
niAJiA •|\oiDe A^TOAjic ■oti5e'o Ann, If ce^c CAicn Aimnt Ato.iieBook
^©t^^- attributed
Ocuf ■oo fACACtiffiini in fe]\Ann octif "oo cuaca]\ biit)e|\ ^o^'^ffj^"'"
UA 1AC *Oei]n pui^ic LAe^liAi^ve, no pui]\c t-Aiji^i lo^c 6 pn 'i"'-
Ate.
A toe ociif A v\imfe]\ k\]\ Co]MnAC conici pn.
THaX) ia]\ Cint)p\etA-6 inni|A]\o, toe "Oo 'OAi|\e 1/UHAm, octi-p
Ainife^A "oo Aim-peAi^ *OomnAitt inie Ae-OA, mic Ainini]\ec ; octi-p
pejAfA "OO CentJfAetAX), ocuf cticAic a "oemriA, a incint) tae-p-
nuMC "oo buAin a cino Cm-ofAetATO ia)i nA feotcvvo a CAch
niAi^e IxAch.
Ueo]AA biiA'OA in CAcbA fin : mAi-oiTi A]\ Con^At CtAen inA
Anpf, |\e "OoinnAtt inA pfin-oe, ociif Sinbne ^e^bc -oo "out
Af ^etcAcc, ocuf A incinn "oefniAic "oo buAin a cint* Cinx)-
fAetAit) ; ocu-p nocA ne-o pn if buAi-o Ann, Suibm -oo "out a^i
jetcAcc, Acc A|\ f ACAib "oo f eetAib ocuf "oo tAi-oib "oia eif i
n-Gipn-o ; octif nocA ne-6 if biiAi-6 a incin"o 'oefnu\ic 'oo
buAin A cinn CinnfAetAit) acc a neoc fo fACAib oa oe^fAifi
tebA-|\t)A OAji A beif i n-Gifino; co ]\ijcat) be oa belief co
cecb t)ficini UtiAinA TDfecAin ; ociif cp fcotA -oo bi if in
bAite; fcot teigino, fcot feinecAif, ocuf fcot ptioeccA;
ocuf CAc ni "oo ctnine-ofum 'o'AinAinx)p nA cp foot caca
tAe "oo bi x)o ^tAn mebf u caca nAi-oce ; ocuf oo ciiif puin gtAn
fnAici ptioeccA ftiicit), octif oo fcfibftim iac AbecAib, ocu]'
CAibtib, ocuf fo cuif feic a cAipc tiubAif.
[The following is the original of the version of the latter portion
of this passage, quoted in the Note ('^), at P. 51, from the MS.
classed H. 3. 18. (in the Library of T.C.D.), fob 399] :—
Octif if Ano oo p^neo a be^if a UuAini n'0]\e5An, a coin-
f AC nA cp ff Aioeo, loif ci5ib nA cp fUAO .i. fAi feineAcbAif,
ocuf fAi pbioeccA, ociif fAi beigino. Ociif in neocb oo
CAnoif nA cfi fjobA jAch bAe oo bi Aipptini c]Ae jeife
in inocbeccA ^Ach nAioce; ocuf in neocb bA bmcAiffencA
beif oe, oo be]uo ^bunpiAicbe pbioeccA fAi, octif ]\o f5]MbcA
Aice be A CAibc bibAi]\.
[The follomng is the poem by Cinaeth G'Hartigain (a.d. 973),
alliided to ia the Note (^*) at Page 49. It is preserved iu the Book
of BalljTnote (fob 189. b.)] :—
OumA nei\c cAtiA]' •fvo liOkinm- Erc's mound, whence is it named ?
■mjeA'D ? rii ViAnri'pAni pn. It is not diflSciilt to tell that.
'e|\c mAc CAi-ppfM lliApe]\, 111AC Ere was the son of Cairpri Nia-
■^en lloyA Uuai'6, ]\i tAijen. Ocu]" fear, who was the son of Ros Ruadh,
33
514
APPENDIX,
AP. XXVIll.
Further
extract
from Preface
to the Book
of Acaill, —
attributed
to kinj; Cor-
mac Mac
Airt.
^f& e^Ac ]\o ben a ceiTo -01 Cliomcu-
Laiitii. i'etjteiii ■ono, rioc-pocluMg,
mjen ClioncobAi|\ nnc ne-p|'<x, ben
CliAii\pfe, [niAUAi^x] e-i\c octif Aicbe.
Comocui'oci'o ConAtb Ce]\nAc 'oo
•oijAib ConcubAinn fo^s e^c, co
COl\CA11\ Ant) e|\C OCUf CO CtlCAT) A
cenn co Cein^AAij -ptMA CAi-pebbA'6.
Co cAinic AcAbL A 'oei\bfiui\ a 111111-
CAib 6 A pu-fv .1. 6 5lAn inAC Cai\-
bAT), "oiA cAinni-G a b]\AuA|\ ; com-
bAei nAi cj\AC oc gubA ; co]\ cno-
niui'6 A ciMTDi nToci ; ociij' AT)be|\c a
ViA-onACAL ocLi-p A -omnA Ai)\in An
■j:AicT:eT)i A'onACAl &]\c octif a -ouniA.
tint)© "OuniA ei\c octif "OumA -Aide
noininAuuiA.
CmAecli .I1. liAjxcAgAn foi^f-
CmAeu .I1. 1iA]\CA5An. cc.
AcaII A]\Aicce CeinAi|v
■Roi-CAyvpAT) 015 A beniAin,
■nocAineA-o mcAn AcbAc
Ain^oeix gel ^loin niic CA1^bu■o.
Ingen CAi]\'p]Ai -ooiaocaiia —
Injen •oo VeT)1iTii noc|\oc1iAi5 —
"Oo cuinAi-o ©lAc, ei\ccA ixAint),
5AeT> A n^oigAil ConctilAint).
ConAll Ce^vnAc C115 ceAn-o &]\c
■Oociim i:enii\A 1111 cpAc ce^c,
CjMiAj injnini "ooyvijneD •oe,
"b^iffeT) cixAiTDi tu\^\ Aide. A
"OuinA "PinT), *DtiinA nA nt3)\iiA'o,
"OuinA C]\e'oni jixma-o &]\ jimiat),
"OuniA i>ion'oe|\nA'o jlecc gle,
"OuniA eyvc, 'ouiTiA Aide. A
Tahja'daia niAice uIa-o
1w ConcobA-p nA cu^xat),
RoTreixrAt) 5]\AfDAin-o jiIjIaui,
•o'AcAiil Ap Aice CeniAiiA.
"OtimA ne^vc ni aicoi ci\eA^,
Sin •o]\iiini y:\v\ UemAi|\ Anne)%
frfvc If Ann cAinig A|\e,
■Oe|\b)\AcliAi|\ AlAirnD Aide. A
King of Laighin (Leinster). And it
was Ere that cut his head off Cnchu-
lainn. Fedlem Nochrothaifjh (of the
ever new beauty), daughter of Con-
chobar Mac Nessa (King of Ulster),
was the mother of Ere and Aeaill.
And Conall Cearnach now came to
avenge Cuchulainn on Ere ; and Ere
fell on tlie occasion, and liis head was
brought to Teamair to be exiiibited.
Acaill, his sister, came out of Ulster
from her husband, namely, Glan, the
son of Cur bud, to lament her brother ;
and she was nine nights at mourning,
until her heart burst nutwise within
her ; and she desired that her grave
and her mound should be in a i)lace
from which the grave of Ere aud his
mound could be seen. Undo Erc's
Mound, aud Acall's Moundnomiuatur.
Cinaeth G'Hartagan this below.
Cinaeth O' Hartagan cecinit,
Acall hard by Temuir,
Was beloved by youths from Ema-
nia —
Was mourned when she died, —
The white spouse of Glan, son of
Carbud,
Cairjm's daughter that died —
Daughter to Fedldim Nochrothaigh—
Of grief for Ere, of whom verses
were filled,
Who was slain in revenge for
Cuchulainn.
It was Conall Cernaeh that brought
Ere's head
Unto Temair at the third hour ;
Sadtlie deed that was effected of it —
The breaking of AcaWs noble heart.
The mound of Finn, the mound of
the Druids,
The mound of Crcdni, cheek by
cheek ;
A mound at which was fought a
gallant fight, —
The mound of Ere, the mound of
Acall.
They came — the noblest of Ulster —
Along with Conehobar of the cham-
l>ions ;
They performed bright pure games
For Acall hard by Temair.
The mound of Ere is no narrow
work.
In the hill by Temair on the
south —
Ere, it was there his career was
ended.
The beautiful brother oi Acall.
APPENDIX.
515
■OuiiiA riA n'OiuiA'O ■piM-p Aney,
T:emM\\ 11 v\ ]\^■^, 111 ^Mgle^^
V|M CeiTIAl]\ <.\11A1J\ AIIAtL
IfATHipn AubAc ACAtt. A
noco CA^MD A|^ CALriiAin cf ai 5,
\3ux> feAjiix 1111 biu\|\ 110 1111 jtiAvo,
noco]\ aIc 1 CeiiiAii\ caII.
ben buT) v'^^^IM^ ^^'''^ AcaLL. A
O5IAC •oti CAi^ipiM 11lA|^eA|\,
OodAiT) 5A^\b, 5e|\Aic ^AiTiel,
CApiiAi-pc combeic 111 tiia cIahiii
ViMpn 111115111, -(qM liAcAiLU A
■Oo bni]\ cei]'C fUAicmg AiApii,
'Oa|\ 1115111 CAi|\p|\i ciMcliij;
TlAC |^|\1U A 1lUA1|\ CAI'OI CaLI,
Sec ogniriAib Aitli AccAfL. A
b|\Ac1iAii\ Viii'o A liAibimn tuMji,
1^' OltlLiA A C|\UAc1lA111 C]M,1Ani),
CAi)\p|vi nico 1 CeinAi|v caLL,
■OiA|\bo nijeAii pAti AcaLI. A
In cinAt) icAT) A^ nee
llobAe CAibL ciMtJ A^i CAc tec,
Ci|\ in &5if, ItlAine niAiLi,
■Oo gAi^ci 'oe |\e nAcAibi. A
DlA^Ai-o tlAic ConAi)\e cAin,
tnA^VAIT) tlAIC CAlfpiM C|\1CA15;
ni iiiAi^ ^W^ -pii no caII,
Til tiiAi]\ e^c, ni inAi|\ AcAtt.
'SAn-o^^Ain ^OA-onACu in ben,
Injen aiii^ojii nAii^Ai'oeA'L;
UoclAI'Oe'O -01 111 llACf A UAti,
"Oa f11AH\ A VlATOeA'O, ACAtt. A
Se mnA ^y peA|\'t\ |\obAei A]\ biu te,
X)Ayie^\■ mviii\e tllAcliAip ["Oe,]
tneiDb, SAT>b, SA-pAi-o ■peg'OA,
■RAin-o, [recte ■pAin-o]
e^AC, If eme^, il' AcAibL. A
5iii'oiiii tYlAC "Oe "00 ^At* infei^5
Ca]a IITeTjb tec'oeiig, "OAy^ nieiab
n'oei\5,
"OA^A SAI'ob, •DA^A SA^Vtll'O, ■OA|\
■JTAin-o,
"OAjA jAljAb, -OAIX e^lC, X)A'(^
ACAlbi. A
The mound of the Druids, by it on ^p. xxviii.
the south
Temair of the Kings, the kingly Fmther
Court; — extract
By Temair on the east hither, to°ihe^Bo^r
It was there died Acall. of Acaill,—
Theredid not layupon the earth a foot, attributed
One better to bestow kine and steeds; ^" ^"^s Cor-
There was not nursed in Temair ^2ir(. ""^
within
A woman better than Acall.
A soldier of Cairpri Nia-fear,
Eochaidh Garbh, — champion of the
Gaedhil, —
Was anxious to have some of his
children
By the maiden, by Acall.
I will give a high character, therefore.
Upon the daughter of Cairpri of
territories, —
That for her abduction no time
within was found,
Beyond the beautiful young mai-
dens, Acall.
Brother to Finn from noble Ailinn,
And to Oilill of hardy Cruachain,
Was Cairpri- Niadh of Temair
within,
Whose bounteous daughter was
Acall.
The place in which our horses are
There was a wood through it on all
sides,
The Land of the Poet, Maine the
modest,
It was called before Acaill.
Still lives the Rath of comely Co-
naire, —
Still lives the Rath of Cairpri of
territories ;
Essa lives not here nor there ;
Ere lives not, J. ca /Hives not.
It was there Avas buried the woman,
The daughter of the high King of
the Gaedhil ;
For her was raised the Rath yonder
When she had met her fate, Acall.
The six best women that in the world
were,
After Mary the Mother [of God,]
Medhbh, Sadhbh, fair Saraid, Faind,
Ere, and Emer, and Acall.
I beseech the Son of God, who sent
His anger
Upon half-red Medhbh, upon red
Medhbh,
Upon Sadhbh, upon Saraid, upon
Faind,
Upon Garbh, upon Ere, upon Acall.
33 b
516 APPENDIX.
AP. xxviir. t^05Ai\cAc1i ^AobAe 1 iTOnm-Hig, Fogartach, who Avas in Dinn-Righ^
\)& -ptAic ■pociA jupnngniiTi, Was King of Fotla [Erinn], with
Fiiither ■pe-oA'OAi\ ^atoiL if jAitt, fair deeds
extract pnir inAenfen iti AcAiLt. A Gaedhil and Galls once found,
from Preface The valour of the one man at
to the Book . ,,
oi Acaill,^ Acall.
attributed SttA1l^c iiToixein 'oej'OAi^ "oaca, A pleasant party, active, comely,
to king Cor- ctAnn CenriAi^ mic "OiAni-nA-oA, The sons of Cernach, son of Diar-
wac Mac i c i ' '
^,-,.^_ JegnArAjA ctuMiA co-pe, mait;
lincAebAib tiA]\A Aicte. A They slew companies ere now,
Upon the cold sides oi Acall.
Caiiihj 50 CeAiiiiAAij 11A ]M5 To Temair of the Kings came
Cotviiii CiLte 5A11 iTtifiiiiii ; Co/nm (,V//e, without fatigue;
CutiiT)Ai5ceA-|A Lei]' eAjlAf Aiin, — A church is built there by him, —
Saii cnuc An hAT)nAcu AcAbi/*''-' A lu the hill in which [was] buried
AcalL
APPENDIX, No. XXIX. [Lect. III., Pages 56, 57.]
Mo^T"''^^ Ori'f)'{r?aZ of the entry of the Death q/plAnn TnAiniix]Aec in the
boice. Annals 0/ UijennAC (a.d. 1056); a7id Original of passage
concerning "ptAiin in the LeAl!)A|A ^^•'^^^^'^^^^ ^Z OClery.
The foUomng is the origmal of the passage quoted from Tigher-
nach : —
"plAiin TnAinifT)-|ieAC iij-OAji ^Aoi-oiot ei-oi]! tei^ionn ocii-|'
cfencti]", ocn^" plmeAcc, ocu]" i:oi]\cex)o'L 111 .1111. Kal. *Oe-
cnnbiji. X111. tun. incAni -peticice^x in xpo. [x^ii-pco] pnniic.
The passage referred to in the text [p. 57] from the Book of
Invasions is uicorrectly printed there as a quotation. The original
is as follows, to which I have added an exact translation. It is to
be found, not at p. 52, but at p. 225 of the MS. classed 23.5 in
the library of the li.I.A., — the beAbA|\ jAbAbA of the O'Clerys.
A\ "oonA "RiogAib ^"in po ^Ab e-]\inn o 'Oaci niAC "jpiAcpAc
50 tTlAobi^eAcbAinn tllop niAc 'OoninAibb, "oia nAniuAnnAib
ocuf t)iA noweAX) *oo pi^ne An cug-OAp oi]ipt)e]\c "pbAnn
■pepbei^mn TnAinij'cpeAc iDiiice, Saoi eAjnA, ocu]' cponice
ocni" pbi"6eccAe ^Aei-oeb nA Aim^^ip, An -otiAni^o \^o\. Ilig
UeAinpA CAobAi je lAiAccAin.
[translatiox.]
It is for those kings that took the sovereignty of Erinn from
Datlbi, the son of F'iachra, to Maolseacldainn Mor, the son of
Domhnall., for their names and their fates, that the illustrious
aiithor, Flann the Fei'-leig/iinn of Mainistir Bnile, the Saoi of the
■wisdom, and chronicles, and poetry of the GaedhU, made this poem
beloAv : "Kings of faithful Tara afterwards", (etc.)
'^'') This last quatrain is written on the upper margin of folio 190 a. a., with
a (t) referring to it from the conclusion of the poem, same column.
APPENDIX. 517
APPENDIX, No. XXX. [Lcct. III., Page 58.]
Original of the entry of the Death of T^\t^e]\Vi'\c in the '■'Chro- Tighemaen
nicwu Scotorum' (a.d. 1088). theAmiuUst.
1088. 'Ci5e]\nAC 11a b]\Ain, -oo Slut llUn^Ae-oAij, coiiuvubA
Clii<\]u\in ChtuAiux mic Hoii^ ocu]' Choiiu\in, "oe^.
And in tlie " Annals of Ulster" : —
1088. "CijennAC ha b]\oein, Ai]\cinnec CIuaha inic t1oif,
t)e5.
[Tighernach Ua Broeifi, Airchinnech [Erenacli, or lay Impro-
priator] of Cluanmicnois, died.]
APPENDIX, No. XXXI. [Lect. III., Pages 58 to 60.]
Of the foundation of Clonmacnoise. Foundation
Tliis account is preserved in a Tract on tlie Foundation of Clon- noise.
macnoise, and on the succession and reign of Diarmait, the son of
Ferghns Ceirrhheoil, in the sLxth century (in whose reign Tara,
cursed by Saint Riiadan, was deserted, and ceased to be occupied
by the monarchs of Erinn), in the Leabhar Buidhe Lecain — the MS.
classed H. 2. 16, T.C.D., foi. 869.
APPENDIX, No. XXXII. [Lect. III., Page 63, note ^=^^>' and
Page 67.]
Of the fragment of an ancient vellum copy of the Annals of
UijennAc, bound up with the Annals of Ulster, in the i\a\s of'
Library of Trinity College, Dublin. Tujkemach.
The following is the letter from the Rev. Dr. Todd, P.R.I.A.,
referred to in the text, and which I received from him while the
tirst four sheets of the present volume were actually in type : —
"Trinity College, October 6, 185S.
" My dear Curry,
" Tliere can be no doubt that the sheets at the beginning of the MS. of the
Annals of Ulster in Trin. Coll. contain a fragment of an ancient copy of
Tighernach. The fragment begins in the middle of a sentence.
" ' [IimaL ■5ti.mnu\]\]'®®'''oie'oomitiicAhi i'enix)ni occiimi'ei'c o Cli|\iniciiii'o
tliA nA|\ ueL A gAtbii' tic aIh •oictinc.
" See Dr O'Conor's l^ighemach, p. 25, at a.d. 82 (which date, however, is
wrong, for All Saints' Day was not on Sunday in that year).
" The dates in this MS. are all given by the years of the world, and generally
iheferia on the first of January is noted, and the epact. The year following
the above record of the death of Irial Glunmar is noted thus :
" 'iiii xx.x 1111. KL. en. ui. -p. L. oc.
"This means the Year of the "World 4034, which, I think, is intended to
coincide with a.d. 34; for in that year the First day of January was Qihferiu,
(or Friday). The Lunar Epact, however, which I suppose to be meant by
I.X., was 15 ; but your copy (I have not had time to look at the original) marks
the l.x... (thus), as if there was a letter illegible; so that it might have been
l.xu.
"This computation goes on through the whole of the fragment. There are
a great many years vacant, and marked thus, according to the usual way :
(S8) The first two words, in brackets, are supplied by Dr. Todd.
518 APPENDIX.
AP. XXXII, A.'/, Kl. (etc.) ; and it is possible that there may be some errors in the transcrip-
tion of the Kl, for the chronology is evidently wrong.
Of the An- " The last entry in the fragment is as follows :
^Tiyhfrnach. " •1111'01^"-'^^^' K'L- en. 11. 1. XX lliTAonimuf in "bechleein lo-petucAcup
qui inue)\p]\ecAci.ii' efc eb]AAice, 5-i\Aece, 'LACine, SiiMce/^"' C^I'DAice,
Acuce^"'^ IDonuice.
" Then follow twelve Kl. ; and the page ends with the date iiii.'o,x:>cii, but
without any other entry.
" St, Jerome was ordained priest in a.d. 378, which was a,m. (according to
the common chronology) 4382 ; and the first day of January in that year was
ii.y, or Monday, — so that it is just possible that this maybe the year intended,
although some other computation of the a.m. era seems to be adopted,
" Dr. O'Conor was not aware of the existence of this fragment ; otherwise he
might have supplied from it the ' Hiatus', or a part of the ' Hiatus', v hich
occurs in the Bodleian MS,
" It is, however, much less full than the Bodleian MS,, which is evidence of
its antiquity; for in all probability the Annals of Tighernach, as they were left
by their author, did not contain all the entries which we find now ; each suc-
cessive copyist being anxious to fill up, from such other records as he was
acquainted with, the vacant A7,
" Nevertheless this fragment contains several most interesting entries, which
are not to be found in O'Conor's edition. Our MS. generally omits the notices
of foreign ecclesiastical and civil history, which occur in O'Conor's edition, and
gives the Irish history more fully,
" Take this specimen :
[OCoNOR, p. 29 (a.d, 130).] _ [Our MS.]
^'\^^\uxx■\x.
CiiacIiaI Ceclicmon |\. An. .xxx. Kt. en. m.-p. 1. iii. Cac Aicte hi
1|'hececnAiAonAifc. Do]Aum LAigen coivcAi-p CiLini IIIac Con)\Ac Ia Cua-
ocuf A-p |\ir -po iACAX)1i A]A cii]\ cAL CeAccmA-p niAC V-AchAi'o pnn-
Ki, niAL ITlAC Uocli^\Ai'oe -p. An f'AlA, ecu-]' UwauIiaI ^\e5nAUiu Annij'
©AiriAin 3CX0C111. .xxx. ocuf ly x>o cecnA \\o nAifce'6
ociifp^ipi\ohicA'oin'bot\oinA'LAjen.
ttlAb niAc 1locy\Ai'Di yvegnAtiic in
etiiAin ,\w?ciii. Annij',
" Then, after five blank KL, follows the Chronological note, similar to (but
not altogether the same as) that in O'Conor ; after which there are nineteen
blank Kl. All the matter which Dr. O'Conor has printed in Italics, p, 30, 31,
is omitted in our MS.; and the next entry, dated iiii.c.iiii,, is the death of
Tuathal Teachtinar, and the reign of Feidklimidh in the following year. The
Italics in O'Conor are again omitted, and our MS. gives next the reign of
Bresal (O'Conor, p. 32). Then (O'Conor's Italic entries being omitted) we
have the death of Cathair Mor; then the reign of Conn Ced-Cathach, and the
division of Ireland. The entry which O'Conor gives at a.d. 171 (p. 33), with
all that he has printed in Italics, is omitted, and the next entry in our MS. is
under the year :
"nil. c.xxx\. Ki. en. u. -p. t. .xn.
" CippAice di\ec ]\e5nAiiic in eiiiAin Annip .\\\w.
" This may suffice to prove to you the identity of this MS. with the Annals
of Thjliernach, and also to show how far it differs from Dr. O'Conor's copy. You
will see that the principal diiference is the omission of foreign historical matter.
" I have considered very carefully the passage of Tighernach, to which you
called my attention : ^ Omnia monumenta Scotoriun usque Cimbaoth incerta eranf.
I thought at first that there might be some emphasis in the past tense, ekant,
' they loere uncertain, but are not so now'. But on consideration, I beheve
tliat the writer only meant to say that the ancient historical records of Ireland,
relating to the period before the reign of Cimbaoth, are not absolutely to be
relied on. He had just before said that ^Liccus is said by somt to have reigned';
(89) [A.M. 4.509.] (90) [Syriace.] (91) [? atque.]
APPENDIX. 519
and, to apologize for this uncertain way of speaking ('regnare ab aliis fertur ap. xxxii.
Liccus'), ,he adds the apology: ^ Omnia inonumenta Scotorum usque Ciiabaoth
utcciia erant\ Of the Aii-
"Ever yours most truly, n-'i=^ "''
"J.H.Todd". TUjh.rmch.
The follo-\ving is the entire passage, from the commencement, as
it appears in the copy of Tighcrnach, in the MS. classed H. 1. 18.,
T.C.D. (p. 113). I have inserted in the note the only variations in
it which occur in the R.I.A. :MS. (classed 33. Q)S'^^^
^\e^^^^A\\e mchoAni' hie i^icu]^ Aiinuf. xii. ^nci^oni i\ pco-
toinei p]\imo conpegnArum epc <:]U0t]tie ITIaccooiiia pcoto-
meu]' ec Seleuo^'ip. ppinnip \\. ibi pope '(\tAXv\iToep[ptini ?]
p..tipiip, qui ec -A-|\e'oetip A'LAOCAnt)ep AiitDip tin. pejnAppiuino
Anno pcoiomei pegnApe mcipienp K. 5°' Kt. xi. Anno ppiope
"Dtiip pp. AtAXAn-o^ii cjui ec pibpu]' ]\ex IllAce'copum cum puA
A]\nnxo]\e G-jwoice a inAce-oonibnp ippip piiA-oencA [puA-
■oence] OtnnpiA'oe mAC]\e AtAXAn-opi occipup epc pope cjiiem
]\. CApAiToep Anno .xix. a i|iio lle]\cii'Lep ^lAXAn-oju pitiup
XU11 ecAcip pue Anno cum pex a niAcpe ptiA inceppecctip epc.
tA^onup pex Appie Ulinopi]' a Setuco pcotomeo occipup epc
pope c|ueni p. 'Onnecpip c|ui non potieiicToep pitiup Annip
XU111. in An-Qo xuiii.° pcotoinei puic imciAcup pegnApe in
GAihoin CiombAoc pitnip tjui p. Annip xum.
Uunc A cUeniAi]\ Cocato tDuA-oAc ACAip llgoine pejnApe Ab
Atiip pepcup Liccup pe]\pc]\ippimup otbim Ab il^Aine im-
pepAppe.
OmniAlTlonuniencA Scoco]\uin up. CunbAoc mcepcA e]u\nc.
lloc cempo]\e CiAemon pcoicup ec IllinAn-oep coimcu]' ec
Ueupi^ [UeoppA]xup] pibopopbup cbApepunc.
R. CepAn-oep 11. ITlAce-ooniA obic cjui [etc., etc.].
In all these copies of Tighernach^ as well as in those described by
Dr. O'Conor (those in the British Miiseimi), the passage, " Omnia
monumentcC, etc., occurs in Latin, and with no material variation of
language.'^''^^ And if the observation did not occur elsewhere, or in
any other form, the remarks of the Eev. Di*. Todd might, perhaps,
(92) The R.T.A. MS. omits the first lines of the passage, the first page of that MS. com-
mencing as follows : —
Arideus f rater Alex. Magni occisus est m Olym. cxv. ei An. Urb. Conditce i?>G occisus est
Antigonus Rex Asice Minoris occisus est An. Rom. 453. Eodeni tempore iuitiatus est regnare
in Emania, i.e., An Eamhain Ciomhaoth JIac Fiontain qui reg'iiavit annis XVIII. Interim
a Teamhair Eocha Buadhac athair Ugain^ ab aliis fertur. JVos vero perscripsimus olim ab
ipso Ugaine tunc ibi imperatinn esse. Oiinia Monujiesta Scotoruji usque ad Ciomhaoth
iNCERTA ERANT. C'esonder Rex Macedoniie obiit An. R. 456 (etc., etc.). [The words printed
in small Roman are written in the MS in the Gaedhelic character. The words in Italics
and small capitals here are all, in the MS., in Roman running hand.]
(93) The whole passage in O'Conor's Tighernach is as follows; the whole of the first eleven
or twelve lines above being omitted, though in his preface (p. xiii.) he says that this T.C.D.
copy begins with the .same words as Rawl. 4.SS, in the Brit. Mus. (see text, p. 67, GS) : — "In
AKNO XVII1° PtOLEM^EI INITIATL'S est REGXARE in EaMAIN CniBAOTII FILIAS FiNTAIN, QUI
EEGXAVIT ANNIS XVIII. TUNC IN TeMAIR EaCHACH BUADHACH ATHAIR UgAINE.=KEGNABE AB
ALIIS FERTUR LiCCUS.. Pr.ESCRIPSIJIUS OLLUM AB UGAINE REGSASSE. OjINIA MONUMENTA
SCOTORUM USQUE ClJIBAOTH INCERTA ERAST. HOC TEMPORE ZeNO StOICDS ET MENANDER
COJIICUS ET ThEOPHRASIUS PHILOSOPHUS CLARUERtrST.=PTOLElL«US PHILADELPHCS EEGNAKB
CffiPiT, QUI kegsavit ankis XXXVIU ; etc., etc.
520 APPENDIX.
AP. XXXII. be considered sufficient to accotint for it. But 1 have found an im-
portant parallel passage in one of the oldest tracts in the Book of
nais of ' Ballymote, wliicli is certainly not a version of Tighernach.
TighernacTi. ji^^ ^^y\^ 5^ t]-^g Book of Ballymote contains a page of Spichronisms
which I am unable to identify as by Tighernach or Flann. That they
were not believed by Charles O'Conor, of Ballynagar, to be Flann's,
appears evident from the memorandum at the head of the next leaf
(fol. 6), in the handwriting of that great scholar, in which he marks
another Tract, commencing there, and not connected with this pre-
ceding piece, as the Synchronisms of Flann. The tract at fol. 5
begins :
PpiniA CcAf niutToi.
It proceeds then to record all the several ages of the world and
their respective lengths, pointing out at what dates they are con-
sidered by chronologists to have begun and ended. It states that
from the Deluge until the coming of Parthalon to Erinn was 1002
years. It then sj-nchronizes the subsequent colonizations after Par-
thalon with various personages mentioned in the Old Testament and
in ancient history. Passing down to the Greek empire under
Alexander, it then records that it was in the Fifth year of his reign
that Cimbaoth began to reign at Emania, and that from the taking of
Erinn by Parthalon to the reign of Cimbaoth was 1202 years. And
immediately afterwards we find these words : —
rii'OAT) fe-pfd ocwy ■ni'oAT) ■oe^'bA The accounts and the histories of
^cetA ocuf -penciiT^A ye\i. n-epenn the men of Erinn are not known and
coniji CimbAec tllAc pirocAin. are not certain until [the time of]
Cimbaeth Mac Fintdin.
The writer then gives a list of Thirteen Kings of Emania after Cim-
baoth, and the years of their reigns, do^vn to Concohhar Mac Nessa;
and states that it was 206 years after the death of Concohhar that
Connac Mac Airt became Monarch of Erinn, and that this was in
the Fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar. He then proceeds to record a
number of dates connected with Church History; I'ecords that it
was in the thirteenth year after the Crucifixion that St. Peter went
to Rome ; gives the date of his death, as well as that of St. Paul ;
records the times of the Eight General Persecutions of the Christians ;
and then states that it was in eight years after the eighth Persecu-
tion that Cormac began his reign at Tara. The tract concludes, on
the same fol., with a short chronological account of several incidents
in the Christian Church down to' the coming of Palladius and of
Patrick ; but it contains nothing further relating to Erinn.
It appears to be certain that this tract is not a version of Tigher-
nach, with whose work it has no correspondence further than in
containing (but in the Gaedhelic, and with considerable diiFerence of
expression) the remarkable sentence above qiioted.
The second Tract of Synclironisms above alluded to is at fol. 6 of
the same Book (the Book of Ballymote). It is headed, in the hand-
APPENDIX.
521
AP. XXXI r.
Tiyhernach.
Avriting of the venerable Charles O'Conor of Ballynagar, as "The ^^^^^ ^^
Book of S}T.ichronisms of Flaim of the Monastery" : uais of
tye<\bA]\ Conu\imp]\eACCA "ptAinn t'llAini|'C|Aec -pioj^AnA.
This tract, however, cannot be a part of the former, since it includes
the same period ; and it is remarkable that Flann^ a writer contem-
porary with, though older than Tighernach, and of the very highest
authority, makes no such remark with respect to the period before
Cimhaetlis time, but simply records the synchronism of the Ulster
King in its proper place. This tract also begins at the beginning,
with Adam himself; and it carries down the record as fiir as the
Battle of Magh Mucruimhe (in which the Monarch Art was killed),
AD. 195. The object of the piece is to mark what kings of the Assy-
rians, Medes, Persians, and Greeks, and what emperors of the Romans,
were contemporary with the several Monarchs of Erinn in succession.
When the ■\^'riter of this tract reaches the time of Cimbaeih, he
simply enters it in connection with Alexander, by saying (fol. 6 b. b.)
that :
aLaavmicaiia .1. c. iMj 5l^e5 .u. Alexander the First was King of
■btu\x>iv\, ocu^' CnnbAec IIIac \:^r\- Greece five years; and Cimbaeth Mac
CA111 iriA \\e. Fintain [was] in his time.
After which he continues only :
CotAineuf niAc 'L<Mi\5e .rcV. ocuf Tolameits [Ptolemeus], son of
lllACxX •nioii5|\UA'oiii[v\]pe ocuf Hec- Lair(/e'[Lagu.s], 40 years; and Macha
CAi'o 1l15■6e]^5 ocv>x tlgAine in6|\ 3Ionqruaclh and Rechtaidh Rig-derg
iiv\lAe -pof. and Ugaine Mdr in his time too.
The tract then enumerates Eleven only of the kings of Emania from
Cimbaeth to Conchobhar ; but five additional names, not clearly dis-
coverable here, are preserved in the poem of Eochaidh G'Flainn^ —
On Cimbaeth and his Successors, — written more than two hundred
years before TigliernacKs time.
It was, I am convinced, in this poem of Eochaidh OFlainn that
Tighernach found the names of the kings of Emania. It was from
the same authority that both Flann and Tighernach took the names
and facts of much else in their annals both before and after the era
of Emania. Eochaidh wrote historical poems on the Succession of
the Monarchs of Erinn from the very beginning, yet he is quite silent
as to any doiibt upon the earlier periods. If the sentence which now
appears m Tighernach Avere written by him at all, it is, therefore, diffi-
cult to imagine upon what grounds, not known to his own historical
authority, he could have been induced to make such a remark.
It is imfortunately impossil^le now to ascertain by whom the sen-
tence in question Avas first introduced into any record of the kings.
Was it -ftTitten by Tighernach, or was it copied by him from a pre-
ceding Avriter? If the former, Avas the Gaedhelic version, Avhich
appears at fol. 5 of the Book of Ballymote, a translation from Tigher-
nacKs Latin, and introduced by a subsequent scribe in a tract diffe-
rent from that of Tighernach? If the latter, did Tighernach translate
into Latin the observation of a previous Avriter in GaedheUc ? If so,
Avho could that Avriter have been, seeing that nothing of the kind
522 APPENDIX.
AP. XXXII. occurs in the Synclironisms attributed to Flann, or in the historical
poems known to be the work of that writer, who Avas contemporary
iiais of " Avith Tighei'nach, though a little older, and seeing that nothing of
Tighernach. ^\^q kind occurs in the historical poems of Eochaidh O'Flaimi (200
years before both), from which both Tighernach and Flann unques-
tionably, as I believe, take their account of the succession of the
Kings ? I can only say that it appears to me more likely that the
Latin sentence was a free translation of the more precise and fuller
Gaedhelic, than that the latter, as it occurs in the Book of Ballymote,
was an expansion of, by way of gloss upon, the former. But I have
no means of guessing at what time, or by whom, either Avas inserted.
It is quite possible that the original, whichever it Avas, Avas, after
all, but a marginal gloss, or observation of a scribe long subsequent
to Tighernach ; for the Book of Ballymote itself, it is to be remem-
bered, was AATitten three centuries after the time of the Annalist,
Avhile the oldest fragment of Tighernach noAV knoAAai is more than a
century later still, and all the copies of his Annals in AAdiich the
Latin entry appears are still more modern.
That Tighernach's great contemporary, Flann, found no reason to
doubt the historical records of the Succession of the Kings before,
any more than after, the local era of the Foundation of the provin-
cial palace of Emania, is also clear, from the style of the elaborate
poetical tracts preserved in the Book of Lecaiii-, pieces Avhich we can
be quite certain Avere Avritten by him, — detailed poems so elaborate
(constructed, too, A\dth the special object of the instruction of youth
in the college in Avhich their author taught), that it is quite impos-
sible to suppose he Avould have omitted to express in them a doubt
so serious, upon the authenticity of so large a part of the teaching
they contain, if he had himself heard of or shared it. The only
e\ddence Ave now haA^e of the second Synchronisms in the Book of
Ballymote (the Tract at fol. 6.) being by Flann, is that supplied by
the marginal note already referred to in the handAvriting of Charles
O'Conor. But the great Poems in the Book of Lecain contain
direct internal evidence of their authenticity. Unfortunately, that
invaluable volume is defective by at least nine folios at the com-
mencement, the present pagination beginning AAdth fol. 10. The
Succession of the Kings, both before and after the era of Cimbaoth in
in Ulster, is, however, complete ; and the particularity of the
account may be judged by the foUoAving short abstract of it.
At fol. 19. a., line 17 (Book o( Lecain):
CovnA^mfef.AX>■(^^■£■\r^x)omA^r\ ocuy The synchronisms of the Kings of
jAbAi n-e|\enn iao i"C]\ib|"oni i ru]- the World with the various coloniza-
in tiubAi^A OCA triAich nin rnic tions of Erinn, I have \rritten at the
peiL i\o jAb ^Mgi 111 'ooniAin A]\cuf beginning of the Book, from the reign
cuy in cdcet) ]\1 'oojixeccAib octif of Nin, son of Pei/, the first A^'ho as-
o IDA^coiAii tiiAc Se]\A ■oo 1\05AD sumed the empire of the world, to
O^mut) A^xcuf iA|\ iroiLnTo cuf in the fifth king of Greece; and from
coiccT) btiA-oAin itIaua Cijejxnniui]" PartJioIan, the son of Sera, tlie first
iriic ■potlAir lAOjAb lAigi ne^xenn colonist of Erinn after the Deluge, to
cocenn ce'o bLiA'OAn uc aIii Aiunc. the fifth year of the reign of I'ic/hern-
APPENDIX. 523
ISye^x^A tiumi '00110 co|\5iMbAiiicoin- inas, the son of Follach, who reigned ^p. xxxii.
*Mn]'ej\«.\T) nok cm yopleich Ann]'o. one hundred years, ut aUi aiunt. It
is better, therefore, that we write Of tiie An-
the synchronisms in a separate stave "'I't °f
ljgj.g/ TKjhernach.
He then begins thus : —
pitoiD*.\ce|\ c^xA in coiceAT) |\vt)o Philopater, the fifth king of the
5l\eccAib .w. otiA-onA •oo i com- Greeks, five years in co-reign with
^.-iAiuef i:]M Ci5e|\ninA-|'. Tighernmas, (etc.)
And he continues the synchronisms of the Assyrians, Medes, Greeks,
etc., down to Julius Csesar, the first king of Rome, Avithout intro-
ducing the name of a single king of Erinn. Julius Cajsar he syn-
chronizes with oiu' monarch, Eochaidh Feidhlech, and then continues
the parallels down to the monarch, Fergal Mac Maelduin, Avho was
killed in battle in a.d. 718. The prose is then followed by a poem
of 1096 lines, in Avhich the kings of the whole period, exclusive of
those of Erinn, are given, as well as many curious historical facts
recorded.
At the end of the Synchronisms of the Monarchs and Provincial
Kings of Erinn (foL 23, b. b.), the following notice appears in the
original hand : —
Incipic ■oe lAejibiif IlibejMiie Ab 'he]\etiioii, ti^c|ue ©ocato V'ei'o'lec ;
And then follows a poem of eighty-one quatrains, embracing the
period indicated by the heading, and which is evidently intended to
supply, in a separate and more convenient form, the absence of
the monarchs of Erin from the great poem of 1096 lines.
This poem is immediately followed by the following notice : —
■Oe -pegibiif llibe^wie Ab lleixeinon ufv^ne Gocai'd V^i"obec ec incipic Ab
eoco u^'que AX) bAejAiive m<xc fleibb, ec VbAnn cecinic.
There can be no dotibt, then, that both poems are to be ascribed
to Flann ; but still, the period from Laerjhaire Mac Heill, in 428, to
Fergus Mac Maelduin, in 718, which appears in the prose tract, is
still unsung in verse ; this defect, however, is immediately supplied
by another poem, of fifty-one quatrains, which follows the last,
headed :
■Oo iMjAib e]\enii iA]\ ci\eDein iii- Of the kings of Erinn after (the
1'o XA]\ Christian) Keligion here down.
This list is carried down to the death of Brian Boiromhe, a.d.
1014 and the reassiimption of the monarchy by Maelsechlainn [Ma-
lachy] the Second, ivho died in 1022 ; and as the poet prays for his
long life, it is clear that these poems and prose pieces were written
before the year 1022. At the end of the whole poem we find this
curious quatrain, identifying the author.
Co^\o vb^AH" -pec "oijtA ■o]\enin, May Flann reach past severe punish-
niAc iiix)-j:i|\ ii5T)A Leijin'o, ments, —
i:oi\ nein, m-oAb •01 clue •oe, [Flann] the son of the illustrious pro-
H1ACCA111 IMJcij hijMge. fessor, —
To Heaven, it were no negative ap-
pointment,
To roach the royal mansion in the
sovereignty.
524 APPENDIX.
AP. XXXIII.
Annals
[APPENDIX No. XXXIII. [Lect. III., Page 64.]
^Maeiiiiura, Original of stanza quoted by ■Ci5e]mAc fi'om the poem of
quoted by Mnplmuvn
Tighernach. lUaeumil a.
O 'OAe'iAA'o in pobAit co jem pAt)Ar; pei-oil
Coic cec If iioe rnbliA-onA occitio^ac co -06111111,
O AtDAiii CO ngeiiieAiiiAin oeii mic lllAi-|ie mine,
1c T) A btiA-OAin CAe^Ac nAi cec if c]n mite.
APPENDIX No. XXXIV. [Lect. III., Pages 65 and Q6,
note ^^*^.]
stanza Oriiji7ial of stanza of an ancient poem quoted by Ui^e^niAc, as
rTg/ilnlJch — ^^ ^^^^ ^^'^^^ of the death of St. Patrick; and Extract from the
Dr.uconors account printed bti the Rev. Dr. O' Conor of the paper copy
account of /■ ,7 / 7 r -r- • • • .i t •! n rn /~i r\
Tighn-nachs oj the Amials Of Ui5e]\nAc in the J^ibranj oj i.L.JD.
O ^enemAin C^nix, ceim aic,
.CCCC. i:o)\ cAem nodiAic;
Ueo]\A btiA-onA i'Ae-|i iA]\|"oin
Co bA-p PaCJIAIC p]\im ApfCAlb.
The folloAving is the Rev. Charles O'Conor's Description of the
Trinity College copy of the Annals of Tighernach, alluded to at
page 66 (Lect. III.) ; (but see, also, ante., Ajipendix XXXII.) : —
Fol. 113. Jamque, his omnibus ita accurate, etsi brcAdter, enu-
meratis, valde dolendum est plura deesse a folio 112; idque eo
magis, quia qua) desunt, ea ipsa sunt, quae desunt in Tigernachi
Codice Bodleiano (Land, 488).
Incipit hoc folium 113 ab iisdem verbis quibus Codex pra?dictus,
ab obitu nempe Alexandri !Magni, quo tempore Cmibaoth Eex ei'at
UltonisE. Desunt itaque in ambobus Codicibus omnia qure prtece-
dunt ab ipso mimdi initio, unde Tigernachus, seqiie ac Beda et
ca;teri Chronographi, exordium duxit. Codicem hinc ex Bodleiano
descriptum, fuisse demonstrat non solum hiatus iste in uiitio, verum
et ipsa scribendi ratio, qtia? plane indicat amanuenseni non aliud
orens sibi impositum sensisse quam illud accurate imitancU qua;
describerat ratio ; iisdem enim abbreviationibus utitur ad unguem,
eademque barbara orthographia, quas Grammaticis, tam Hiber-
norum, quam Romanorum, Regidis omnino repugnat, quoque in
Codice Bodleiana valde displicet, atque ab imperito amanuensi
s^culi 13tii ilkim Codicem scrip tum esse declarat. Maximam
porro ignorantiam prodit amanuensis, non solum in eo, qviod bar-
bariim hancce orthographiam serviliter imitatur, verum multo
magis in hoc, quod omnia describat, tanquam nihil omnino in
Codice Bodleiano desiderabitur.
Fol. 122. De est, exempli gratia, in Codice Bodleiano folium sep-
timum ; qui autem Dubliniensem inde descripsit nihil ibi deesse ratus
totum descripsit absque ullo liiatu, et ab anno quarto post captivita-
tem Patricia, transiit ad annum abinde fere centesimum, idque in ipso
APPENDIX.
525
medio paginseb, folii 122, miiiime advertens folium septimum penitus ap. xxxiv.
desiderari. Quis nescit, in tanta rerum nostrarum penuria, quantum
hoc asciteritia Antiquitatibus Hibernicis detrimenti simul et contu- quoted by
melia?. attulerit ? A captivitate Patricii transit codex Dubliniensis '^f'^/^'^j^^^~
ad obitum S. Cianani Damliagensis, nihil inter utrumque referens, account of
nisi jiauca quondam de Juhano Apostata, et de miraculo Hieroso- Anua^ "''''' *
lymitano, qu£e ultima sunt verba folii septimi Codicis Bodleiani.
Desunt quidem m Bodleiano numeri annoriun, qiu in hoc codice
appositi legentur in margini sed hi numeri manu recentiori descripti
sunt, idque perperam, et ex Annalibus Innisfaliensibus, ut quidam,
adhuc recentior, anno tensit in margine folii 121 b.
Fol. 124. Non nulla desunt in hoc folio, amanuensis ascitantia
omissa, qua; in nostra Editione ex Codice Bodleiano supplentur.
Aha pariter in eodem foHo omittuntur pagina b. quae eandem
oscitantiam demonstrant, Hnea qiiarta ubi nulla mentos de obitu
Itce Cluan credalensis, vel de annis ab obitu Patricii. -
Characteres hujus Exemplaris Tigernachi longe diversi sunt a
characteribvis pra?cedentium foliorum, et longe piures sunt Abbre-
viationes verborum et syllabarum.
Fol. 133. Qufe de hujus codicis apographo Bodleiano dicta sunt
supra ea plane confirmantur ex folio 133. Ea enim omnia, quas
desunt in Codice Bodleiano, ab anno 765 ad annum 973, desunt
pariter in Dubhniensi.
Folio 134. Desunt etiam in hoc folio eadem, qu^ desunt in
Codice Bodleiano ab anno 1003 ad annum 1018, cujus character
exprimitur sic "Kl. iiii. feria, Lima x., Litera Dominicale E". Hoc
tamen ab aliis referentur ad annum 1019, quod etiam convenit cum
characteiibus sequentium annorum. Annus enim immediate proxi-
mus sic exprimitur "Kal. vi. feria, Luna ii., an. xiiii, circidi decen-
novennalis et xx. post mille fiaitum". Cajtera recto ordine sequuntur
pro ut in Codice Bodleiano, ad anmmi usque 1088, ubi ha3C leguntur
" Tigernachus hue usq. Scripsit, et hoc anno qiuevit" recto ordine
procedunt etiam inde ad annum 1 1 78, ubi meum Codicis Bodleiani
Exemplar ideo desinit, quia cjetera, qu£e sequuntur in Codice Bod-
leiano, recentiori manu descripta sunt. Pono quae extant in Bod-
leiano diversis manibus, in hoc codici una, eademque manudescripta
sunt, usque ad annum 1407, et foliimi 161 inclusive, ubi explicit
continuatio Tigernachi.
Hgec stmt, qu?e, seclusis Partiiim Studiis, de ambobus codicibus
dicenda erant. Csetera, quae in Du.bHniensi continentur a folio 164,
pulchrori manu, et characteribus, ac Lingua, partim Latina, partim
Hibernica, scripta usque ad finem codicis, Chronici Scotontm, titulo
designantur, et eadem manu scripta sunt usque ad folixmi 216. Ubi
chronicon hoc desinit in anno 1135.
Prima duo foha Historiam Universalem breviter attingunt a
creato mundo ad Nativitatem S. Patricii. Cgetera folia, numero 51,
Historiam Hibernicam praecipue respiciunt, eaque omnia mea manu
ex hoc codice descripta jam penes me habeo.
Carolus O'Conor.
526
APPENDIX.
Of King
Eochaidh
Buadhach.
Entry in
Tighernach.
Reference
to Book of
Leinster.
Ancient
account of
the Foun-
Uation of
the Palace
of Emania.
APPENDIX No. XXXV. [Lect. Ill, Page 68.]
Of GOCATO IDua'oac.
But the most curious part of this entry is the assertion that
Eochaidh Buadhach, the father of Ugaine Mdr, was king of all
Erinn, and residing at Tara contemporaneously with Cimbaeth,
King of Emania ; when the fact is that Eochaidh Buadhach was
never monarch of Erinn at all ; but, by a mistake of the original
compiler, or some siibsequent scribe, his name is substituted here
for that of his father, Duach Ladhrach, who Avas the contemporary
of Cimbaeth.
APPENDIX No. XXXVI. [Lect. III., Page 68.]
Original of entry in Uije^MiAC as to the Kings of Leinster.
U]nc<\ \w^ i\obAi 130 tAijbin -^o)^ e-junn 6 ca t/Ab^AAi-o
"Lomgi^ec CO CAcbAi]\ 1l16]u
APPENDIX No. XXXVII. [Lect. III., Page 70.]
Original of commencement of an ancient poem 2yreserved in the
''Booh of Leinster' {H. 2. 18., T.C.D.Jol. 104), ascribed to
"^WXis, An CbonToet) Ua Co]AmAic.
" A til jMcit) -[Aei-oij "OAni".
APPENDIX No. XXXVIII. [Lect. III., Page 70.]
Original (with Translation) of the account of the foundation of
the 2Jalace of GmAin 111 aca, (b.c. 405,) — fi'om the " Book of
Leinster' (H. 2. 18., T.C.D.,/o?. 10 b. a.).
CiT) "oiA CA 6inAin ITIaca. 11i bAnrii'Am pii.
"C]\i IA15 bACA]\ i:o]\ b-6]\inn 1 com^-bAcbui]", "oo UtcAib
•ooib .1. *Oichoi\bA niAC *OimmAin, a b-lli'iinic 111i-oe; Aen
UuAt) rriAc 13a'oui]ut, mic -AiA^AicmAijA, a Ui]\ Ae-OA; Cmi-
bAecb niAc "pincAin, mic ApgAicniAi]! a pnnAbAi]\ lllAi^e
1nif.
*Oo Hiac c6]\a iA^\um, ha jii^pn, i^ecc mbbiA'onA cac
p\\ "oib iflMje. U^u yetz -pAcbA ecu^\]\vi, ^^ecc titJiiuit),
fecc pbit), i^ecc nocnge^Mi. 11a i^ecc iroiiuTO "oia lAinTpAt)
CjAiA bjMCCu ; riA i^ecc pbix) "oia njbAmA'o ocuf "oia ne\\-
^uac^aa; riA -pecc coipj "oia nguin ocui" '01A bo^^cut) mem
■pAcbAt) in -peiA "oib in pge 1 cin*o ■pecc mbbiA'OAn ; co comec
PH i^Iaca .1. iTie-pf CACA bbiA'onA, ociif cen mecb iiuAinnA
cec "CACA, ocuf cen mnA "oecAib "oe bAnATOit). Uimcebi^AC
ce6]AA ctiA|M3A ccc p-jA "oib il^jMje .1. i^ei'CA Ac^i. Aex) ^auat)
c|AA, AcbAcb -oib A^Acuf .1. bA*ou"o no bA-oet) in G-piuAit) ;
APPENDIX. 527
ocuf CO ciictvtD AcojAp 11^111 px) pn, utToe S'to n-Ae'OA, ocuj" xxxviir.
6-rniiATO. Ill VAU-CAib in c-deTirin ctAint) acc oen iiTcren .1.
-♦■IT • -tn 1 r^ 11 Ancient
lilACA lilon^iviiAX) A nc\iniii]n-oe. CoiiACCAig y\X)e yel a Iia- account of
c1u\]i *oon ]\y^e. Ax:he\\x: CmibAech ocii)' 'Oic1ioi\bA ni chi- "atio^^T
be]\UA1]' tU^e -OO mriAI. "PeCCA CAC ect1^\]\t1, OCUf triAI'OI'O in the Palace
CAC ]\e illAcbA. *Oo|\uiiiAtc 1'ecc inbtiA-onA i^-i]M5e. 'Oo
^\oc1iAi]v *Oicbo]\bA 1 Co^innt) ■jroip'oe. 'Po]\ACAibp'oe coic
iiiAccu iiiAice .1. t)Aet, ocit)' 0]\a]% "becAc, ocuj' tlAbt<xc,
ocii]' Do]\bcAi\ ConAccecA^\ ^'i"oe i^ge. Acbe^\c IIIaca nA
cibne-o x)6ib, a^\ n'l 6 ^AcliAib cue acc a]\]\6i caca a^\ ecm.
"PeccA CAC ecii]\^\ti. l3]\i|Yii^ TIIaca in cAch \:o]^ niAccAib 'O1-
cho]\bA, CO I'Ap^Aibj^ec a|\ cent) Aicce; co pocuiji iac a|\
innA]\bA iA]\cAin in'oiciAubAib ConnAcc. Uuc tllAcliA iA]\i"Ain
CnnbAec cucci *oo ceite t)!, ocu-p -oo cViAipjecc a liAin^Ai^e
mime.
O i\obACA^\ oencA"OAi5 c|\a, IIIacIia octi^" CimbAecb, ttiitD
ITIacIia "oo ia|\ai]\ ineic n*Oicbo]\bA i]i]\icc ctAimpje .1. cAe-j"
^"ecAib, ocii-p ]\ocA ]\o comiet) nnpe, conopruAi^v 1 nilDAi^unt)
ConnAcc oc |'iine cui|ac AbbAit). Iahitai^ic nA p)\ jxebA "oi,
octi|" mni-priT) -pi *ooib, ocu-p "oo be^AAic biAt) "oi con cem-oi^n.
■Acbeiic ye\\ "oib: if AtAint) ]A0fc nA CAbbigi, oencAigeni puA.
11o|" beijApi-oe \,e)y -pon cAitbit). CenglAi'op in |-e|ifAin
Abbup ni]AC, ocnp p^AcbAit) e pn diAibbix). Uicpi "oo^ii-oipi
"oon cenit). Ca-oo in p^eji -da coitj Lacc A]ipAc. ITlebot iAip,
A|\pi, ciAccAin cucAibp A-p noencugut) -p|\i cbAnnpg. Hi bo
iTic-bob, A|\ lAci'uni, A|\ -oo genATnni uti AcecnA. Ilo-j" bei]i
CAC -pe^i -pon cAbte. CengbAi-o-pi cac fe]\ -oib a]\ nui]\c, oci.i-|^
nop bei]\ in oencengiib be iac co bUbcti. ApbepcACA^\
UIaix) AinmA^bA'o. Hicbo, A|\pipi, A-p i|' cobb pip p-bACA
•OAnipA, ACC A n'ooi]\At) p'o "ooipe, ocn-]" cbAi-oec ^aicIi 1111-
mum-pA, co^iop bi bA-p ppin:icbAci|A "UIa-o co b^Acb. Co -|\o
cboiAAin-opi "ooib in 'oun conA beo oip nnmA iiuiin .1. 6iiniin
.1. Co niuin ,1. Q6 1111111A trittin TIlAcbA.
[translation.]
What is Emain Macha named from ? It is not difficult to tell ?
Three kings that were over Erinn in co-sovereignty ; they were
of the Ultonian race, namely, Dithorha, son of Diman, from Us-
niuch of Midlie (Meath) ; Aedh Ruadh, son of Bddhurn, son of
Ar^gatmar, from Ti'r Aedha; Cimbaeth, son of Fintan, son of Ar-
gatmar, from Finnabhair of Magh Inis. These kings, now, made
an arrangement, that each man of them should reign seven years
[in turn].
There were three times seven guarantees between them [namely] :
seven Druids, seven poets, seven military leaders [or captains].
The seven Druids to scorch them by incantations ; the seven poets
528
APPENDIX.
XXXVIII.
Ancient
account of
the Foun-
flation of
the Palace
of Emauia.
to satirize and denounce them ; the seven captains to wound and
to burn them, if each man of them did not vacate the sovereignty
at the end of his seven years ; and to mamtain the [evidences of the]
righteousness of a sovereign, namely : abundance of fruit every
year ; and no faihire of the dye-stuffs of every colour ; and women
not to die in childbirth. They revolved three revolutions each
man of them in the sovereignty, that is, sixty-three [years, in all].
Aedh Ruadh was the first of them that died, i.e. of drowning, he
died in Eas-Rucadh, and his body was buried in that hill [^Sidli]
unde Sidh Aedha [Aedh's hill], and Es-Ruaidh [or, the Redhaired
Man's Cataract]. This Aedh left no children but one daughter,
i. e., Macha Mong-Ruadh [that is, Redhaired Machci] Avas her name.
She demanded her father's turn of the sovereignty. Cirahaeth and
Dithorha said that they would not give sovereignty to a woman.
There was a battle fought between them, and Macha gained the
battle. She spent seven years in the sovereignty. Dithorha was
killed in the Corann in that time. He left five good sons, namely,
Baeth^ and Bras, and Betach, and Uallach, and Borhchas. These
demanded the sovereignty. Macha said that she would not resign
it to them, because it was not from securities she had obtained it,
but in the battle-field by force. A battle was fought betAveen them,
Macha gained the battle over the sons of Dithorha, so that they
left a slaughter of heads Avith her ; and she sent them into banish-
ment afterwards into the Avildernesses of Connacht. Macha after
that took Cimbaeth to her to be her husband, and to take on him
the command of her soldiers.
Wlien Macha and Cimbaeth had thus formed an union, Macha
set out to discover the sons of Dithorha, in the shape of a leprous
Avoman, i. e., having rubbed herself A\dth the dough of rye and rota
[some kind of red colouring stuff]. And she found them in Bairinn
of Connacht, cooking a Avild hog. The men asked neAvs of her,
and she told them, and they gave her food at that fire. A man
of them said : " Beautiful is the eye of the hag : let us cohabit
Avith her". He took her Avith him into the Avood. She tied that
man by main strength, and she left him in the Avood. She came
again to the fire. " What of the man Avho Avent Avith you ?" said
they. " He Avas ashamed", said she, " to come back to you after
cohabiting Avith a leprous Avoman". "It is no shame", said they,
" for we Avill all of us do the same". Each man of them took her
into the wood. She tied each man of them by her strength, and
carried them in one tie Avith her to Ulster, The Ultonians pro-
posed to have them killed. " Not so", said she, " because it Avould
be the defilement of the righteousness of a sovereign to me ; but
they shall be condemned to slaA^ery, and shall raise a Rath around
me, and it shall be the chief city of Ulster for ever". And she
marked for them the Dun Avith her brooch of gold \JE6 oVr] from
her neck [or at her neck], i.e. Emuin, i.e. Eomuin, i.e. the E6
[brooch] of Macha at her neck. \_E6 and muin, brooch and neck.]
ahi O'Cear-
hbailL
APPENDIX. 529
APPENDIX No. XXXIX. [Lect. III., Page 75.] "^i^E^
Original of entry in the Annals o/Ui^e^MiAc, at a.d. 1405. fr'omThe
.Ainji^xin mA5i\A"ooi5, CAnonAc -oo cAnoiiAcoib Oilen y^^nghlrnLh.
llAom, ^'Aoi, ^cein ^^o niAi)\, a negno 'oia'oo Ajuf 'ooniontDo,
]\A teigionn, a]\ fencA]', a^u^^ a^ eAtA-onoib ioiitoa Aite
A]iceno; A^ti]' ottoiii 'oei5-u]\tA'b]\o iahcoi]\ e-o]\po; ^.-ep
cegoiiA All 'Lioboi]\i'i, Agui" teAbo^t ioiitoa oite, eToi]\ bediATO
riAOtii, Aguj" fencA'i^-'OAtAi'b ; "oej aii ce-OAom ^\ia Saiiioih, i]^
An i^ei^^e-o btiA"6Ain a]a caojac [a Aoip] ; '^o\\ -pe^'A-o ey-^o.
U]AOCAi]n All c^^l-Aiioigcoine lofA Cpifc "00 coigecc \o\\ a
An mom.
APPENDIX No. XL. [Lect. IV., Page 76.]
Origi7ial of legendary account o/lllAebi'ticAin 0'CeA]\bAi'Lt, of
1nif "PAiutenn {Inisf alien) , in Loc Lein (the Lake of Ki'l- -f^^^c'^ent
larney), fvotn the ancient vellum MS. called the ' Liher "ihtlhwin-
Flavus Fergusorurri , (Pai't 1., fol. 11 a.)
U]MA^ -pc^tAinnci^ CAinicti*OA^A o Cuinni]\i -oo •oenum
beipnn 'oinn^-AToi AnmcA]\A"o l3]AiAin mic Cemnei-oi j .i. Illtnb-
•juiuAin IniAC Ce^ibAibt, "oCo^AnAcc Loca Lem, Ai]t bA he
ecnAi-oi bA -peA^A^; inA Aiinp^A be. ^Y AmbATO \\o bAiDAji in
c]AiAp i^o^bAinncipp, ccii-p conic]\uc, octi-|" coiii-oeAbbA, ocu|'
comAinm ^^o|aiio .i. "ooiTinAbi An CAinm. 1lo bA-OA^A imo^A^\o, c]m
bbiA-onA AC iro^bAim, occo. A cinn cpi btiA-oAn A'oub]\A'OA]\
■p^\^ noi-oi : i^^Aib bnn a\\ pA"o, •onb co-|aoici lenu-j^Abem ipn
ci|\ In-OA, 5u -|A0 imci-op-o a]\ coi^a cecli conAin ]\o imi j An
cSbAmicix) A cAtAiii. A-oubAi^ic in cai-oi : m HAcbATO no ju
f A^bAcbAi buAcb mo i'Aei]A [i^Aeciii] Acnm^'A. A"oub]\tit)A]\ nA
•OAbcAi-6 : 11i ^-tnb Acinnn, a]i pAX), ni -00 benmij- -ouicc acc be
mui-o c|n bbiA-onA Aibe A5 omuboit) -otticr, mAt) Ait beAcc.
til bAib, A]i]'e, ACC bex) cob]\Ai"6 mo b|Aeic i:ein -OArii, no T)en
bA]A neAfjnine. 'Oo be]\iiin, 0]) pA-o, "oia poib Acuinn. Ron
nAifc ]:o]\]\o ]:o foi-|xebAin CoinToeA-o. HAcbAi-o, A]\i^e,in conAi]A
If Alb bib, ocuf bi-o mA]\b pb a nAein-peAcc a\\ An cu]\n]% ocni-
ip bucAcb concim o|Anibp, cAn "oub a^ neArh ia]a negAib "oinb,
no CO cipoAit) cticuiTi]-A AH "oiif -oiA innipn "OAih ce y:AX> mo
fAejAib ocu-p CO |\o innii^-oi An -pAJAim cennj^A in Coim-oi.
^eAbbmni-one •otiiccp An ni pn a bncc An Coinroi, A^ApAt)
po imii^i-o pn, ociif imici^at) beAnnAccAin beo o nA noi-oi,
octi-p ]\o iTA^-j^Ac beAnnAccAin A151 -onA. Ko i^ija^icc cecb
conAi-n ^o cuAbA-oAii in cSbAinici *oo imcicc. RAnicA'0A|i -onA,
■po-oeom C0HUIC1 le^uq^Abem, ocn-p irnA^u-p'OAH ^^f Anein]:eAcc
Ann, ocuf jio bA-onAiceA-o co noijA [nonoiji] moi]i ia-o in lejiu-
-pAbem. UAinic tlliceb ApcAinjeAb o TJia a|ia ceAnn. l-onb-
34
530
APPENDIX.
App. XL. ■pA'OA'p -pum : ni ^lAJum no 50 -j'tAnAi-onn in bjAeAcli cti^f Am y|tiA
A|\ noi-oi fro -poif'cetA C]\i-|x. lAichiJTO [ImcViigit)] a]\ in cAin-
story of git, OCtlf' innp-Q "OO C]M btlA-OnA Coteicll AI5I "00 fAegAt, ociii'
aUio-Tear- <^ *otit in i-pjAinn CO bfAAch. lAjipn befiu|\ An b^ieArh Atbo
bhaill. bjlAcVlA -pAI]!. IntDI-p 'Ollinn, AfA pAt), CIX) THA CUHCAfV in 1]:-
■pinn e. A-p c]\i iTAcbuib, a]a in CAinpb .1. a^a me-o cop]\cei'
An CAnom, ocup a me-o -oo liinAiiii ypipt) coimpicenn, octif
A]A c-i^ejAt) An AtcupA,
1Se imon]ioiTi ^ac a]a a^\ rpeigptim aii cAbcup" .1. itiac niAic
•pobAeit) Aco [occo] .1. THAeipA"0]iAic a Ainin. 1lo-|^ob gAbuft
iDAip in niAc. II0 50b An cAbctip yofeACc inA cinicibb Afi
•OAit) conA-o bA-o inA]\b in iiiac. nip CAftbAi-o "ooibptitfi pn,
UAip bA mA|\b in nu\c pA ce-ooin. l-oubAiiic ITlAebpucAin nAcb
gebA-o in Abcup cpe bicun'i o nAC -pACAit) Anoip ac XJia pAip.
Ocuj" 111 "oeApAnoip cue "oia "oon Abcnp gAn f'bAinci 'oia'o itiac
■pAn, Acc pcA]!]) beip in niAC 'oobeicb e-oiji in nniinnci|\ lleiriie
nA e-oifi miiinnci]A cAbiiiAn. Ho bAei-o TnAeb-|"iiCAin -peAcc
mbbiA-onA cen Abcti-p "oo gobAib. lA]ipn CAngA'OAfA AC|Aiti]t
TDAbcA-o "DO AjAbtiib 1T1 AeibpvicAin ipeccAib q\i cobum njeAb,
ociif p-eAppum pwibci ypni. Innipit) X)Aifi ce -pAt) mo I'AejAib,
ocn-p An p"AX)iiim p^ocpuici. Acacc, a]\ pAtjpom, c]m bbiA"6n<\
DO pAegub AciiT), ocii]" 'oo "oub A nip^iinn cobpAcb lAppin. Cm
imA mbemn Anip-funn, Ap eipin. A\\ cpi p'AcbAib, Ap pA-opniTi,
ocu-p pvo innp-OApv nA cpvi -pACA a "onbpumAii -[Aomuinn. llibA
■pipi mo 'otibp'A An ip^Ainn, Ap\ -f^e, iiai|\ nA cpvi buibc pn, Appe,
ACA1C ocompA Aniu, ni biAX) ocom-pA Anni, ni biAX) ocumpA
opunn AniAcb, ocu-p c]iei5p'eAt)pA nA tnnbc pn, ocui^ bogp^Ai-o
'O1A TDAm lAt), AiiiAib 110 gcAbb p'oin An cAn A ■oiibAi]\c: " Im-
piecA-p impii in t^uAcumcjue bo]\A contiefipnp pmepit) non no-
cebic ei". t1i -oen "oonA, ciAbb UAim pein ipn CAnoin, [acc]
AmAib no jeib ip nA beob]iuib 'oiA'ouib. J^^^'^'o "onA cet)
pbeccAin cech bAi. Scacc mbbiAt)nA AciipA gen -Abciip "oo
gAbAib, ocup gebAt) in cAbcnp po pcAcc cec noici-o cen be-o
beo, ocnp "oo "oen c]\eginvip cecA peAccminne. *OenAi"6pi
•ono cocc "oocuin neime, Ap pe, ocnp C151 aLIo ineiin)eAccA
'oinnipin pceb 'OAiii. Uuicp-Amnit) Ap piAt), ocup -oo cuA-OAp a
cpiup p^on ctiApApcbAib ce-onA, ocup po beAnnAccpA"o "06, ocup
po beAnnAcpuiti -oAibpum. 1bbo An eip*oeccA cAngu-OAp a
cpiup p-on cuApupcbAib ce^onA, ocup po beAnuAcbA cIia [beAn-
nAcliA] cAcb "OA ceibe "oib, ocup ]\o p-iApp^Am "oib : in inAnn mo
bcAcliApA inx)ni ac 'Olv ocup aii Ia eite CAngAbuip "00111 AgAb-
tuib. II1 liinAnn umoppo, AppiAX), UAip "oo ceApbenAt) 'ouinne
cinA-opA Ap Tleirii, ocup ip beop binnit) a peAbup. UAUgA-
mApne Amu AmAib po geAbbAiTiApne, Ap X)o ceAnnpA, ocup CAp
linn Ap Amup An inAit) pin, co pobuip 1 ppAcpAcup 'Oe ocup
APPENDIX.
531
An AeiicATo tiA UiAinoi'oi, ocu]' mumnri]\i lleniie, co h]\<\x: riA app. xl.
mb]\eAc1i. IS Annpn ]\o cmoibt) ^"acai]a [^-acaiiac] ocu-p ctei- j^^^^^^^^
|M"6 iiti"6a CU151, ocu|' \\o hon^A-o he, ocuy ni ^\o ^'5A]\^'A"o a x)a\>- story of
CAi-o f\\^Y no 511 troecA'OAp "oociiin 11ein'ie. Ocuf ^]ye yc]\ep- ainocear-
CV1A [rc]\epc]K\] 111 p]\ ihaicIi pn a ca in 1nni]"'PAic'Lenn ipn '"''"*"
ectAif ]:o]\ pnic.
APPENDIX No. XLI. [Lect. IV., Page 76, Note ''''']
Contents of the ^^Liher Flavus Fergusorum\ a vellum MS. in contents
two parts, or volumes, 4:to^ of the date 1437, in the possession caiiedLiMR
of James Marinus Kennedy, Esq. [the volumes not consecu- 1]:;^^^^^^^^'
lively paged, but each consisting of several staves (-4, B, C,
etc.), paged separately at present, hut irregularly divided^
Pars I., A, — Fol. 1. A religious legend (in which the names of
St. Stephen Martyr, and Judas occur).
Fol. 2. The Triumphs of Charlemagne [a rather short tract].
Fol. 10. The Story of Constantine the Great.
Account of the Names of the Trees of which the Cross
was composed.
Accou.nt of a man's head having fallen off at the fair of
Taillten, for swearing falsely upon the hand of St.
Ciaran,
Story of Niall Frassach, Monarch of Erinn.
Fol. 11. Trial of Friendship by an Ancient Philosopher.
Story of 3Iaelsittham OCearbhaill [O'Carrolt], Secretary
and Ad^dser to Brian Boroimhe. [See ante, Appen-
dix No. XL.]
Story of Saighir Ciaratn.
Account of the Wonders of the birth of Christ.
Fol. 13, Short Life of St. Moling.
B, — Fol. 1. Story of Enoch and Elias.
Fol. 2. Death of St. Chiistoferus.
Fol. 6. Religious Legends (of Erinn).
Fol. 7. Religious Legends and Rules.
FoL 1. Legend of St. Moling.
C, — Fol. 1. Story of the Sons of Eochaidh MuighmJieadhoin.
A Religious Legend.
Fol. 2. The Historic Tale of the Tain Bo Flidais (part of the
Tain Bo Chuailgne).
A Religious Legend.
Fol. 3. Account of the "Irruption", orOrigm, of the Boyne River.
Story of St. Colum Cille.
Birth of Conn of the Hundred Battles.
Fol. 4. Story of Niall of Nme Hostages, and his Sons.
A Religious Legend.
Fol. 5. Short Account of St. Patrick.
Fol. 6. Account of the Death of St. Andrew.
Fcl. 7. Account of the Death of St. Philip the Apostle.
34 b
532
APPENDIX.
APP. XT.I.
Contents
of the MS.
called LiREK
Flavus FiiU-
GUSOKUM.
Fol. 7. Account of the Death of Partholan.
D, — Fol. 1. Life of St. John the EvangeHst, (imperfect).
FoL 3. Beheading of St. John the Baptist.
Life of St. Elexinus.
Fol. 4. Exposition of the Lord's Prayer.
Fol. 5. Moral and Eeligious Tracts.
Fol. 6. Story of Dunchadh, or Donogh, O'Brieai ^^O'Bi^aoin.']
Story of the ISIan who swore by St. Ciaran's Hand.
Story of Mac Coise the Poet, and the Fairy Wt)man-
Story of Aodh Oif'dnidhe and the Enchanted Goblets.
Story of Constantine the Great.
Pars II., A, — Fol. 1, et seq., Religious Pieces (miscellaneous).
Fol. 6. Account of the Death of St. Salmus.
Fol. 9. Life of St. Julian.
Fol. 10. Of the Passion of our Lord.
B,_
Fol.
Fol.
Fol.
Fol.
Fol.
Fol.
C,-
Fol.
D-
Fol.
Fol.
Fol.
Fol.
Fol.
Fol.
Fol.
E,-
Fol.
Fol.
Fol.
Eol. 1. Religious Tract from St. Aiigiistine.
2. A curioiis Address from a Priest to the Heir of the
King of Oriel, on the Sacraments.
5. Death (and Life) of St. Ceallach, son of Eogan Bel, King
of Connacht ; (see ante, Appendix No. XIV.)
8. Religious Legend of the Seven Heavens, and of the Crea-
tion of Man.
10. Threatened Inflictions on the Church in Ireland if the
purity of the Faith was not preached and forwarded.
Tract on SS. Peter and Paul.
12. The Genealogies of the Apostles.
13. Religious Tracts (miscellaneous).
Eol. 1. On the Passion, Resurrection, etc.
8. Story of St. Baithin.
-Fol. 1 . Story of Tadhg G'Briain and the Devil.
Tract on the House of Solomon.
The " Epistle of Christ".
2. Tract on the Greatness of God, etc. (commonly called
Teanga Bithnua).
4. Dialogue of the Soul and the Body.
5. The Vision of St. Paul.
6. Tract on the Evicharist.
7. On the Situation of the City of Jerusalem.
8. On the Colours of the Vestments used at Mass.
Life of St. Evistatius.
Various Legends (religious, etc.)
10. Lite of St. Mary of Egypt.
-Fol. 1. Life of Saint Georgius (much defaced).
5. The Testament of the Blessed Virgin.
7. Legend of St. Bvenann of Birr.
8. Legend of Meadhbh and the Cave of Crtiachain.
Tract on the Expulsion of the Deise (Decies or Deasys)
from Tara.
APPENDIX. 533
Fol. 9. Tract on the Death of Conor Mac Nessa on the Day of a pp. xli.
the Crucifixion. contents
Tract concerning the Devil. of the MS.
Tract on the Commandments. f'i.avi s Fei''-
Fol. 12. Story of Saint Brendan. gusokum.
[Some parts of these MSS. are as old as the middle of the
fifteenth century, and other parts perhaps not so old. The date
1437 occurs at the 29th leaf of Part I., or Part I. C. Fol. 5.]
APPENDIX XLII. [Lect. VL, Page 84.]
Original of entity in the Annals of Ulater of the Death of the or the
original comjyiler, IIIac 1llA5nu]'v\. (a.d. 1498.) compuerof
f> '1 ' /-v 1 1-1 • ' the Annals
SceL ino]t itto Oninn uite in DUA'OAinp .i. -j'o py. of uister.
111ac DlAJmiivN 1l1he5tii"6i-n "oo eg in btiA-OAinp .i. CacaL
65, iTiAC CauaiI, mic CAUAit, mic 5i1-^<'^P'^'0|\<m5? imc IIIaca,
ecc. lleoc bui inA biACAc -|:o^i SeAnA-6, ocui' inA cAnA-
nAc cG]iAX) in a\]to IIIaca, octif in e-]'poc6i'oecc ChocAi|i,
ociif inA t)e5Ant\c yo\\ t.oc G^iime, octii' inA plie-nfun a n-1ni]"
CAin "LocA h-Ci]uie; -oo bui a n-'oejAncACc Loca 1i-ei]Ane inv\
■pe^A-inAit) e-poincpiM cuic btiA-onA -065 |\ia nA eicpechc. 1nt)
leAC bognnip, imo]i|io, ocu-p in gem gtoine, ocu-p in ]AectA
foLufCA, octip ci^'ci cAij'ce'OA in"o ecnAi, ocn-p c]iAeb cniiApAig
nA cAnoine, octip copti]\ nA "oefeiici, ocu]" nA cennpA ocuy
nAhAitgine; ocuy in colnm a]\ gboine c^u-oe, ocnp in ruy-
ciii]\ A]\ en-ocA ocnp innecb, X)&]\ buTOigi 'oaiha, ocii-p "oeo-
■jiAi-o, ocup ■oeibiein bochcA Ci^\enn ; ocup in neAc bui tAn
•00 pAc, ocii-]" -00 ecnA in jac tube eAlA-OAin co liAimi'i-n a
eicpeccA, ocup A^iAite .1. -otijet), ociii" 'oia'oacc, ppijecr,
ociif peAbbpAime, ocn-i" eAbA-oAin ^•''^ei'oitp Ai-pcenA. Ocnp
neAc ]\o cnni-oAij, ocii-p ]io cegtAim, octip ]\o cinoib An teA-
bA]\iv\ A beAb|\Aib itiinT)A Aibe. Octi]" a 65 -oon 5<^^^M^ b^ieAC,
in x)ecmA'6 CAbAinn "oo liii ^p]ub, "oia ViAine ajiai bAici -pecc-
iiitnni. bx". Anno [A]ecAcip -pue. Ocup cAb]\A"6 ^ac nee
■OIA begp-A in-o bebA]ipA, ocnp -oia poijenA, a bennAcc po]i An
AnniAinpn TDhic TnliA^nupA.
APPENDIX No. XLIII. [Lect. IV., Page 85.]
Oriqinal of tivo memoranda inserted in a blank space (at the ?fp'"'^'a'i<'a
0 J -^ ^ 111 Aiiiials
end of A.D. 1373) in the Dublin copy of the Annals 0/ of uister.
Ulster, {classed H. 1. S. T.C.D.)
^-AcliAon beij-pAp An becpo cAb]iAT) ben'OAchc a]\ Anmuin
An p'1^1 -po 5iiAib.
1S c6]\A A cAbuipc Ap AniiiAin UnAmju hi Luinin "oo P5]^ib
ATI l,ebu]\ coniAic.
534
APPENDIX.
-—^ — ' APPENDIX No. XLIV. [Lect. IV., Pages 90, 92.]
Of the commencement of the Annals of Ulster in the Vellum
MS. so called (classed H. 1. 8.) in the Library of T.C.D.
I cannot venture to pronounce on my own part a positive opinion
upon the identification of these leaves with the Annals of Tighernach,
but it seems to be more than probable that they did form a portion
of a copy older than any (and not exactly coinciding with any) other
now known. I can add nothing to the observations of the Kev. Dr.
Todd (in his letter printed ante Appendix XXXII.), whose conclusion
in the affinnative is, of course, entitled to the greatest weight. The
writing of the three leaves in question appears to belong to the
fifteenth century.
APPENDIX No. XLV. [Lect. V., Page 94.]
Memoranda Original of memorandum inserted in the Annals of Loc Ce
'^,Tckk (H. 1. 19., T.C.D,) at a.d. 1061.)
IS im -pgiteAC X)o 'bA^^c tD^iAin tllic 'OiA-pmA'OA. Anno Do-
mini, 1580. mifi pilip bA-oUig".
Mem. in
Annals of
loch Ci, at
1515.
Mem. in
Annals of
Loch Ci, at
1681.
Mem. in
Annals of
Loch Ci, at
1462.
Entry (at
1581) in Con-
tinuation of
Annals of
Loch C6.
APPENDIX No. XLVI. [Lect. V., Page 94.]
Original of a second memorandum in the same., at 1515.
S5iii|\im -oe fo. "^o X)-^6^^\\6^'6 T)ia 'o'-peA]i m "LeAbAii^p
ceAcc ftAn 6 l3liAiLe ^ca "LtiAiri .i. t)]AiAn itiac RttATO-pi tTlic
'OiApmA'OA. triip pibp -p5pippu, 1588, Ia yeil b]Aentiir>n
x)o fmnn^iA'o. Octif CtiiAin In DjiAOin mo to^.
APPENDIX No. XL VII. [Lect. V., Page 94.]
Original of a third memorandum in the same, 1581.
PeAiACAO^A-o 6 'OiiiljjenAirin .i. itiac 'P^P5'<^i^ ^^^ pilip
•oYajaiI bAip A j-CbtiAin 1 t)]iAoin.
APPENDIX No. XLVIII. [Lect. V., Page 94.]
Original of a fourth memorandum in the same, at 1462.
U-pi "ouibleojA octi-p .11. .xx.ic memiAUim aca ifin ■LeAli)A|\pA,
Per me Dauid Duiginan.
APPENDIX No. XLIX. [Lect. V., Page 95.]
Original of an entry, at ad. 1581, in fragment of the con-
tinuation of the Annals of \y0c Ce, in the British Museum;
and of Note appended thereto by Brian Mac Dermot, Chief
of rriAJ 'lt11l^5 [^jMoy Lorg.]
1581. An CAbbAC niAC 'OomriAiU, iinc Tai-o^, niic Ca-
cbAil 015 bi ConciibAip, 015116 Slijit) ocuf 1ccai|a Cohhacc
APPENDIX. 535
rAn imni]'Ain •o'y^-^S^^'^ hc^yy in Aome ^ve]\ t)A CAi-pc riA app. xlix.
bllA-OnA]'0. j.„j,.y(^,
The following is the note : — tinuation o"
Ocvi]' If X)0 I'^etAib ni6]iA ha lie-]\enn An ceniiiAC pn 'Ooni- i^ch vl
riAiltl ConcubAi)\,ociif in6i]\e ingmel Ruai]\c; ochimii CAinic
•oo flicc bjUAin Lm^ni^ ^maiii, ye\\ a ao|v\ but) mo "oo -pceb ha
e, ocu]" ni "ooij co cicpA; ocii]' "oo c]\ai'6 ini'getpn c]\oi'oet)A
ConiiACC, ociif CO liAi]nce x)o cjaato i^e eijif ociJ|" ottumhAin
ciJipt) ConriAcc; ocu]p "oo conipomni^e mo q\0T6e ye^r\ riA
•OA cult). tJch, uch i|" c|^UA5 mA|i cAim Ant)e6i5 mo ceibe,
OCU1' mo compAtiAig, ocu-p au ci "oobA coca, ocui" tDobo
CAi]\ip lem A]\bic. Illip bjUAii 111ac 'OiA]\mAt)A "oo f5l"b pn,
A]A Ca]\j\ai5 tllic 'OiA)unAt)u ; ocu]' if f AniAtcA me Auoif ye
h-Olill Otom AntDiAiT) a ctoinne <xy ita mA]\bAt) a byocAin -dijAC
Cnp]\ mic Cuinn cet)CAr1iAi5 a cac lllui^e ITlucnunne, te
IIIac Con mic TnAicniAt) mic tuigtiech ; no ye 'Oe^yx>ye cAfeif
Cboinne h-t1ifnech -oo mApbAtD a bfebb a nGAmuin TTIaca, te
ConcubAf 111ac "PAccnA, mic llofA ]iUAt), mic "RutDfAi-oe.
Oi]\ ACAim tDiibAC tDobfonAic t)ib]\050it)ec "oomenmnAC a
ntJubAije, ocuf AiitJO^Aibtfi ; ocuf ni heiT)i|\ a ]\iom nA a
innipn mA]i ACAim Anx)iAt) mo compAnAig t)o "out UAim .1.
An CAtbAch ; ocu-p An Ia tDei^enAC X)o mi ITlAfCA x>o liAtJ-
tACAt) A Sbi^ecb e.
APPENDIX No. L. [Lect. V., Page 96.]
Original of entry in the Annals of the Four 3f asters, of the Death ot
Death of Brian 3Iac Lhrmot, 0/ITIA5 l/Uipj, a.d. 1592. Dermotof
A •« Moy Luig.
tiiAC 'OiAfmAt)A iTlAi^e Lui]\cc, D]\iAn 1T1ac lluAmjn mic
UAitDcc mic 'OiA]\mAt)A, t)ecc 1 mi nouembe]\, ocu-p ]\o bA
m6iT)e tDAX)bAf eccAoine ecc An -pin pin ^An a co]^mAiteAf
■oo beic T)o ctoinn ITlAoifUAnATo 'oo gebAt) ceAntJup t)iA eipi.
APPENDIX No. LI. [Lect. V., Page 101.]
Original of entry in the Annals of hot Ce at a.d. 1087. Entry in An-
nals of Loch
Q^t ConAcLA ACIAIC copuinn La HuAitJ-pi nA yA-^ buiT)e mAC c^-
Oet!)A in 5A bcApnAi^, p'0]i OetDh itiac Aipc Hi RuAipc; ocu-p
iTiAice ConiiiAicne uite iu^uIaci punc ec occip-|\
APPENDIX No. LII. [Lect. V., Page 101.]
Original of entry in the same at a.d. 1087. Enti-yin An-
nals of Loch
HACup eye oc Anno UoiiAjA-oeALOAC Ua ConcooAip. cl
536 APPENDIX,
APP^Liii^ APPENDIX No. LIII. [Lect. V., Page 101.]
Batt°e"ff°^ ^'>^W'^^^ of account of the Battle of ITlAg Slecc, from the
Maghsiecht, Aimals o/ Loc Ce (//. 1. 19., T.C.D.), at a.d. 1256.
in Annals of ^ \ /
Uch a.
Anno cicb -potif cei\ciuf Annti-j- 'oecimti'p Anno xiiii. int)ici-
one. Tn. cc. 1. j^exco.
piAnn niAC l^toinn t^UTO 6-]"piic UuAmA "oo ec a mlDpof-
coniA. A]TOef puc iDliAiie Aca CtiAC -oo ec in bliA'OAin cex)nA.
HuATo^M Ua 5<5^'6]^a, pij Stebe t^ti^A x>o liiA^ibAt) "oa CAi-p'oe)"
CiAi-pc -pein .1. 'OAbi'o rriAO Uicai|a"o Cuipn a pit, ocu-p a
mebuit, ocup a cAipten "00 bp^e-o in CAnpn '06.
Stoi^eii) A^obut h'io^a -00 'oenAiii La tlAceiA niAC Ricaiia-o,
niic llittiAm t)ii]\c -oociiin pe-otim inic CAcliAit C-jAOi'b'oei-n^,
ocu-p "oocntn a rinc .1. Aox) niAC "Pe-otimit), ocup cum mic
UijeiAnAin 1 Ruai^ac; ocui" i-p nnciAn ■)\6ime pn 6 -jao cino'lAX)
A comVinmA-p in cptoij pn a nGpnn, oi]i i-petih -po Iiai]!-
mex)h Annpn .1. pche mite a]a Ai]Aem Aoinpii. Ocu-p cAn-
jAtDA^A nA i^tiiA^A lAnmo^AA -pin 50 111 A j nCo nA SA-j^AnAC,
ocn-p Api-oe 50 DaIIa, ocup Ap^i-oe a]\ pi-o Ltii^ne; octi|" iao
Ai^i^-j^ex) Liii^ne a^i ^ac teic inA cimcett; ocu-p cAnco"OA]\
CO h-AcliA-o ConAii\e. Ocup "oo cui-|Ai"ec ceccA A-p pn uAcViAib
-oinnpoi^it) muincep KAijittij, ocup "oo A-ob^xA-OAii cocc nA
coinne 50 cnoi-|" 'Ooipie Caoiu, -po|i cinn Ai|ice|\Ac IDjiaic-
ptebe, A Ui^\ 'CuAcliAit. Ocu-p cAn5A"OAi\ muinci^\ llAijiiti^
CO CtAcllAU tlluCA-OA pO]1 Steib An lA1^\n. 0CU-|" -pO impAtDA^A
muinci-p llAi^ibti^ Annpn ^aii coinne -o'-pA^Ait o ^^^IbAib ;
ocu-|' cAncocA]i Ap pin co Soitcen nA n^^pAU. 5u-|iAb ipin
bo ce-ouA pin .1. "oia liAoine "oo -punn^iAb, ocup Ia -pete Cpoip
cAp ^AC bA, po tinoib ConcobAp mAC UigepnAin 1 tluAipc,
pip l3pei]:ne ocup ChonmAicne, ocup An -ttieit) po pet) iriAibbe
p]\iu, pA AoV) 11a CboncobAi]i, ocup mAice ChonnAcc, ocup
cSib tTluipe'OAig ApcbeuA. Ocup ip"iA"o bApepp Ap An pbuAg
pin .1. ConcobA]\ iiiac UijepuAin 1 RuAipc .1. Ri Ua mlDpiuin
ocup ChonmAici ; ocup CAcliAb VIa 'pbAicbe]icAi5 ; ocup tllup-
cliA-o pnn Ha jTep^Aib; ocup RuAi-opi in IThe-oA Ua ptoinn ;
ocuppbAnn nihAj OipeccAi^ ; ocup'Oonn oglTlbAjOipeccAi j ;
ocup cuit) mop "OO cpib CheAbbAij; ocup cp'i mic tHic *OiAp-
iiiaca; ocup'OiApmAictlAptAnnA^Ain ; ocupCAcliAbmAc'OuAp-
CAin 1 C^hjiA ; ocup -oa ii'iac 'CijeiinAin 1 ChoncobAip ; ocup gib-
bAnAUAem Ua Uai-oj. Ro b'im*6A cpA, "D'ogbAi-o CbonnAcc
Ann 6 pin aihacIi. Ocup ip Ann puc copAcin c-pbuAig pin pop
muinci]i RAijibbij, A5 Soibcen nA ngApAn ; ocup ]io benpAc
lAt) CO \\6\x, Uije ITlhe^uip'in. 1p Ann^-in po impvVOAp jlAp-
(04) Hie in the MS.
APPENDIX. 537
Iaic iiuiincii\e TlcMgitbj y\uY 111 fttiAJ ceccA]\"6A pn ; ocu]' app. lui.
CUCfAC CjU nK\t)nU\nnA ].'0|\]\v\. ^y AW^]-U^ -HUCfA-O in r^^<^5 Account of
iiion roi\nA, i<M\ mAnlbAX) co-oa "oia nnnncen, im 'OhiAi\mAic Ha Battle of
opiAniuv^Ain, ocu]^ 1111 ITlliAC TTlAonAi^; ocu]^ ini CnoicLe Ua mAnnaisof
Choicle, ocii-p 1111 f ocAi-oe Aite. Ocuf cAncA'OA^\ uite riA i^UiAig ^"'-'^ ^'^•
ceccA^A-oA 1^111 CO hA\jc riA 1i6tci, ocu-pgo 'Ooi|\in C^\AnncA, itDi-^
At TiA beici^e ocu|" "bet 111 "blieAtAi^; octi-p Coilt G^^^a;
octi]" Coitt ^i]i^\ce^i, |"0|i Steib in lA|AUinn. Ocuf if Annpn
^10 impAt)A^\ nnnncii^ llAi^ittij 50 'ou]a, ocu]' 50 -oich^iA,
'OAi'AccAc, 'oice'L'Li'6, "oopiiAccnAi^ci, a nA^liAiX) mic phex)-
tiniiT), octi-p inA mboi "oo ChonnAcctub inAitte p^f, "oo
•oijuit A nejcoiAAc, ocu]" a nAnl!)].-on]\Ain i:of|\A. Ocuf ]\o
jjiei-p CAC -oib A iTitiince|\ a cenn a ceti .1. cac "Ua 111 D]Muin,
ocuf ConnAccAij. 1"p Annpn -po e^AJe-OAjA ConnAcuuij "oon
teic A^iAilt -oon CAC ; octif \\o t'lA-opn An "oponj -oAnA, "oaj-
CApAi-o, "oi^xi^A, "oeninnec. Octi-p |\o coi-nje-OAiA, inA tAoin
lonTO^iec, l,Aiv\iiiAit, lAiiicApAi'o lAt), ocii-p inA cipci coriTotiiic,
cobpAij, cen^uilui, yA n6i5]ii nu]A]AuncA, nA|\m-'LAi'oi]\ .1. yA
Ao-b niAC "pe-otimi-o, 1111c CAcliAit C|Ao'bx)ei]\5. Atz. dienA,
bA pe]A5 b^uic]:bAtA, ociip bA cob^^Aigecc cuitAt), ocuf bA
tAoc-oAcc teoniAin "La tiiac An Ai]\"op5 ipin 1,a pin. Octip po
pe-j\A"6 CAC c|i6"6a, copco]AAC, cnpACA •00 •61b teicib ecojApA ip
in uAip pin. 1x0 inA]\bAic, ociip po jonAic podiAi-oe Anunn,
ocnp AiiAbt ceccAp -oo 'oib beicib. Ace chenA, po pAjbAt) Ann
ConcobA]i niAc Uige^MiAin, pi bpei):ne, ocnp ITlnpcAt) pun Ua
pep^Aib, ocnp Aot) llApep^Ait, ociip1TlAotpiiAnAi'6inAc'Oonn-
cliAi-o ; 'OAOine iiiit)A eti 'oo toe Ap An bACAip pin ; ocnp "oiieni
"Oib "oo "out "oeg "OA n^onAib inA cijib, rtiA ITInpcAt) pmn "Ua
peji^Ait, ocnp yh. "ptAnn THaj OipeccAi^, po rnApbA-o a ppic-
^nin in caca pin, ocu-]' pocAi-oe ebi mAibte y]Aip. Act: chenA,
ipex)1i A-oepiT) bncc eobnip An liiop caca pin, conA]i •jre'opAC
tAC^Aibe nA jApppAige pin, inA miii-6 in liiop liiA-oniA ]:ec1iAin
in AJAit) in Apt)piACA; iiAip 'oo bAtDAp X)A pi-coinnib, po liiojiA,
puipctecnA Ap lAppA-o, ocnp Ap tnAiriAin inA cinn ; ocnp bA
ViA-o^UAC Ia cac coiiipA-o Y\^^\- in cAn pin ; UAip "oo bAi ume
lomAjAbbniA piAp nA pbnAJAib aj "onl a gcent) caca Ua
mbpiuiii. Ocny CU5 A -pocAnn AiptDpij, ocnp a 5pec cupAX) opp
AiptD A nie-oon An liiop caca. Ocnp nip An tjon peim, ocnp
■oon puACAp pn jup riieAbAi'6 "oo cac Ua ni Dpinin. Cm cpA,
Acc po THApbAt) Ap An lACAip pin, CacaI "Ua KAijibbij, ]\i
tritiinncipe inAotiiiop-oA, ocnp caca Aotda "Pmn, ocnp a "oa
riiAc niAitbe p\ip .1. 'OoiiinAlt TlnAt), ocnp tliAlt, ocnf A-oep-
b|iACAi]\ .1. CnconnAcc, ocu]' c]n inic CliACAit "Ouib Hi Rai-
gittig .1. 5opi^^''^5' ocup "Pe^A^At, ocnp 'OoiiiiiAbt ; ocnp
AnnA-6 nuvc 'OoiimAill 1 HA151II15, -oo liiAjibA-o Ia ConcobAp
538 APPENDIX.
App. Liii. tiiAC Uije^MiAin ; octq^ An Caoc IIa llAigiltij .1. IIiaII-, ocxiy
T UigejiriAn HIaj bnA-OAi j, ocu-p gittATnich'it rriAC UaicIij,
Battle of ocuf 'OonncA'6 Ua tDi'b'i'Ai^, ocu]" lIlA^nu-p rriAC ^i^^-^^^-ouib,
intCnnaw ocuf cilte-o Ajt Z]\\ pccil!) x)o itiAicil!) A mumncijAe TnA|^oen
LochC4. i^'^y Ocu-p -po iTiApbA'o 1'e y^\\ "oej "o'lb RAijitlij Ann beo]".
Cac iTioige Stecc a^a \)\\\\ Aca 'Oeijig, aj A\Xc nA ViGtlci, 6\
iDheAtAc nA iDeicige, Ainm in caca pn.
APPENDIX No. LIV. [Lect. V., Page 102, Note ^^^>]
Of the Idol Original (loith Translation) of passage in the Tripartite Life
"cmach!^"^^* 0/ Saint Patrick concerning the Idol called Cenn Cruaich, [or
Crom Cruacli] and the Plai7i called ITIaj Stecc.
"LuTO lA-pum Paujaaic 1 UecbAi cuAi-pcipic .1. co CiaicIi Coi|^-
pi^e, bAte [in] ^o e-ob^^At) •oo]"iini ^l^^^n^^l^'o o mACCAib Coi-ppjAe ;
ocnp i:onACAib]"oni in-oiipn G-ppcop ^^^^r^^c niAc Tnibcon, a
coTiiAtcAi, ocnp nA "01 CmijA, pecpACA in hipin ; octip luhe
conAccubpAc cuip V11 CtiiAin l3p6nAi5; ocup ip Aipi aca
AccoibAT) innA cibte pjMA tAibi ; ocnp Aipchin-OAch 5l'^i''-^''l^c
o^TOn epp cenn CAitbecb 'oo 5]iep b'l CtuAin DponAij. In
CAn imo]\po, po pen pAcpAic CAitbe popp nA o^Aib pempAici
po cbocAp A ceicpi coi^A ipin cboic: pembigic inui a poib-
ieccA pempep. TDo coit) pAcpAic lAppin cAp in tipci -oo
ITlAig StecuA, bAib i]\pAbi Ap-o i-OAt nA hCipenn .1. Cenn
CptlAIC, CUmCACCA O op ocup O ApgAC, OClip "OA ITDAb -OeACC
Aibe ctimcAccA 6 uniA imme. Oc cbonnAipc pAcpAic inn
i-oaI, on npci "oiAnix) Ainm ^"CAp'ox) (.1. jAbcA a guc), ocnp o
po corriAicpij "oonni-OAb, connApgAib a tAim -oo cliup DAcbtA
Ippu pAip, ocnp noco jiaLa, acc "00 pAipbepc piAp -oon timitic
[recte cttmnit] pop a lee n-oepp, Ap ip in-oepp po boi a Aget) ;
ocup mApAit) plicc innA IDacIiIa inA teic cbu beup, ApAi"6e
noco popcAi^ An tDACAbb a lAim pAcpAic ; ocup potbuicc in
CAbAin nA "OA AppAcc "oeACC Aibi conici A cinnu ; ocup acaic
pon intjup pm 1 cconio^TOUjAt) int) epcA; ocuppo mAbbAc "oon
•Demon, ocup po in-OApb in ippinn ; ocup -oopogApc innAlnube
cum peje Loeguipe icbepme po A-opAipeu innit)Ab; ocup
AcconnApccAp innA huibi e (.i.'oemon) ocup po imecbAicpec a
neipibcin mAnit) cliui]Ae'o pAcpAic he inn ipppinn.
[translation.]
Patrick went afterwards to North Tethbha [TefEa], i.e., to Coirpre's
land, where Granard was offered to him by the sons of Coirpre;
and he left in that place Bishop Guasacht, the son of Milchu, his
[former] companion, and the two Emirs, that person's sisters ; and
it was they that first took up at Cluain Bronaigh; and it is on that ac-
APPENDIX. 539
count tliat the one cliurch is attached to the other ; and it is the app. liv.
Airchinnech [abbot] of Granard that consecrates the superioress of
nuns perpetually in Cluain Bronaigh. When, now, Patrick had caiLd Crow
consecrated the veil upon the virgins aforesaid, their four feet sunk cruach.
into the stone [upon which they Avere standing] : their marks remain
in it semper. Patrick after that went over the water to Magh Slecht,
where stood the chief Idol of Erinn, i.e., Cenn Cruaich, ornamented
with gold and with silver, and tAvelve other idols ornamented Avith
brass around him. When Patrick saAv the idol from the Avater Avhich is
named Quthard [loud voice] {i.e., he elevated his voice) ; and Avhen he
approached near the idol, he raised his arm to lay the staff of Jesus
on him, and it did not reach him, he bent back from the attempt
upon his right side, for it Avas to the south his face Avas; and the
mark of the Staff lives in his left side still, although the Staff did
not leave Patrick's hand ; and the earth SAvalloAved the other tAvelve
idols to their heads ; and they are in that condition in commemora-
tion of the mii'acle. And he called upon all the people cum rege
Laeghuire; they it Avas that adored the idol. And all the people saw
him (i.e., the demon), and they dreaded their dpng if Patrick had
not sent him to hell.
APPENDIX No. LV. [Lect. V., Page 102.]
Original of memorandum at the end of the second volume of the jiemoran-
copy of the Annals of Connacht, in the Library of T.C.D. na™of con
{classed H. 1. 1., H.1.2.) nacht.
Ia^mia 5]\Ai]:neAt) Af teAbAji AOfOA meAm]u:iitn, octif, ia|a ha
chpiocbnuJA-o, ah .xxioc.tA-oon itiii 0cc6beiA,A0if aii UijeA-priA
ATI CAnpn, 1764, ]\e TDuipii' O'gojMnAin.
APPENDIX No. LVI. [Lect. V., Page 109.]
Original of memorandum in the so-called Annals of Boyle, in Memoran-
the British Museum {under the year 1594, at the lower cXd An"
margin of fol. 14 b.). naisofsoyie
UoitiaIcac rriAC CojAin, mic Ae-OA, inic T)iA]AmA"OA, tnic
RuAi"6]M CA01C, mojAcu-p e-pc, i mi "oeipriAC riA btiA-otiA -po
iriA t^t^ -pein a CtuAin P]iAOic.
APPENDIX No. LVII. [Lect V., Page 111.]
Original of a second memorandum in the same Book {at the second Mem.
lower margin of fol. 30 a. \or, qu. 33 &.]). Annairof'"'
Boyle.
LeAbu|A GiiM-pAiiii OiteAn iia tlAem
540
APPENDIX.
Acconnt of
S. Colum
CilU, in
O'Donnell's
Life.
^^^^^^^^ APPENDIX No. LVIII. [Lect. V, Page 111.]
Third Mem.
Anntr^f*^ On(/z'na^ of a third memorandum in the same Book (at the
Boyle. loioer ma7'gin of fol. 13 6.).
Ceq-iA yicic btiAt)Ain 6 bAf pAr]\Aic 511 h^y 'OiA^iniACA
inic ce]AbAi'L, "oo '\\Q'i\\ VC\'X\\T:\\A\'oe Oitem tiA llAeiii.
APPENDIX No. LIX. [Lect. V., Page 112.]
Original of account of S. Cobuin Cibte at t^oc Ce, from
0' DomielVs Life of Colum Cille (in the vol. classed JVo. 2.
52, E.I.A., p. 158).
peAchc "oo Chobum Cibbe a^ oiben a]\ Log Ce 1 cCon-
noccAib, octi]" CAinic ).'ibe, ocui' "0111116 eAbAjiiA -oa lonn-
I'oi^e, ociif "CO bi cAiiiAbb Ag comjiA-o ]ii]'; ocu]' "oo iincbij
UA^oA iA]\pn. Ocii]" "oob lon^nAX) bei]" ha rriAncbAib ha^a
lAiiji Cobtim Cibbe ni "oa eAbAJAin -pein a|\ 111 pbe pn, inA]\
iA]A]AA'6 A^A 5AC 'ouiiie eAbA^riA Gibe 'OA ccijeA'o einje; ocii|'
110 -piAiAiTAi^eA-OAii "06 c^iex) i:a iToeAjAHA -pe I'in. lp]ieA5|iA|'
Cobuin Cibbe, ociif ^\-e^o A-oubAiiAc, riAji cneA-poA "oo -pein
neice I'obAi^ACA "o'iaiiiiai-o a^i a iTotiine Ag a iiAibe tDobAj' i
HjAjA "oo; ocuf riAc yA^oA 50 biTAicp-oi]' -ouine aj cecc cui^e
*OA innipn "oo 5ii]i itiahIda-o An pbe pn. Hi ino ^viji "ooAbAig
•oeijieAt) An c6miiAi*6 pn pu, An tiAiji "oo cttAbA"0A|i jbAoj i
bpo]ic nA binnp ; ocu]' A-oubAi^ic Cobum Cibbe gu-pAb be
f^eAbmb iTiAiibcA ah pie cAinic An "ouine "oo pnne An
jbAog pn ; ociif 110 ponAX) pn tube, AiriAib AiDubAi^ic Cobuin
Cibbe: 5U|A Tn6]iA*6 Ainni "oe ociif Chobuim Cibbe "oe pn.
APPENDIX No. LX. [Lect. V., Page 115.]
Extract from Original of entry in the Annals of Connacht, (classed H. 1. 1.
connl'cht. and H. 1. 2., T.C.D.,—a fragment of the ''Annals of Kilro-
nan\ according to Charles C Conor of Belanagare), at a.d.
1464.
Ua-65 Ua Conchob)Ai)i, bec-iu^ ChonnAcc rtio]it:iiof eix. An
fACApn iA|\ ce-o pVieib ITluipe in pVioJAiTiAiii, ec -pepubcu-p i
Ko-p ConiAin co honopAc, UApAb, o c-pb CliACAib Clipoib-"oeip\5,
ocup o ctiAUAib c-S'ib inmiie'OAij, mA^i nAcb -oepiAt) p iieiifie
•oo c-pib CliACAib Cbiioib-tDeiiij ^le ciAn -o'Aimpiii. CAinbA-
•OA^A A iiiAiAcpbiiAJ, ociip A n-g^-^bbogbACAib inA n-ei-oe-Q cnn-
ciobb cmpp An Aijro-pj, niAp "oo "oecAi-oip a n--oAib caca;
ocnp A n-^bApbAici inA c6]\Ai5rib caca; ociip cIia]aa ocup
Aop cAbA-onA; ocup muA c-SibA ITIuipe-OAij inA m-bpoincib
APPENDIX.
541
•oi^xinie inA "oeJAi^. Octi]' bcx "oi^niiie Atm^'A riA h-GjtAifi An app. lx.
Ia fin, U CO]Ap An AllTOjMg, -OO buAlb, OCXiy ecllAlb, OCUf j-^j^^^.t from
Ain-cioc. Ocur *oo cAi'o'bne'o x)6roni erein oca bneic "OOAnnaisof
1 ' *->. 1 Ut 1 ' 1 Conuacnt.
D|AeceninAf La iiiicneL.
Original of abstract of same entry, in the language of BIr.
OConor of Belanagare, as inihlished by his grandson, the
Rev. Charles 0' Conor {Stowe Catalogue, vol. 1, p. 76).
Ao\x UijIiejuiATncccclxiu — UA-ohj Ha Concliob. 'oi.'liAjh-
Ait bliAi]^ octi-p A AX)hnACAt A TlofcomAin a birlnA-ohnAife
iiAi]'le An Choij. 50 bvtibe, nA^A ViAnnAC. Aon -oo 1115b
ConnAcbc O CliAch Ch]\obt)e]A5 a nuA^ ni bo b-ono]\Ai5b.
ocuf x\\\\ bbiAng. pn "oo -obenAiiib teif An Tlijb bu *oei-
gbein. "oo bbi a]\ ClionnAcbcA A^iiAnih be ^ebbii-p a cb^eicbe.
TI10H ■^o^\\ Aon Ixi^b a 5-ConnAclicA on Am pn a teicb,
ocuf Ainim til Concliob. x)YbA5hAib 50 coiccben 'OAibb ocuf
onAcli |\Aib1i pA-o -pein jeAb "Oa cheibe 'oo ^5)110^ lAt)
be bAinx)bi5b eAp\onn. ocu]" niAiubemn. o *ObiA 50 birhAj.
in ei^MC A bpcAC. Domine ne statuas nobis hoc peccatum.
A\- beAbb.A]\ Chibbe UonAin ^o cbAi]\in5u-p pn cum appro-
batione qviatuor Magistrorum. CAchAb O'ConcbAbbAiji, 2 Aug.,
1728. [MS. in Stowe CoUect. No. 3, fol. 27, b.]
APPENDIX LXL [Lect. V., Page 115.]
Original of corresponding entry in the Annals of 1/Oc Ce Entry in
(i/. 1. 10., T.C.D.; — also erroneously called, hy some, An- Loch a.
nals of Kilronan).
UAt)^ 1T1AC Uoiii|A*6eAbbAi5 HuAiX) 1 ChoncubAi|i, bec-i\i Con-
riAcc "o'eg .1. "ouine "oo bA cuijp, ccjAei^e a gConnAccAib ionA
Aimp|t |:ein.
APPENDIX No. LXII. [Lect. VI., Page 121.]
Original of the Title to the Book of Pedigrees of Mac Firhis Title to Mac
(TJUDAbCAC TTIAC HT^OII^IJ). of Pedigrees.
C^AAobA coibneA-pA Ajti-p jeujA jenebtiij ^aca jAbAbA "oa^i
gAb G|ie on Am-pA 50 ViA-oAiii (acc "Potiio^iAig, "LocbbAnnAij
A5AI' SAXJAibb AiiiAin tAiiiAiii o cAn^A-OAii "OAii cci]i) : 50 11 AOIlil-
I'^encu-j" <y^ViX lieim pojjiAi^e 'Po'otA fo]"; AjA-p -pA-oeoi^ cbAii
nA ccuimp5ceA|\ (ia-ja nujit) Aibgi-ojAe) nA Stoince a^a^ nA
ViAice oiiTOeA|\cA buAiueA-ji ipn beAbA]\]"A, "oo ceA^toniA'o beip
An 'OubAbuAc tTlAc "Pi-pbipg teACAin. 1650.
542 APPENDIX.
APP. LXIII.
7— APPENDIX No. LXIII. [Lect. VI., Page 126.]
of Fnaugiira- Original of passage from the LeAbA^A LecAin, descriptive of
o'Dowda, ihe Inauguration of the G'Doioda {from a tract printed^ hy
iecaiw""'' ^^ f/tg Irish Archaeological Society, in the volume on the Tribes
and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach, — p>. 440).
Ajui" cu-p "0151 tD' O'CAOiriAin 6 tiA n-'Oub'OA; Aguf jAn
O'CAoniAin X)A h-ibi 110 50 cuja -j^e "oo'n pti-o h-i, .1 -oo 111 ac
'Pi]A'bi'pi j, Agvi-p A]ini Aju^" eAH]AAt), Agtif eic1i h-1 'Oi.ib'OA caji
ei-p AnniA "oo 5Ai]\ni "oe t)' O'CAeniAin, Agu-p A|\m Ajtii" eAji-nA-o
li-l CliAoiTiAin Ag HIac pipbipj; A^up m 'oinpiiAtA O'TDtib-OA
"DO jAinni CO b]AAC, 110 50 n-^oijut) O'CAomAin a^u]" IIIac pi];-
bip5 An c-Ainm, aju]- no 50 CAb]\A IIIac p]\bip^ co]\p ha
1'tAici o\ cinn I1-I 'Otib'OA; a^u^' jac ctei]\ec, ajii]" ^ac
coriiA]\bA citti, Ajup jAC Ci^boc, A51.1]" CAOi]'ec ^re^ioint) tdo
|aa-6a ah AniriA a n-'oiAig I1-I ChAoniAin aju^" ITleic "Pijibipg;
A^u]" ACA HI cenA, x)a ce^mA-o a Ui]a AmAbgATO 0"Oub-oA, "oo
bu "ootc ATDo CO CA^Min AiriAbgAit) *oo gAi^Atii AniiiA -oe, Ac1ic 50
m-beic HA cAoipi^ 1--A]\if : A^tip no "oa cegniA'c a CA]Ann inline
bpiAin b-e ni]\ -ootcA 'oo Anonn x)o jai|iiti An AnniA, Agu]" r\\\\
C15CI "DO AnAbb 6 CA]\nn AniAbgATO, ai]a i-p 6 AniAbgATO iiiac
Pacjaa ^bjAit), "OO cocuib An CA]\nn "00 irein "oo cum Ainm
cijeA^niA "OO ^AijAtn "oe yein a^u]" tda ^ac "ouine t)A n-^ebAt)
fbAice]' nA "oiAi j, Agiii^ i|" Ann aca -AniAbjATO -pein A-obtiici,
Agnp ^y ua-oa Aimnni^cep An CA^mn ; Aguf jac jmj *oo cbAn-
t)Aib "piACjAAc nAc 5oi]\]:eAt) Amni itia]\ pn biAi"6 5Ai-|a i^eicbe
"oo, A51.1]" ni bA b-oi]\]\'onic a -pib nky a i^eimeAn Agup ni yAicire
i:bAiciu]' 'Oe CO bjAAic. "Pmic. -Amen.
APPENDIX No. LXIV. [Lect. VI., Page 127.]
Title, etc., of Original of the Title, and commencement of the Preface to the
Scotorum. Chromcum ocotorum [Ii. 1. 10.; I.C.iJ.).
Incipic C]-ionicom Scoco]\um .1. cinnpjAncAji c]AOinic nA
Scoc An-opo.
" UU15 A beccbc6i]A i:a A-obA]! Ai^iToe, ocup 50 yobbtip -oo
fecnA em'ieAbcAip, gu^iAb co Ay Aitb binn c]aacca'6 ocup ca^a
AccumAi]; "00 -oenAiii a]\ Aijnpn nA Scoc AiiiAin pAn coip-pe,
Ag pA^bAib biopcAC"OA nA beApA|\ Aippn Amtn j, conAX) Ai]Ae-
pin lAjiiiAmATO oi]Abpi ^An a^a n-incneAchA*6 cjux), tiAi|A •o-ireA'o-
AmmA]\ 5U]AAb A"obAb An c-eApnAiii be".
APPENDIX No. LXV. [Lect. VL, Page 127.]
Not^ebyii/ac Original of note at fol. 3. col. 1. of the Chronicum Scotorwn,
Chronicum in the haud of the compiler, 'OubAbcAc HIac "Cinbirit.
Scotorum. •' \ r i i o
" Ax)c6p uAim •QUID A be^niccn nACjro urn ■pA0CA]\ An cpbec-oA
APPENDIX. 543
^0 '00 5^\Ai^'']:rie'6 0|Mn, conA-o Ai]Ae ^^in aiUtii oi|\b]"i c|\e p\\ app. lxv.
coijle 5A11 lii'injpm c]\it) (iiia-6 ctii5ce]i lip c|\e-o ]:o "oejAA ^^^^ ^^ ^^^.
inn AtiitAi-o), 01H Af 'oemin nAC lAt) ctAnn p^ibip^ ai' cincAc". /'u-6i.fin
— ' Scotorum.
APPENDIX No. LXVI. [Lect. VI., Page 128.]
Original of memorandum (at a.d. 722) in the Chronicum Memoran-
•^ o J 7'- 7/>'j7 dum in CVwo-
ocotorum, explaining a dejiciency there. maim smio-
"Ue^^'OA b]\ottAC -OA •otnt'Leog "oon c-f en te'bA]\Ai'A ^"j^AibAini '""*'
^o, ocu]' -jrA^uim A|:'|:ui'L ^\6ni "oon lee CAOib-p nA n-oi|\ci'L'L.
lllip 'OubAtcAC ■pi]\bi]'i5".
APPENDIX No. LXVII. [Lect. VII., Page 146.]
Oriqinal of the Dedication of the A nnals of the Four Masters, dedication
c J J I of Annals of
gtii'ohiin 'OiA 1111 CAbAi]ic ^acIia b-AOibneA)' -oo -jiacax) i teAi" ^j.'',,^'"*'"
•OA c1iu]ip, Aju]' -OA AiiniAin x)''PeA]\5At 0'5bA'0]\A Uicc1ieA]\nA
tniiAi^e til 5^''^'0]^<^r ^5^r Ciiuiie O -pPinT), Aon -oon -oiAp
'Rnoi]\eA'o1i pA^vtemence |\o co5A"o1i A-p con-OAe Sbiccijb co
li-Ac CtiAC An btiA-oAin p 'OAOi'p C]no]x, 1634.
A\ ni coicceAn-o i^oittein pon nibe 'ooriiAn in gAc lonA'oh i
nibi UAipte no onoi]i in ^Ach Aiinp]\ ■OACUAinicc -jiiaiii "oiato i
n-oiAix) nAcb i:]:uit ni Ap 5'L6]imAine, Ajup Ap Aiimnccni^e
onoi\Ai5be(A]\ A-obAjiAib ionT6A)inApoi"peAn"OAccAnApeAnu5-
•OAn, A^up eobAp nA HAi^^eAc, Agu]" nA nuA-pAb |io bA-OA^i Ann
ipn Aiinp]A jieAnipo "oo cAbAi]ic "oo cum -pobAip a]i "OAigh co
nibeic AiceAncAp, Ajwp eotAp Ag gAcb 'oiiiiin^ i n-'oeA'OAi'o
Ajioibe cionnAi" "oo CAicpoc a pinnpiji a ]Ae A^up a n-Ainipp,
Ajti-p CIA h-AijieAcc i\o bAccAjA 1 ccicceA]inAp A n'-ouicce, i
n-'oijnic, no i n-onoip 'oiai'6 i n-tiiAi-oh, Agup cpet) i An oi-oca-o
|:uAi]ipi0(::c.
UAnAccfA An bpACAijA bocc 'ou|i"o S. Pponpeif tTlicbet
0'Cte|ncch (ia]a mbeic X)eicli m-btiA-onA "OAtii acc SccpiobAt)
^Acb -peAn-OAcbcA "oa bpuA-pA-p A-p TlAorfiAib nA b-CpeAnn a
TTiAitbe be b-tniibAcc ^Acb PpoumpiAib "oa pAibe in 6pinn a
n-'oiAi'o A cebe "oo beic accahi) "oa bAp bACAippi a UApAit, a
"pheAp^Aib Hi 5^"'^"6p<5^. 'Oo b]iAiceAp Ap bAp n-onoip ^tip
bA-obAp cjiUAi^e, A^np neiiiebe, "oo^Aitpi, Aju-p "oobpoin bibh
("00 chum jboipe 'Oe A^u-p onopA nA h-C]\eAnn) a rhet) "Oo
•oeACACCAp •ptiocc 5<'^oi"6ib tneic tliuib p"o CIA15 <^5up "oop-
CAtDAp, jAn p^iop eccA nA oi'oeA'OAtlAoirii, nA t)AnnA0ii1ie, Ai]\-
"oeppcoip, 6ppcoip, nA AbbA-o, nA iiApAb 5pAiX)b eccAibpi oibe,
TI15, nA 11ui]\i5, UigeApnA nA Uoipcch, coriiAinipip nA coirii-
pneAt)h neicb •oib1ipix)'he ppi Apoite. 'Oo poitbpigeApA 'OAoibpi
gu-p bo "0015 beAin 50 p'p'uiginn cuixjiucca'o ha ccpoimcije
Ap Ap mo mo liieAp 'oo chum beAbAip AnnAtAX) "oo f ccpiobAt) 1
544
APPENDIX.
AP. Lxvii. cctiin]:i'6e i cciiiiiine ha neice )\ein]\c\ice, aju]' "oa teiccri ^]\
Dedication CA1HX)e JAtl A ScCIMolDAt) "OO tACAl]^ TIAcIl |:]:in5hci 1A"0 tJOpi-OI-l'l
of Annals of ie A trroiAAicmeAC, A^ur te a ccmniniuccAX) jco cnich, A-ciir -co
the Four ^ r I v i ' w-w • it i i. "^
Masters. i^oinceAriri A11 oeAchA. X)o c|iuinTiicceA'on LeArti via LeADAi^i
AmiAlAt) A|" i:eA|A]A Aju-p A-j' tiomiiAine, A-p mo "oo bei-oi^i tem
"o-pA^Aili n-6nirin ui'Le(biot) gvi^A '6eACAi]\ "OAni a cceAcclAm-
A*6 50 ti-Aom lonA-o) "oo dnini An teAbAi^ip "oo |"cc]\io'bA'6 m
iJA^ n-Ainmp, Ajtip in hA\\ n-onoi^A 6i^\ a-j" pb cticc tuAch
-pAOCAI^A "OO riA CpOiniCTOlli) tA|" ^AO I'CC'IMobA'O e, AJU]" b]iAici\e
conuence 'Oum riA n-^^l^t "oo caiuIi co-pcAi' bi*oh, ajuj" ^"]aioc-
Aibifie ]\^^^ mA]\ ah cce-oiiA. 5<^ch mAic "oa cnocpA -oon leAbA^i
pii "OA CAbAi^\c -pobAi-pi" x)o CAC 1 ccoiucchiniie A-p -p]\ibpi a^^
i3ei]\c1ie A bui'obe ; Ajiip r^^]\ c6^]^ niAcctiAt), no longnA-o, ex) no
lomcnuc "oo beic -pA liiAic -oa n-xiin^enA-o fib, 6i|\ Ay "oo fiob
einn^ilTleictniteA-o ^einpoc SOUi^h "oo iiiogAib G^icAnn, Ajuf
A b-Aen A-ji CIA1 p"iccib "oo llAon'iAib. An Ua-oj fin IIIac Cem
mic OitetbA Otuim 6^ pob-pAC a h-occ X)ecc "oo nA nAoriiAib
fin Ap ei-oiji -oo bfeit 6 ^bun 50 jbun jn-p An Ua-o^ ce-onA.
Ko jAbbAi^bfioc Ajuf |io AiccfeAbfAC cbAnn An Uai-oj fin 1
n-ionA'OAib cxaiiiIa Af fux) 6feAnn .1. Stiocbc CofbniAic 5^1-
tenj ibt/tii jnib ConnAcc of jemeAbbAijifi, THuinci^i g^'^l^'^^
An "OA 11a e-A^f a bi cConnAccoibb, Aguf O'h-GAJf a An Huca,
O'CeAfbAibbi n-eibe, Ajiif 0'tTleAcbAi]\ 1 n-Uib CAi]\in, O'Con-
cobAif 1 cCiAnnAccA 5l-ii"'i"'©-5^^"^^^^-
'Oo "oeAfbA-o A]\ bAf ccechuf a on f uit iiAf Aib fin a "oub^iA-
niAf Acc fo bAf n-jeinoAbAcb.
A pheAf^Ait til ^llA-Of A
A liieic Uai-occ
nieic OibeAbtA
meic 'OiAfiTiACCA, [ec cecef a.]
An tDAf A La ficbec x)o mi lAnuAfi Anno 'Oomini 1632, -oo
cionnf5nA"ob An beAbAf fo 1 cconuemc 'Ohnm nAn-^^tb;
Aguf -oo cfiocbnAigbeA'oh ifin cconuemc ce'onA An "oeAcb-
mAt)b bA "o'Angufu, 1636. An cAonmA-6 bbiA-OAin -oecc vo
fijbe Af Tli5b CApifobiif of SAXAin, PfAinc, AbbAin, Aguf of
Cifinn.
iDAf ccAf A loniiiAin
biiAuliAin mictiet o cLemsh.
APPENDIX No. LXVIII. [Lect. VII., Page 147.]
Original of the Testimonium to the Annals of the Four Masters.
AcAcc nA b-Aichf e "oo tlf-o S. ppi onf eif cbuif p eAf a bAmliA
Af f o AjA fiA-obnugbA-oh 5Uf Ab e 'PeAfjIiAb O'^A-obf a cucc
Af An m-bfAdiAif tllicbeb O'Cleficcb nA Cfoimci'oe Ajtif
Testimo-
nium of
Annals ot
the Four
Masters.
APPENDIX. 545
An CAO]' eAlAohnA -oo ch|\uinx)ui5AT) co Iiaoui loiiA-oh \.Ay ]\o ap. lxvui.
^xcpiobliAToli teAb1u\i]\ Oi]\i]' ^'^S'-T ^^1""1^^^ '''^^ h6]uoiix) (ah ^gg^i^,,;,.
n'leiCC -nob ei-OIjA TDyA^hAli te a ]XC1UobA-oll -Oiob), AJU]' ^0]\ nium i.f
Ab e All PeA-HjllAb Ce'OnA CUCC l015ll1"6eAc1lC ■OOlb A]\ a tUe Four
VcctMobhA-oh. *^'''*^''*-
•<XcA All 'LeAbhA]\ jxaitoca a]\ •66. Ay e ionAX)1i in ]ao
^'5pobhA-oh 6 6 c1nii" co 'oei]\eA'oh i cConuenc bnAcliA^v
'Obuin nA n^Atb, a-ji a nibiAX), a^ui' a\\ a b|:]nocbAiteAiiih.
130 cionn^xcnAt) a^ii]' "oo ■jxc]AiobA'oh An ceit) teAb1iA|\ "oe
ipn Conuenc clieAcrnA An bLiAX)Ain I'l 1632, An cAn yo bAX)
5Ai^\t)iAn An CA.\chAi]\ t)e]\nA]rain 0'Ctei]\icch.
Ay 1ACC nA C|\oinici"6e, A^uf An cao]" eAlA'ohnA "oo bAccA]i
Acc i'cc|\iobA"oh An teAbAi^ pn, A^iif a^a cheA^bAmAX)!! a
teAbjiAib ecq^AiiitA, An lD^\Ac1iAi]AtnichetO"Cte]\icc1i ; IHui^u]'
niAC Uo|\nA til inlK\oibconAi^\e, y]\^ ye Ao'in iiiio]v\; 'PeA]\]:eA|'A
niAC LochbAin-o Hi lllliAoilchonAiiie, iAicq^iX)be inA n-o'i]^ a
concAe 1lo|"]v\ ConiniAin ; Cncoi^ciiidie 0'Cbe|\icch a concAe
'Ohuin nA n^Abb; Cticoi^cinche C'Duib^eAn-OAin a concAe
I/IacItoiiottia; aju]" ConAi^\e O'Cbe^ncch a conuAe 'Obuin ha
ngAbb.
<\ciAX) nA ]'ein-beAbAi]i iio b1u\co]\ aca; LeAb1"iA]A CbtiAnA
lllic ^^0)y, in i\o beAnnAi^ llAonii ChiA]\An iiiac An cfAoi|\;
"LeAbA^v Oibem nA nAemh, ^^o]i Loch llibh ; tevxbbAji Shen-
Ai-ob 1Tlec IllAghnuiyA, yoy Loch C]\ne; \>eAbA]\ CliLoinne
tJi TnbAOibconAi]\ej LeAbA]i inuince]ie 'Ouib^oAn-OAin Chib-
be RonAin ; ^-^uy "LeAbAj; oi^iifCAn teACAin llleic pi^ibipccb,
yySzh chucA ia]i yc]iiobbA"oh n]\inoi]i An LcAbAi^i, a^u]" a|" yo
ycy^ohhy<\zz ^acIi bioniiKMiieAcbc "oa b]:uAi]\-|^eAcc (a "tAAnj-
Aco]\ A boA]") nAC ]\Aibe -iy nA ceicu LeAb]\Aib bAco]\ aca,
A|\ n'l bAoi 1 'LeAbA]\ CbuAnA, in a yoy i t/CAbliA]; An Oibem
Achc -^uy An mbbiA-oAin p -OAOi-p a]\ cUigeAimA 1227.
'Oo cionnixcnA-oh An "OA-pA LeAbbA]i -oaiiaI) co^acIi An bbiA-
•oAin y[ 1208, An bbiA-OAin p -o'aoi]' Cjuoi^c, in iao bA jA^roiAn
An c<XrAi]\ C]\iofcoiii tlbuAcb, 1635,^^^' ■^'S^V "^^ ixc]\iobAt)1i
An cbuit) oibe -oe 50 1608 An cex) bbiA-OAin in ]\o bA-oh 5A]a-
•oiAn An cAcAi^i be]inA]\t)in 0"Cbe]\icc1i -oo^u-oip. ^n 1)i\ac1i-
rAi]\1llichebO'Cbe]M5l"i A"oub]iAmo]\,Cucoiccc]McheO'Cbe]\i5li
A^ti-p ConAi]\e 0'Cbe]\iccb •ooixinobb ah LeAbA]\ ■oei'obeAnAcb
ocbA 1332 50 1608.
Ay 1AC nA "LeAbAiii a]' ]\o ix^iiobi'AC An zy^'^y -[leiiiiiAice
U|\rii6]A An LcAbAi]), An LeAbA]\ ccAcnA pn Cbboinne Hi
(95) The translation of the remainder of this paragraph is by mistake omitted in the text
(p. 148). It should run tlius: "And the other part of it, to the year 1(108, teas transcribed the
first year in trhich Father Bernardin O'Clerigh was Guardian. Brother Michael O'Ciei'igh
aforesaid. CucoigericM O'Clerigh, and Conairi O'Clerigh, transcribed the last book [volume]
from 1332 to 16U8".
35
546
APPENDIX.
nium of
Annals of
the Four
Masters.
AP. Lxviii. niAoitconATue 50 mile cuicc cex) a CU15, aju]' Af 1 pn An
Testimo- btiA-oAin "oeToheAriAcli bAoi AiTO ; teAbA^A 11 A tlltiinci^Ae 'Ouib-
jeAiTOAin rA|A a ucAnjArtiA^A, ocIia iiaoi cce-o 50 mite cuicc cet)
l^eAfccAcc A c]^1 ; l^eAbAiv SeAiiAit) lllec inA^hnni^AinA^^Aibe
CO niibe cuicc cet) cpiodiAC a '06 ; blAX) "oo LeAbA^A Cbon-
coiccc]ucbe nieic 'OiA]\mACCA 1111c Uai-oIij CAumn Hi Ciite^xi^h
o'li ni-btiA*6Ain yt llliie *oa chex) occiiiojIiacc a Iiaoii, co niibe
cuicc ce-o c-|Uoc1iAcc a SeAcbc; LeAb^^A llleic D^iuAi-olieA-oA
(111 I1A01 bill oicc) o'li mbbiA-OAiii p Illile CU15 cet) ochcmogliAC
A liocbc, 50 mibe Se cet) a cp f^^^ "LeAbliA^A tujIiAch Hi
Cbejugli 6 Tnhibe cuicc cet) ochcniojIiAc a Se, 50 1l1ibe Se
cliet) A t)6.
*Oo c1ionncAmo]i iia LedbAi^A pii uibe aj aii Aei" eAbA'oiiA
ZA]\ A ccAii^Ainoii Tlon'iAinn ajui^ LeAbATH oi-|U]"eAii oibe iiac1i
AAcz\\o bAt) eiiiiebc t)'Ainninnigv\t). T)o t>eA]\bAt) 5AC net t)A]-»
■jx^uobAtjIi Annpn lloniAinii, ^cAinirie iia peAn^'AHHA -|"o pof
Ag co]i A|i bAiii A]A -po hi cCoiiuenc 'Oluun iia n^Abt An
t)eAc1iinAt) Ia t)o Auju^^c, A01S, CllHIOSU, lllibe Se ctiet)
quocliAC A Se.
Fb. Beenardinus Clery.
Guardianus Dungahnsis.
DjIACAIII 111U1]U-|" tlbbcAcb.
D]1ACA1-|\ Illui^U]" tlbbcAC.
l3HACAi]i l3onAU<\ncu]\A 0''Ooiiiiiilt,
l.eAcoii\ lubitAC.
The Succes-
sion of the
O'Garas,
Lords of
Cuil 0 Finn,
(Coolavin).
APPENDIX No. LXIX. [Lect. VII., Page 158.]
Of the succession of the Chiefs of the 0' Gara family , from a.d.
932 to A.D. Ibil •■, from the Annals of the Four Masters.
[It will be noticed iu tliis list of Chiefs that the Hne does not run
in unbroken succession of generations, because that sometimes the
kindred family of Oli-Eaghra (now O'Hara) succeeded in inter-
ruptmg it in their own favour.]
A.D. 964. Toichleach TJa Gadhra, Lord of South Luighne (or
Leyney), Avas killed in battle.
A.D. 1056. Ruaidhri Ua Gadhra, Tanaiste (Tanist) of Luighne, Avas
slain.
A.D. 1059. Riiaidliri Ua Gadhra, heir presumptive (Damhna) to the
Lordship of Luighne', died.
A.D. 1067. Donnsleibhe Ua Gadhra Avas killed by Brian Ua
h-Eaghra (O'Hara).
A.D. 1128. Ua Gadhra, Lord of Luighne, Avas slain on an expedition
into Leinster.
(9G) Tlie conclusion of this paragraph is also omitted in the text. It should run : -^The Book
of Mac Bruaideadha (Maoilin dg)from theyear 1588 to 1603; the Book of Lughaidh O'Clerigh
from the year 1586 to 1602".
APPENDIX. 547
A.D. 1206. Ruaidhri Ua Gadhra, Lord of Sliabh Ltigha, died [see app. lxix.
O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, note 1., p.
i-A-iriTT>iTT-l The Succes-
loO, V ol. I., Fart 11. J 8i„n of tl.e
A.D. 1217. Domlmcdl Ua Gadhra, died, Eontfof
A.D. 1226. FergJml, the grandson of Tadhg an Teaghlaigh ("Teige ciinoFmn,
of the Household"), Captain of the House of Cathal of (Cooiavin).
the Eed Hand O'Conor {Cathal Cwhh-Dearg Ua
Conchohhair), and Aedh, the son of Cathal, were slain
by Donnsleihhe C Gadhra.
A.D. 1227. Donnsleibhe C Gadhra, Lord of Luighne, Avas killed by the
Gillaruadh [Hterally the Eed-haired-fellow], the son of
his OAvn brother, after surprising him in a house at
night ; and the Gillaruadh was killed in revenge after
that, through the plans of Aedh O'Conor.
A.D. 1228. Muircheartach, the son of Flaithhheartach 0' Flannagaia,
was killed by the sons of Tadhg 0' Gadhra.
A.D. 1237. A prey Avas taken by Conchohhar, son of Connac
\_0' Gadhra ?^,i\-om Ruaidhri Ua Gadhra; and Ruaidhri' s
brother was slain.
A.D. 1241. Tadhg, the son of Ruaidhri 0' Gadhra, died.
A.D. 1254. Maghnus Ua Gadhra was accidentally killed by the
people of the son of Fcidhlimidh O'Conchobhair.
A.D. 1256. Ruaidhri O'Gadhra, Lord of Sliabh Lugha, was killed by
David, son of Rickard Cuisin. Aedh, the son of
Fddhlimidh C Conchobhair, plundered the territory of
the son of Rickard Cuisin, in revenge for C Gadhra.
He knocked down his castle, and killed all the people
that were in it, and seized on all the islands of Loch
Techet [now "Loch Gara", in which the River Boyle,
in the county of Roscommon, has its source].
A.D. 1260. Tadhg, the son of Cian CGadhra, was killed (at the
battle of Downj)atrick, fought between Bryan O'Neill,
King of Ulster, and the English of that province).
A.D. 1285. Ruaidhri Ua Gadhra, Lord of Sliabh Lugha, was killed by
Mac Feorais [Birmingham], on Loch C Gadhra.
A.D. 1325. Brian O'Gadhra died.
A.D. 1328. Donnchadh Ruadh O'Gadhra, and five of his name, were
killed.
A.D. 1328. Tadhg, son of Toirrdhealbhach 0' Conchobhair ["Turloch
O'Conor"], was killed by Diarmait Ua Gadhra.
A.D. 1329. Tadhg, the son of Toirrdhealbhach, son of Mathghamhain
[" Mahon"] 0' Conchobhair, was killed by Ua Gadhra
and the people of Airteach.
[Here the O'Haras interpose again for some time.]
A.D. 1435. O'Gadhra was killed by his own kinsmen, on Inis Bolg,
in Loch Techet.
A.D. 1436. An incursion Avas made by the sons of Mac Donnchaidh
[" MacDonagh"], and the sons of Tomaltach Og Mac
35 B
548
APPENDIX.
APP. LXIX,
T}ie Succes-
sion of the
O'Garas.
Lords of
Cilil 0 Finn,
fCoolavin).
Preface to
the lUiiii
Rioyhraiilfie.
Donncliaidh, into Cuil G'Finn [" Coolavin"] upon
O'Gadhra, and upon Tadhg, the son of Donnchadh
Buadh \^0' Gadhra]. The sons of MacDonnchaidhwere
routed, and seven of them killed, together with Con-
chohhar Camm (the Stooped) O'Gadhra; and it was he
that had treacherously killed the O'Gadhra^ his own
brother, before that time.
A.D. 1451. A prey was taken by Feidhlimidh 0' Conchohhair from Ua
Gadhra; and a prey was taken by Ua Gadhra from
the people of Baile Mor JJi Fhloinn.
A.D. 1461. Feriihal Ua Gadhra, Tanaiste ["Tanist"] of Cuil
G'Finn, Avas killed by INIac Costelloe.
A.D. 1464. Tomaltach Ua Gadhra was killed, in a nocturnal attack
on Sliahh Lugha, by Murchadh (or IMaurice), the son
of Cormac, son of Mac Diarmait Gall, and by Edmund
of the Machaire Mac Costelloe.
A.D. 1469. O'Gadhra, that is Eoghan, the son of Tomaltach Og, son
of Tomaltach Mor, Lord of Cuil G'Finn, died between
the two festivals of [the Blessed Virgin] Mary, in
autumn ; and his worthy son, Eoghan, died of a
sudden illness soon afterwards ; and Diarmait, his
other son, assumed the lordship in his father's place.
A.D. 1478. The son of Ferghcd 0' Gadhra, and Maghnus, the son of
David, were killed by the descendants of Riiaighri
Mac Diarmata.
A.D. 1495. Cian, the son of Brian GGadhra, Avas killed ; and
G Gadhra himself, that is Diarmait, the son of
Eoghan, was taken prisoner, in the battle of Bel-an-
Droichit, near Sligo (fought between the O'Conors of
Connacht, and the O'Donnells of Tir Connell).
A.D. 1537. 0^ Gadhra, Eoghan, the son of Diarmait, son of Eoghan,
Lord of Cuil GFinn, died.
[The O'Garas and O'Haras, from a remote period, had possession
of ancient Lnighne, or Leyney, in the county of Mayo, till driven out
by the Costelloes in the fourteenth century, after which they made
a settlement in Cuil GFinn (noAV the barony of " CoolaAdn"), in the
county of Sligo, where we find the GGara settled as lord in 1436 ;
and where also Ferghal, the worthy representative of this ancient
noble family, resided at the time that he extended his countenance
and bounty to the "Four Masters", when they proposed to compile
the National Annals which now go by their name.]
APPENDIX No. LXX. [Lect. VIII., Page 163.]
Original of the Preface to the 1leim "Rio^jAAi-oe of the O'Clerys
{from a MS. in the Royal Irish Academy, No. 40. 4, tran-
scribed, by Richard Tijjper, a.d. 1728).
1n noinine T)ei. ^men.
Ar\ cpeA]" Ia t3o iiii i'e]3cembA]A, Anno xpi. 1644, "oo
APPENDIX. 549
nontT]'5n<.\t) aii teAb|w\n]'o -oo I'^iMobokt) Accij Chonuilt n'nc app. lxx.
Ileill, nnc Ropw, lllhe^ CocA^Ain ecc. A bo^^ IllAi^ne ^p^.^^^^^^^
cCinel bViACOkC, Aon te ccAirzriceAn A^ur ie ccoiiiie-oce<.\i\ theflem
yeAn iiionAineinciD A]\ pw^-eA]\ aju]" p]\-DeAC cioiiifAigci
Ajuf onoit 5AC neice -oa nibeAriAnn te honoi^A a^ui^ te -peAn-
ciii' ctoinne ITlhitio-o CAi'pAine, ax^u-]" I'-teACCA Luijto riieic
Ice, T01H nAotii A511]" ctAiin riiAicne jac cuAice, An riiet) 50
iii]:ei'oii\ te tiA "oicciott "ouu^iaccac nemniAitiecciiAC e, A^uf
A^-e AUA i^gjuobcA i^An teAbnAn^'o: 1leiiii 1li05|\ui-6e Agu-p
TiAom'i-feAncii]^A ha hCi^uonn noc aca a]\ tia ngtAnAt) a^u]'
A]A tiA teAiui^AX) teif nA peA]i|'Antii'b i^o pop .1. ah b]\ACAip
lllicet O Cteipij, peA]i]:eA-p|v\ O tTlAotconAi|\e, CticoijiMce
O 'OuibgeAiiAin, a -ibnion'i-teA'b]\Ai'b i^eAtTOA riA Vi-e-i^uonn,
]v\oice ipn gliAOTotij; a^u^- a cCoinumc Aca tytiAin Aiiunt a
x)u'b]\A'6 t\oiiniiii ecc. ^511^' An -otiAm ci^eAncuif "oo ]\inne
JiottA CAoniAin O Cui^min ■oa]\ Ab copxc " Ci^Ae a|\x> Ini^^ nA
11105", ■^5^'r ■^^'' "ouAin -oo |\inne 5^0^^^ ITIo-ou-oa "Ua Cai^-
yi-oe, 'o<x\\ Ab co-j^AC " Cijie 65 ^r\^y nA IIaoh'i", ^^^^^y An "oiji-
Ain eite "oo pnne Aonju]- 111ac An ^liAbAnn x)A]\Ab co-|^ac
"nAoiii-feAncnp nAoiii Inn^^e VaiV, a^u^^ An -ouAin eite x)A]\
Ab copokC " AcAi]\ CA15 ciiini]^! j neiiiie'.
Aca Ann yo^'LeAbA]^ nA cCeA^xcoo lioiTOtngeA-o te iDeneon
llAonicA Ay nA ccAjA-nAinj a-|" An teAOA]! -00 y^^nob An ConAtt
^\eininAi-6ce An. 4. Ia "o' Augiifc. I606. a^^ LeAbA-|A LeACAin
•00 bi A|\ lA^^ACc on bpi\iom]:Ai-6 P]\ocup-oAnc Aige, Ajnp "00
1'5]\iobA-6 ciAn |i6iiiie pn te li-A-oAih 1116^ O Cui^\nin vo
ghiottA lofA TIIac pi-jibipj, OttAiii 6 b^iAc^iAC, Anno 'Oo-
nnni, 1418. A^iif 11Ui]\ca-6 lluxbAc Ha Cointifj x)0 V5l\iob
cuit) eite -oe 1 ccij UnAi-op 1 'Oliub-OA, II15 Ha b'PiAC]\AC IIU1-
Ai-oe. Aca Ann yoy An -|:ac y^y ciJi]\eA"0 An bo^\uinA A]\ bAi^-
nib Agtip CIA tei\ cuineAt) aja tAi jneACAib 1, Ajuf ceAcc Chtoin-
ne 'OeAtbAoic mic Cai^ 50 teAc Chuinn, 6 inhniiiAin. Aca
Ann yoy An y^t zye nx)eACAi"6 Tpennip pA^\]\-pAn!) -o-pogtuini nA
pti-oeACCA 50 Vviy neAiii^wiAit) peAC cac, Ajiif Ainm nA inbeA^v
tA-6 bA-on]\ aca yA^^ Ainpi^^ pn Ay Ay fjAjAt) An ^hAoi-oeitge
te^AOi-oeAtlTlAC Gcoi^a c-iieAiihAinnini-oeA-o UAToyein 1, Ajuf
0151-6 Chuinn ceA-o-cACAij ; aca Ann yoy, peACc nnii^A^icA ^115
b-6iponn, Aguf pje nA ccoijeA-o a|i ceAX)nA, A^n-p An "ouAin
•OA]! Ab cofAc "1loiteA5 tAoc Leice Chuinn", a^i nA bf-0]AbA'6
Ajup A]\ nA ccpocnu^A-o A5UI" A|\ nA ccu]\ Ann]'A teAb]iAni'o,
An SiiiA-o tA pccio-o -oo cSepcembep nA btiA^nA ceA-onA, tei]'
An mb]iACAi]\ pot 6 CottA, x>oyx) Sc. p]\oinpAif, ACC15 An
ChonAitt ^Aeirii|\Ai-6ce. Sencup IHO^h CIRI 01111 a]i nA
temiioin 50 mbunA-6, Agup An Aimpp po caic jac pij -oiob
A ccennup A^up a ccuriiACCAt) Cipionn inA pije. ^eneAtAij
550 APPENDIX.
App. Lxx. riA nAon'i n6i-neAnnAC Aiiuiit |^Hic lAt) a l,e<\l3]\Ait) n<\ i^eAn-
iJ5-OA-j\, A^\ riA ccu]\ pof inA i^teAccAnin'b aiiiaiI ij' "oo ^^h-
thtmin Iaij i^iax), a|a 0]\-o Aib5i-o|\e. 'Oo cum ^toi^^e TDe, ono^iA riA
RioghratdM. y^^Q^ '^'S'^X ^^ -jAIO^ACCA, Agt!]" "OO CAbAII^ AlUne AgU'p eolATp
A]\ riA neiuili) lAeniipATOce, A^u-p yo-p A-p riA hu^xjAiauib -po
coimeAt) i^eAncu]" CiiMonn i^ia cc^^eTOion'i Agu-p ia|i cc-jiei-oiorh.
-A-p nA cq^iocnii^AX) i cCointnnc Ob-pe]AiiAnciAe Aca t>UAin,
An GpbogoToeAcc CluAriA THic lloi-p, IGoO.
APPENDIX No. LXXI. [Lect. VIII., Page 164.]
Dedication Ongincil of the OClen/s Dedication to the Tleim HiojitAToe
to the lUi^ / fj.Qr^ {] Q g^„^g MS.).
'Oo ZTlToipviA-oeAfbAC tDliA^ CoctAin.
lAp mbeit ceic]M btiA'oriA lombAriA 'oaiiii^a, aii t)^AACAip t)occ
THiceb 0'Cbei]\i5 (Ap Aicne m'tiAcq\Ain) Ag ceA^bAiiiA-o,
A^tip A^ rinot A b-ptiAi\ui" "OO i'eiicti-|" iiAom &i]\ionn Agup ha
■juog cum AmbepcA-|\ iax) ; Xio pnuAinio]" A^Am ■pern, tia^x
ii)'iomcul!)Ai"6 An ceAjtAiiiA-o pn "oo cu]\ AcceAnjcAib oibe gAn
u^tDAivA-j', 'oejibA'D, Agu^ itA-oA^ic -|"eAncA-6 eotAC eibe; -oo
cuijeA^ mA]i An cceA-onA, nA]^ bpupup An ni pem]\Ait)ce "oo
cpiocnu^A-o gAn copcup, uai|\ bi -oo boccAcc An tnpx) "oa
-pAbAp, "OO cAob A moiioe a^ui^ p-op a teAcr]\om ipn Aimpippi,
gup ctupeAp -poniAm pn "o'eAgcAoine pe "OAOinib UAii'be Ap nAc
]AAibe moTO bocuAine; git) mop n-oAome ]ie n"oeApiAp mo
CApAoit), Agup m'eu^Aoine, n'l bpuA^u-p Aon be']! •pA|'A"6n mo
rheAnmA "oo cAoib mo pAccAnAi^ "oo cum nA boibjAep "oo
cpocnu JA"6, Acc Aon neec "oo bi -ponnmAp cum cuiXDijce tiom,
lonniip 50 pAcliA-o A ngboiji "oo 'OI11A, a nonoi^A 'oonA 1lAom-
viib, Agu]' X)on pogAcr, Ajup a \.eA-\" AnmAtDo p-ein ; Ajup A]'e
An cAon-ncAC pin .1.
Coi^Ap'oeAl.licvc niliAJ Coct^m tnic plAicciLLe
m<ic SlieATiiuif, mic SlieAniui]' -nnc Jo^wiAjditi
mic SlievMimi-p, mic SheAniui]' mic Amljeic
mic Coi'[\nt)eAibAi5 mic V^^j^-^t^cAij, mic tlAcniA|\Oiin
mic ■pei'ol'ii^ic mic Vinn
mic Co1|^]^■6e<^■L'bA15 mic CocLaiii
mic "OoiincAiX) mic niAoiLmicit
mic VeAT^SUfA riA njA-pmAnn mic CocLaih (a quo meg CocIaih)
mic mAoiieAcl/Oiiin ah mTiAJA mic Caiitoij
mic "OoninAifL mic "Oonn jofA
mic niAoiLeAciAinn mic CLoccon
mic AiiiiAoilj mic CoiiijAiit moijA
mic niAOiteAclAinn mic SA|\Ain, 6 Cliij Sa)\aiii
mic AiiiiAoib iiA "bpACAt mic "bjA-xccAin
mic ConculJAip 615 mic ComJAilL "b^Aic
mic Aot)A mic "btoix)
mic toiiicoipd mic Sice, 6 ^ATOue^x niAj Sice, aju]'
mic myi^ceAi\CAi 5 tiioi^; 1ni^' Slue
mic CocLAin mic AiiToeAlAij
APPENDIX. 551
true t)eo,tbo,oid: 1111c Aongu^A Cijvij xp. lxxi.
1111c C«iif [■01A ii50ii\ci] Cv\t (>J <\vio niic niojA cluii]\b
).niiL CvvL) line Co|\nniic CA^y Dedication
1111c CoiivMiL e».\c-UiAic 1111c OiLiotiok oUmn. [ecc] to the Reim
1111c tms'oeAc niednn Rioyhraidhe.
^jA-p Ai^e An Uoi^\]TOeA'L'bAC ^'o HIa^ CocIaih At^iib^iAmtin,
■00 CUI^A All 1'A0CA^\ 1^0 A]t AJAIt), AJtII" -00 COH^All!) All COlilttlA-
T5A|v "oo bi AjA cn'iocntiJAt) AiiAicc A ceile, mAitte \\e jac
con^iiAiii 'oii'C]\ei'oeAc "oa CC115 An Conuinc ]\eiini\AT6ce x)6ib
50 tAireAiiiAit. Aw 4'"' La -oo liii Occobe]\ "oo cionn-|^;5nA'o1i
An teAbA]\ ]'o "00 I'^iAiobAt), A5111' An 4. La "oo rii'i Tlonembe]\
"oo ]:o-|\bA'6 e, A cConuinc nA nib]\ACAii -neiiiTHATOce ; An cui^eAX*
btiA^Ain -oon \w^, Cinj CAnotuf of Sax^ An, ere. 1630.
APPENDIX No. LXXII. [Lect. VIII., Page 165.]
Original of the OClerys Address to the Reader, prefixed to the ^^^llf^j^^^Q
Reiiii Rio^nAi-oe (from the MS. classed H. 4. 6., T.C.D.). tue Rdtm
'Oo cum An teAJceoi^uv.
CiA An cbAnn nA'oii]\cA La nA bA-6 cimiaj, ajui^ La nA bA"6
hinif-nioniAC a niACAi]A aju]" a nibuime jemeAriinA Ajti]" jbAn-
oibce, "o'^A^cpin no "oeip'oeAcc y:6 cA]t Agti]' ^6 tA^iciii^me, fo
■oimiAC, A^tii" yo 'oimijin ^An ceAcc ai\ cuai^\c "oa liionni^oig,
■oo C\.\\\ ]"0tA1]' ■^S^T fl-lbACAiy U1]\]\e, A^U-p "OO CAbA1]\C CAbA]\-
CA Ajny i:i1^\CACCA 'O'l.
1a]a nA CAbAi]\c "OA nAi]\e "oo ■onuinj "OAijngue *o'o|ro
nA"oti]\cA Sc. P]\otnnpAf 50 n-oeACAToh nAoiiicAcc, ocuf
p]\eAncAcc A t'nACA]\-'bLiiiTie, Ci]\e A-p ccut, c|\e ^An beA-
CAigce, -jreA-ncA, ajui^ tnio^vboibe a nAoiii no pobAt) mce
■pein, no -po]' a |MojAccuib eibe, Ap coriiAipbe "oo cinneAt);
Leo, b]\ACAip bocc lllionup -oa no^ro -pern -o'ept) ObpenuAnciA,
ITIicet 6 Cteii\5 ("oa^i -ouccui', Ajiip "oa^a bp-o^buim c]\oinic),
■oo c\i\\ UACA 50 liGi^imn "oocuin AbpuijeA'6 "oo beAb]\Aib in a
mbeic en ni "oo ciocp-A-o ca]\ nAoiiicAcc a nAoiii ^onA peAn-
cupiiib Ajui' 5eineAbAi;5ib "oo cprnnnni JA-o 50 liAon-ionAT).
A^y, ceAcc "OAn l3pAc<M|\ ^\enn]i^T6re, "oo pp Agu-p no
cuA]\cAij ^Ac Ai]\x) -o'Cipinn inA ccuAtAi^ ieAbA^\ niAic no
pAic "00 beic, lonnAi" giip caic ceiqn biiA^nA con'ibAn be
f5]AiobA'o Agn-p be -pobAtA^A jAc neice nA^ beAn be nAotiiuib
e-ipenn ; gi-oeA-o ge^ va6]\ a 'oua'o Agtif a -oocaii, nio]; -pAinig
beip ACC tlACA-O '0'l0bA^\ X)'-p05bAlb "Oiob, -oo b]\15 50 jAU^fAt)
eAccpAinn p]\ioinbeAb]\Aib Cipionn a cc^MOCAib A^upAccmeAl-
uib imciAnA Ainiub, gonA]; -pAjAibpiAC ni ip lonAijieAm -oa
beAb]Auib innce.
-Aju-p CAjiei^p jAc A-jA -peAt) An l3]iACAip\ ce"onA "o'-pogbAib
A5UI" "OO c|\tiinniti JA-6 50 1iAon-bACAi]i, Ape \\6 pniiAin Agtif
1^6 'p5]nj'0ApcAi|\ in A inncinn .1. cpni|i "oonA "OAoinib "oob
AP. I.XXTI
552 APPENDIX.
. oiiieAriinAi^e, <^5t^if 'oob lomAbtXToe teii" cum tia tioibiie 100
cw]\ lAOin'ie -00 cjuocnii^At) (niAit'Le ]\e coil a llACCA]\Ati),
prefixed to "00 cnuinmiJ-cAX) XTO hen-Aic "oo 'bi\eAtrnirA'o rAc ceA-ctuim
RUxjhraidhi. *0A 1TOeA]\nA, 1T1A]\ ACA |- eA|A]:eA|"A O Ml A0ll.C0nA'|\e O DhAlLe 1
111 AoitconAi]\e A cConcAe Ro^^a CoiriAin ; Cucoi5]\ice O Cteii'Aig
6 tjluvite til Chtei^MJ a cCon-OAe 'Ohiiin riA n5<-^tt., Aju-p Cu-
coig^^ice O *0tiili)5eAnnAin 6 l^hAite Choit'Le'Po^Aiii, a cCon-
•OAe LiAC'O]\0T!iA. UAn5A"0A]\ iiA peAii]"AnnA i"A -|\eiiii]\AT6ce
50 hen-ionA-o, A511]" ia]a cco]\Accuir!n, -oo cinri]'AC ha cccac-
pA]-»i tlemeAnnA tliojivuige ha h6inionii "oo -j^gpobAt) acco^^ac
ATI teAbAiii. T)o cionn]"5Aiii"AC pn a\\ "oa A-6li)A]i. Ar\ cex)
a-oIdaia, UAijA nip 'peA'OA'o SeAncui" riA tlAoiii "oo li)]\eic ipn ]\Aon
"oi-neAC 50 A 111 bun AT) til" 5^^^ SeAncu-]" nA II105 x)o beic iiompA,
6i]i ip UACA -|io pobpAt). An 'OA]iA hA-6bA]i, lonnu]' 50 niA-o
moToe TDUc^iAcc, A^uf tjeuocion ua nx)Aoine UA-pAb "oa
nAotinnb, "oa ccoiiiA|\bAib, A^uf "oa cceAbbuib, pop a ccAip-
"oip, Ajup A ccA]iA-o]iAi5 "OO belt ACA ]\e A bpAccponuib
beAnnAijci, A^uf -ouccup nAonu\ib nA p]\einie t>A mbeic gAc
c]iAob "oiob, Ajup pop po]" nuiiiipe nAoii'i nA c]Vc\oibe cetJiiA.
5© ACA Aicme -oo nAoiiiAib Ci]\ionn *oon riieA-o "oo ppiccA-o
lAp nup"0 A peAnl,eAb]\Aib peAUcupx -oiob X)^<^^i^ AnwAig, ^aii
c]iecumup5 ptoACCA yof cpiApoite, ip ahi'Lai'o ]\6 JAbtAi^fiAC
Aguf "00 pgAOitcAX) 6 A nibunAi-6 p\eumAib.
5e be cu, a leA^coip, tei^mit) a itieAf atd beic pein 50
byuij cA]\bA, ei]:eAcc, eobup Ajuf AccunmpeACC ipin pAocAp
po, 6^]\ ACA 1leim nA II105 ^onA-o njbuinib ^eneAbAi^, 50
bunA-oup Ann "oojieip inup ■00 5Abp\c juoJACc ia]a nupx); 50
nAipioiii bbiAguin, 50 nAoip An -ooiiiAn, a bpopbAX) ptACA
5AC pi^ X)iob, Agup 50 nAoip Ap cUigeApuA lopA, 6 A loncobb-
nu^A-o, 50 beug tllViAoibeAcbuinn Illiioi^A, Ajup nAOiiii "oo
peip uipt) A nAibji-oep, Agup -oo peip a mbunu-OAip iiiAp "oo
pAmeATriAp pon'iuinn. 5^6i]\ "oo 'OhiA.
l3bup ccAi]roe lomiiuine
bpAcip nil eel O Cbeipig,
peAppcApA O TIlAOibconAipe,
Cucoi^cjuce O Cbeipijb,
Cucoigcpice O T)uib5eAnnAin.
APPENDIX No. LXXIII. [Lect. VIII, Page 168.]
Dedication Original of O'Clery's Dedication of the "LeAbAp 5<^^<^^<^ {from
V^lar the MS. classed H. 1. 12., r.C.D).
Gaihnia. ^^ cuipeAppA AU b]\ACAip llliceb O Cleipig peAiiiAin An
cpen-cpoimc -OApAb Ainni "LeAbAp 5<5'bAbA -oo ^bAUA-o, "oo ceAp-
cu^At) ocup X)o pcpiobAT) (AniAibbe be coib lirllACCApAin) "oo
cum 50 pAcliAt) 1 ngboip *oo *01iia, in 6n6i]i -oonA nAomViAib,
APPENDIX. 553
■oo ^MO^Acc e-i]\ionn, ocu]- a \.e<sy <.\nniA 'OAiii ^^em. llioi^ ap. lxxii.
'bpeToi]\ tioni An cioito^xa'oa'L i^o "oo c|\iocini5hA"o gAn
con^HAiii c^ioimcTO oite ■oo "beic a^aiii a iiionA"6 con'mAi jce to tiie
eiccin. ^A]\ byoit.tpu^liA'o ha hmcinmi^i -OAoibp, a Dh]UAin aTbhd^.
TluAit) llleguToi^i, A ci5eA]MiA 1np Cecil on n ; a cei-op^A "oaji
goii^eAt) An cAmni pn ("oo pot "UmiiA te itioitoacc II15 SAXAn,
|.']\Anc, -AtbAn, octij' Gi^\eAnn, C\\R0t/t1S, An cAonriiAX) La
pcic lAni.u\]\ii, An btiA'OAin p, "o'aoi]' a]\ cUi5eA]\nA lo-jw C]ai-
o-jx, 1G27, ocii]' An ri\eA-|" btiA-oAin x)o lli^e An lli^) "oo gtACA-
'bAi]\]'i "OO Iaiu'i cutouij^at) tioin An i^AocAjt "oo ciii]\eA|" 1\6riiAiTi
"OO tionn-ixnA"©, octi]" "oo cpocn-u^liATi), 'oo 'b]^^ -^\i]\ bo i^o
r|\tiAJ bib An ni "oo -pAcliA-o 1 non6i]i, ocui" a nAinm -oa bu]\
pnn^^eA^AAib, "oo nAoniliAib, 'otiAifbib, AjA-p "oo cpoinicToib
6i]\eAnn 50 coiucionn, X)0 beiccoAn a nibAcbA*6 jAn cui-oiu-
JAX) "OO CAbA1]AC TDO CUm A CU^A A]\ A A^llAlX). A]\ bpX^Alb hx\\\
ccon^AncA 'OAiii, CAnAC -pen octii^ nA c]\oiniceA-6A "oo co^a^^
AniAibbe be bAoncA nA beA^buii^e "oo beic a^aiii "oo cum a
CC05CA, pe]A]:eAi"A O ITlAobconAijxe, Cticoijcpce O Cte^u^
Cucoi^qnce O 'OuibjeAnnAin, Agu-p bu]A nobbArh -pen be
c]\oinic, ^^obbApAccnAic O buinin, 50 Comuenc ■b]\ACA|\
LeApA 5ol^Aib, x)A|\Ab gAijA'oiAn P]\oinnpAp TTIac Ci\c\i.u, in
G-ApDoc6iX)eAcc CiocAi]\, 1 b'pheA]\oib tllAnAC, coiccix)i]' i\ia
SAiiunn, A^tip "oo bAinA]\ a b]:A]\]\A"6 A]\oibe co no-obinc a]\
ccionn ; conA-o 1 byoi^Acionn nA pee pn CAinic binn a ni "oo
cuineAiiiA^A lAoriiviinn -oo c]\iocnu5hA'6, AmAibbe i^e h\i]\ ccon-
gnAiiipA, A ci5eA|\nA inhe5iii*6i|\:
"bjMAn (Primus Baron de Inniskillen). nnc Ce<MinAi5
in AC Conco'bAi|\ 1111c tu-oAiri
1111c Conco'bAi|\ 615 niic 1o]^5A■L.M j
niic ConcoliAiix 11161^. (mort. 1527). nnc eiccnij
1T11C UoiiK\i-p 615. (mort. 1480). mic Co^\biiiAic
nnc roiiiAif iii6ii\. (mort. 1430). nnc VeA^ijuj^A
nnc piLip. (mort. 1395). nnc Ag-oa
line Ao'OA lltiAm line Co|\binAic
nnc V^AicbeAiAcoij. (mort. 1327). nnc CAijAbyve "Oaiii Aii\51'o
1MIC 'Oiiiii'o. (mort. 1302). nnc eACAcb
nnc ■Oonnnnbb nnc Cinoiiicunm
nnc 5ioLbA 1of a mic fTeicc
1111c "Oinnn iii6i|\ nnc "OeA'oliAi'o ■omnn
mic llAjinnbt mic UocAt)A
mic t1ix)i|\ mic CobbA •da c]noc
mic SeA;\i\Ai5 mic eAcliAc 'Ooliiibeii
mic llmip nnc CAi|\b|\e bi]:ecAi]A
mic SeA]\-|AAi5 nnc Cot\bniAic llb^AXJA
mic OijAJiAbbAij nnc Ai|\c Aoin-pi|\
mic ■Ui'6i^\ 6 bfinb An fboinne mic Cuin. cec-cACAij [ecc]
-dn "OA^iA bA pceAc "OO mi Occobe|\ *oo cionnixnAX) ^l-AnAt)
A5111" cti]\ be ceite An beA^Ai^ jAbAbA 1^0, aju]^ An -oa^ia Ia 20
"oo 'Oecembe]A -oo c]\iocniii jeA'6 a ixpobAX), a cConuenc nA
554 APPENDIX.
AP. Lxxiii. mbnACAU ]\etini|\Ai"6ce, aii i^eAccTiiAt) btiAt)Ain "oo Hige dtir
Dedication CajwIu^^ O]' SaXAHI, p-|1AinC; ^tbAn , A^ll]^ ei^ACAnn Anno 'Go-
to the inini 1631. \)u]\ cca|aa loniiium, Id^iacai]! tllicet O Ctei|Aij.
Leabhar
Gdbhala,
APPENDIX No. LXXIV. [Lect. VIII., Page 169.]
Address Original of OClerys Preface^ or Address to the Reader, nre-
prefixed to y , *' , ^ .-^ -/ . . ' i 1 ^
the Lenbhar fixed tO the l/eAl!)A|A 5^'^^^^-
Gabhdla.
X)o coiTOCA-j" "oo -oAoimt) Ai]-iic1"ie oite, aju]" "OAiiTi'A, in 13|\a-
CA1]A bocc cuACA Ulicbeb O'Cbeijuj a c'Ci]\ ConAibb, "00 b]AAic-
-}\ib nA*oii]AcbA Conuenue T)liijiin nA n^A^b "OA-iiob 'oucco]' 6
1T10 f'inn^"e]\oib beic im c|Aoinicit>, 50]^ b'oi|^cio-i" "oo 'ouine
eicin 'o'6-[AionncAib -peAn c]ioinic onopAC 6^\ionn "oa njoi^Aceii
LeAbA]A ^^'^bAbA, "OO jbAnA"6, '00 co]i be ceibe, A5111" "oo
fgjuobAt), A^\ nA bA-6bo]^Aibpe. An ce-o A'6bA]i, "oo cui]\]"eAC
iTi\iAccAHAin -oo cii]\Am onoin beAcbA"6A A511]" -peAncu]' llAoiii
Gpionn -oo c|\tiinnni JA"6 ^y ^ac aic a bji-ui^inn lAt) a]i |ni"o
Gpionn ; Aguf ia|a nA 'oenAifi pn "OArh "oo cojhAf coiiibiiAX)o|A
"DO cjAoinicTO, -oo ceA'irctiJA'o, 'oo gbAnAt), Agiip "oo fjiuobAX)
riA •mei'oe a -puA^AA-)" -oon c-fencAf pn nA IIaoiti, Agup lleirne
tl'io^^^AToe Cpionn ^n-p a m-beno]A nA nAoin'i, AiiiAib ip pob-
bA]' ^Y in beAbo]\ inA bYoibic. Ia^ pom "oo cuicciop nA']i
b'loinbAn An pA0CA]A pn a tDobAij^c, ^An An "LeAbo^i 5^^<^^<^
■]\eAiiipAice "oo jbAnAt) Agtip X)o i^^piobAt), UAip ipe bA cobo]<
bunAix) -00 SbeAncup nAoni Agiip poj 6i]Aonn, "oa n-UAipbib
A^up "OA nipbib.
•cX-obAp oibe beop, "oo -peA"oo]A jiqi cionnp;5AinpeAuc 'OAOine
p'o^bomcA A \yAirin A^np a iiibe]ibA, An cpoinicpi nA b-Cpionn
■00 cionncnx) a ^^oTobicc, ip nA ceAnguAibpi a X)iibpAino]i,
A^iip nAcb jioibe p-ojbuim nA eobAp a n^Aoi-oibcc 50 gpinn
ACA, cpep A ccui]\piuip cpuAp, bticcA Agtip peAnctip m biuboip
cet)nA be ceibe, ^An Ainbpiop, gAn lonipobb, Agtip 50 iiAcbAt)
An cionncuT), pin -oo -oeAn-OAOip -o'eApbuix) eobtnp ^AOi-oibcc,
An ACAip Ajtip An iin-oeAp^At) piopx)iii5e "o'Cipinn uibe, Agup
50 bAipme "OA cpoinicip. Ay a]i nA pAcoib pin T)0 ctnpeA]'
]ioniAiii, AtnAibbe pe uoib iii'tiACCApAn, An beAbo|i po 100 jbA-
nA"6, A^np "oo cop be ceibe, ■<y^uy 5AC peAnctip ocup gAcb ni oibe
pAini^ A beA]' "oo cionob Ap beAbpoib oibe cincce, An n'le'o gu-p
bpei-oijA binn, "oo i^eip nA h-iiAiiie bAoi Accoinn aja p5piobA*6.
Ip 1AC nA cpoinicije bA'oo]\ ApAon p']Ainn Ag ^bAnA-o An beA-
boip: peAppeApA 6 UlAobconAipe, 6 t)1"iAibe 1 111hAobconAi]ie,
A cConnt)Ae llopA ConiAin ; Cticoiccpice 6 Cbeipi^, 6 t)bAibe
1 Cbbei]U5, A cConn"OAe 'Ohuin nA n^Abb; ocup Cticoiccpice
O "OuibgionnAn, 6 bbAibe Coibbe "Po^Aip, a Conn-OAe "Liacc-
110mA; A^tip 5io^l^ApA'opAicc O bninin, 6 Ap"o 1 btiin'ni, a
cCunn-OAe pheAiimAnAch.
APPENDIX. 555
Ay c6^]^ 'oiti, A-poi% conAX) peA^\Ai5 co ]\e^h ]\o yo'ooi'b, octq' ap. lxxiv.
ren6ii\e ciniiineAclux, cic\n-Aort)A no coniiex) reokucur 6ii\ionn
' ' . 1 1- 1- • • - >r^ 1 Address
A CC^VOmig, OCVI-j' A LeAD]\01D, 'OIAI'O AnX)lA1X), O A11Tl-|^1]l TjlLinn prefixed to
50 hAimf11\ ITAOlil pACq\AlCC, CAiniC 1|" ah CeAC-jWMilAt) btlA-OAin ^GabhcUa'""'
^"t AC A t. AO j A1 ] \e m 1 c 11 ei tt 11 A01 -51 Ait ai 5,1x1 6^ \i o n 11 , t) o p o t At)
c]\ei'oriie ocuf c]\Abtiit) innce, co ^o "beAnnuij 6i^\inri, po-jiA,
niACA, niriA, ociif in^eAHA, gup ctiiii-ooi j, ocu-p ju]), -f-ocuix)
ceAttA, 0C111' conjiiuvtA innce.
Ko cociii]\ nAoiii Pax^haicc ia]a pn tdia -poigi-o, nA 1ni j"ooi|^
-pob-OA-jv oii\]roeA-ncA in Ci^unn An ionbui-6 pn, p\i coniiet) c]\oi-
nice, octi]" coiiiigne, ocuy -peAncufA ^ac ^aIdaIa ^\o ^Ab 6|\e 50
pn. Af 1AC ^10 cocuipc cui^e An CAn I'ln, Rof, 'OubcAC rriAC
Ua "Lti^Aip, peA^ijnp, ecc. \)a hiA'op'oe iiobtDA-ji -j^Aitje -pocAig-
ceACA x)o fcAncAp e-]\ionn, a nAiinp]\ nAon'i Pa"D|aaicc.
1x0 yo^iAib u\^\oin, llAon'i Cobnnn Cibte, "pmnen CtiiAnA
hlonAi^TO, ocnp ComjAtb t3eAnncoi]i, octif nAoirii G^Monn
A]AcenA, A]v ii^-Qo^wib A nAiTiip|Ae buiDen, SeAncti-|' ocxiy
coin'ijneA'OA Ci^Monn "oo coirhet), ocii"p "oo cohitiac. T)o -po-
nA'6 i:o^i]Aopoiti ■pAiiibi.ii'o. Aciac "oo bA-oo]; a nAimpji nA
nAoiii fAin, AiiiAii ip -|:ottAp a n-oeiiieA-o "ouAine Coc1iat)a tli
"phtoinn, ponncAin niAC bocnA, UiiAn niAC CAiitibb mic lllin-
■HeA-oAi^ llliniToeiiice, "oo 'OIiai'L b^iACAcb ; 'OAbtAn "Po-jv
5AibL An ciig-QO]) ocvi-p An nAon'i oip\-6]iuicc.
tlo -pjpobuic, ocu-p ]\o "oeAjibtiic -peAncupA ocii^' coin'i-
jncA-oA Giponn a bpA-oninp nA nApv-o nAorh I'o, AiiiAit Af
):ottAp 1^ nA ppom-beAbjioib yo 1iAinmni5eA"6 6 nA nAoiiiuib
-pen, ocuf 6 nA nA^ra-ceAbbAib ; tiAi^i ni poibe eACcttni^ oi]ip
"oi^ic A nG]\inn, nAch Ainnmi^ce pn'ioTii - teAbo-ji i^eAncupA
eii^e; no on nAoiii i\o beAnntng mnce. X)o bA i^o-oAing be6]%
Aicne A-ji nA beAb]\oib "oo 'p5^\iobAX)A]i nA nAOiiii ocuf a]i nA
CAinncicib mobcA "Oo ctitnpAc a n-^AOi'oitcc, joja bAliiAc yen
ocuy A cceAbtA bA hinneoin p-o^uvip, ocui" bA coiiijiAi^i coirii-
e"OA "oo y5]\eApcpAib u^-ooiv Ciuonn a nAbtAnA.
111onviA]\, Alii, bA 5A]\ UAi|\ CO n-oeACATO ppcbini ocii]" eA-p-
cp»A A-p ccAbbuib nA nAon'i, a|\ a inionnmb, octip Ap a biub-
-[\Aib, oip ni bpoib A]i A11TO, "Gib Ano-pA acc cioiinAi]ipi nibicc,
nAc ]\u5A'oh A ccpiocAib imciAnA, eAccoip cmeoit, gAn a peA-j-
A n-oiAcb 6 pin ibte.
'AciAC nA bioboi-p jAbAtA "GO bA"0A|i "OO bAcvnp Aj pg-iiiobA-o
nA n^AbAbcA -po nA hCpionn, icAbop t)1iAibe 1 lllhAoitco-
noi|\e "00 p5piob mnriijiop iriAC pAi-oin II1 in1iAoibconoi]\e Ay
tiobA-p nA hl1i"6]\e "oo pjpiobA-o a cCbuAin lllic lloip a n-
Ainipip nAOiiii ChiApAin ; teAbop l3lK\ibe Hi Clitei]ii5 "oo fgp'io-
bA-o A nAinipi]i liHiAOitpeActoinn lllhoi-p iinc 'OoiiinAibi;
ieAbop lT)1niinnripi *Olniib5ionnAin -da n50i^\cep teAbopi
556 APPENDIX.
AP. LXXIV. 5lll-1111"'e "OA LaCA, OCUj' LeAbo]! HA h tl ACOIlglilAlA, AtTlAltte
Address V^ teAbjioili) gA^AtA ocu^^ i\eAncu]^A oiic ^eti nio CATO pn.
prefixed to AciAc ru'iiii tiA neceA"6 ACAX) Vaii teAl!)oi\rA riorAiiA. ?;a-
aabhdia. CxxiL CneA-]^]\A ce-QU]^ -jUA tTt)ibnn innce; ^a^aiI phA]\CAtoiri
lAji pn ; 5Ali)Ail lleniieA'o; gA^Ait plieAi^ nibol^; gA^Ait
ufiUAice X)e 'OAnonn, ocuf ^aIdaiI IIIIiac IllileA-oh, 50 IIIaoI-
yeAchttiinn tlloji.
u1iAH ccAi]At)e lomriuine,
D]\Acoi|\ niicet O Cteipg,
')-"'eA]ipeA-]v\ O 1llAotconoi]\e,
CiJcoicc]\ice O Ciei]^^!!,
Cucoicc]\ice O 'Oui'b^ionnAin,
Agti]" 5'ol'tApAcc]\uicc O t/tnnin.
"Oo leiceioinon coiunnn 'LA'boi]\r; a]\ oitoh^ax!) ah ChiAucAig-
ceo^iA ce-ou]" a]a tia c]\eACvii|Mb: lleAiii, Aingit, Aini^"i]\, a^u]:'
All TnA-pA A'o'bAi'L ecc]\iiuA A-p A\\ ceibicc Ati ceAtA^-'otJi'L 6
coil AriiAin, 1-p in oibiuu^A-o -pe tAice, gup tiA Innie AiimonriA
AicciAeAbinc a ccAlAiii, a tiiiip;5e, Ajti]' a tiAie]\, "oo bpj
JlljAAb "OO "OlA-OOllub ip 01]AC10p 111 -OO tAboi]\C 0|\]AA, AJtII' 11A]1
iiieA-|'Amo|\ en ni '610b 'oo beic "oo ]UACCAnup a]\ a^ noibjuo^-
A-6 AiriAiite i\e coil n'Oe, acc "OAoine Agu^" Aniip]\ nAniA.
'Oa bjAi^ i^o, X)0 5AbAmA|\ be'-p nAii", Aimp|A "oo ^Iaca-o, A-p
oi]\ciop Ann X)<!,\\ binn a lAemcu-p a\\ noibjAijce .1. 6 cnuchu-
JAX) An cex> "otime, A-OAiii ip a fbiocc teAnp-Atn a^x a\\ pnnpei^-
01b 1-pin Vine n'oi]AeAcli, jtun a]i Jbtin 50 c^viocmi^At) in cinn-
l^gecAibp A bpoi|\ceAnn ]iiojacca IllliAoilpeActAinn mhoip
line 'OomnAbt, eipi-6e ^115 "oeiponAcb 6i]\ionn innce -pen
gAn -p]ieA-|"AbpA, AiTiAibLe 1ni5-6A]i|\Ap nA cc-|\oiniceA-6 CAnjA-
"OAji ]\oiiuiinn, Ajiip be -|\iAJoib -|\iihe nA nAop Aiiioib -po^Ajuc iacc
A cci-p'oeA'OAib p"oi]\bce, p-ipencA eAccttnpi Ch-piO'p'O, a\\ bopicc
ti^'oon Agn-p piien nA Sc]\epc|\A 1lA0iitie, -peb AinmneocAin
popAnA, eAn^ AineAn^ "00 iMAgtAt) nA nAOf i\eirii|\Aice, a
-|AOinn Agnp a niomtAine, 6 At)Aiii 50 gem Ch^\iop'o AiniA-p
mA|\ An cceA-onA, 50 pgAjAcoin nA i\icce ne'|\ nuAiptib, "oo
■|iei]\ uobA n'Oe. -di^Moiii An -oa -peA]i .txx. a]\ nA ceitjie cet)
AopAib -Don "ooniAn AniAibte in]- An Aipioiii cug-pAC "OAoine
•peA-pAcViA -pogbAincA "DO ten iatj ip An toncc n'oi^AeAch Ap
nA liAoptnb, 6 cjiiicuJAX) in 'ooiiiAin 50 ^ein Cbpiop-o, a|i nA
1\oinn A CCU1CC |\Annnib. O ^-oAiii 50 'Oitinn, 2242 ; 6 'Oitinx)
50 bAb]\AbAm, 942; 6 Ab]\AhAm 50 'OautoIi, 940; 6 T)hAi-
in-ob 50 b^wi-o, 485 ; 6 IdIi^oto 50 gem Ch]\iopx), 590.
Ay uime "OO cui]AeA'OA|\ nA "OAOine n j'oo]roA *oo teAn An "oa
■peAji txx. An cuicceA"6, Aimp]A be nA nAiinj-eiioib, gu]! AtnbAiX)
coirhbioncAji An Aimft]i fo, 5199, 6 cjaucvijax) A-OAirii 50 jeni
APPENDIX. 557
CVi^\iopD. Ay "00 HA 1ni j-oA^wiib teAnuf An "oa feA\\. Xxx. ap. lxxiv
i|' riA ceic|\e cex> Aoi-j^ib 6tifebiu-p Ai]\nieA^' iriA c]\oinic 6 ^^^^^.^g^
cmicti^A-6 A"6oim ro trein Chtuoi^, 519'.>. Onoriur ir in inefixtdto
cceAX) CAipceL 'oa cex> l,eADO]\ A-oei^t 50 opmL o Ax)Am 50 Gabhdia.
h\\p]u\m, 3184; 6 Ab]\v\hAin 50 ^ein Cli]\io]^-o, 2015; a ptuni
A]\Aon, 5199. 'Olu\ -|b]\ioni-prA]\UT6e ecctiii]^e Ch^uopt) lAcpotii.
Ax)ubAi]rc beop SAnccui^ 1be]\onmuii' inA epii^cib -oocuni
U1CAI]', ^^A'\\ coiriitionA-o pe iriibe btiAX)An "OAOip An "ooiiiAin 50
1'in. A-oeijA c]\A, S. An^upnn i-p An 'oeAcbiiiA'6 CAipceb 'oo'n
■OAi^A ieAbo]\ "oej de Civitate Dei nAc Ai]Aiiiionn 6 cyiuchuJA-o
An "oume 50 pin pe rinte bbiA-oAn. Cinpcen nAbeic pin ApAon,
CO cceAccoic beip An bncc peuiiipA a nen ntiin'iip cunn-
CAip, 6 cpndniJA-o A-oonii 50 gem Chpiop-o, 5199. IDeA];-
bA-o oibe Ap An Ai]\eAin cceA*onA, An mA]\cA]\o'LAi5 HoiiiAnAch
•oeinmioJAp lombAinebtiA'OAn nA nAop 6 c]\iiuii5a-6 An ■oomAin
50 501 n Cbpiop-o, 5199.
j^From a copy of the leA'bAi\ jAbAlA, written in 1685, for Brian,
the son of CoUa Mac Mahon, of Oriell, now in the Eoyal Irish Aca-
demy, but not classed.]
APPENDIX No. LXXV. [Lect. VIII., Page 175.]
Original of the Title and Dedication to OClerys G lossary Tuie ann
( froin a 2US. copy, in the handioriting of John Murray^ to*o'CUe")"s
1728, in the possession of the Editor). Glossary.
"PocbAip no SAnApAn ntiA-o lonA ii'iini5ceA]i CAib eipn "o po-
cbAib cptiAi"6e nA ^Aorait^e, a]\ nA p^piobA-o Ap tipt) Aibgicjie,
be bpACAip bocc ciiACA tVopt) SAinc P]\onpiAp .1. Ilbcetib Ua
Cbeipi^, A ccobAipce nA niD]iACAp nQipionnAC a LobAin, Ap
riA cup A ccbo mAitbe pe bu^'OApAp, 1643. Amen.
'Oon cijeAjinA po on6]\AC, A^up •com CApATO, iDAOc^AbAC
ITIac Ao-oA^Ain, GApbAC Aitpnn.
Agpo cu^Aib (a Ubi^cApnA) •oio;5biiiin beA^ 'opoctAib cpti-
Ait)e Ap cueAnjcA x)uucAip, a]\ nA ccpninnni^A-o Ap inopAn "oo
penbeAb]i<Mb a]\ n'ouigce, Agnp Ap nA ininiu^AX) "oo peip
cui^pi, Ajup gbuAipe nA bppion'i-uj-oAp "oo bi lonAp n-oiicAi j
'pAn Aiinpip •oeijionAi^, bepbeAn miniugA'o nApeAn-^AOToibge.
Hi pACAinAip lonAp n-oucAi^ mopAn yey. b'lomcubATO An
■oio^bAimpi -o pi.i]\Aib Ap cuip 'nA pibpi ; Agup ni cpe AiriAin Ap
nAibix) "00 beic lonAnn (cnip 'oobn'6 c6i]\ Ap cop eibe "oo
CAppAin^ Ap ccoIa opAibpi, peAc cac oibe) -oo gbuAip pin -00
cum pAU]iuinn -oo -oeAnAiii -OAOib tjon bcAbApAnpA, acc nA
ccAnn pin, A^up 50 ppipiAbcA, cpe bup iriAic pein, Ajup "ouccAp
blip ccineA-o pip An cceip-opeo ; Agup pop 50 bpuib peA]\ corii-
AnniA, A^up coiiricinTO -OAOib, iDAougAtAC Rua'6 HIac Ao-oa-
558
APPENDIX.
AP. LXXV.
Title and
Dedication
to O'Clery's
Glossary.
Address
prefixed to
O'Clery's
Glossary.
jAin, A]\ n<s 'OAOim'b A-pp]Monn-|'AbAtc<\ teAniriAOTo a ininiu^A-o
riA bjJ-OCAt A]\ A CC]AACCA]\ \Ar\ teA'bA]l]"0.
tTlA]\pii, niojA gt-ACA-o miAn tinn acc AThAin beA^An eobui^'
•00 cAbAipc 'oon Aoij' Ainp-p a ■peAn-ueAngAi'o a itiacaia, Aju-p
An CAO]' eAlA-oriA "oo b]\opcA"6 "oocum a lonnfAintA eite ^'o
•00 'oeunAiii, ni A-p -peA]\^i ^5^r ^^ ^r bioniiiAiiAe.
APPENDIX No. LXXVI. (Lect. VIII., Page 176.)
Original of the Preface, or ^Address to the Reader, prefixed
to O'Clerys Glossary (^from the same).
*0'on Leijceoi]!.
Diot) poi" ceic]\e iieiceAt) a^ aii bei^ceoij^ be']\Ab iiiiaii
An beA5-fAOCA]\po "00 beA^A'o. An ceA-o ni, nA]i cui^AeAiiiA^i
en i'DCAt Ann^'o -|iop no liiinniJAt), no "oo jttiAi]' aji irocbinb
c]\UAi"6e A]\ cceAn^uA inACAiroA, acc nA -pocAit *oo cuaIitiai^i
■pein x)A minni^At), no puAiAAiiiAijx A5 cac oibe ia]\ nA niimujAX),
6 nA niAigiixjAib "oobA -}:oi]Aci'L'Le, Aju-p "oobA iro^ttimcA An
eotti^" c^UAip nA 5<^oi"oi^5^ ionA]A lAeub ]:ein ; Ap -OAOib-pn
50 1'0nn]\At)AC iDAOC^AiAC llUA-O IIIaC Ao-OAJAin, UOJUTA O
tnAotconAi]\e, Ajnp 'Li'igAi'o Ua Ctei^Aig, Ajtip inAoibeActinnn
Tno'OA]icA Ua 1TlAotconAi|\e. '^^■b \ao\ oi]\-6ei]-\c jac 'oume
•oiobpin, Aj^eAt) iDAOcgAtAc Af mo "oo leAnAmAiii, "00 bjAig
JUjAAb UA-OA A]" 1116 "OO ^tACAIllAI]! ]:ein AJUp "DO 1.niA]\AmA1]\ Ag
CAC oite, miniuJA-o nA bpocAi a]a a cc]\AccAinAoro, pj^nobcA;
AgU]" ]:6p juiAAb ]"A0i oi]\'6ei]\c, 'oeA]\p5Ai5c;e e '^An ccei]A'o-p,
niAH Af irobtAi' ^An ceifc rug An cpAoi neAiii]\Ait:e oibe .1.
Lu^AI-O IIa CieiJMJ Aip Ap A eAg, AlilAlb ACA '"["An ]\Ann-|'o
]iop: —
'AcAipvne acai]^ nA I1A01
'OAtiAn "Poii^Aitt An p^Aioni-i'-Aoi,
"Oo liieA-p -ne'm ceibe ni ceApc,
t1ei"6e |\o-'peAf ip pe^AceAp\c.^^"
SeAncui-p *oiAiii]iA, 'otigce ^\\ peAn,
t)eu|\l,A y:o\\\cce nA bpteA-o,
T)© bi An em ifieit) 5A]\ nAicnit),
Cti An e-ijAni-o ! An lonAicmit) !
A\- Aicne 'omnn ■pAonce mAice 'pAn ceiiTOpi, Ajtip -pop 'pAn
Aimp-p "oeijionAig, niA^\ aca SeAAn Ua ITlAolconAi-pe, p]\ioni-
oToe nA "opAnnge a 'oubjiAinAi]) ceAnA, AgAp -peA]! n-6i]\ionn, a
(97) This fourth line is mistranslated in the text (see p. 176), or rather the translation there
given is of the version of these lines in the US. from which the "Address" is taken (MS. of
A.D. 1728, in my possession). The last word of this fourth line there is firceart. I have cor-
rected the text of the line from a fragment consisting of foiu'teen stanzas of this curious
poem, in the most correct diction, which I copied from a MS. vol. of old Historical Poems
in the possession of the O'Conor Donn, dated 1C31. The translation of the line as it now
stands, corrected, should be: Neidli6ofprofoundTcHowledge,andFercheart. " Fercheart" is
put for " Feixheirtni", the celebrated poet (of the time of Conor Mac Nessa).
ess
to
APPENDIX. 559
I'eAncA'p 1T1A Aiinp|\ irein ; ajai' "plAnn ttiac CAi]\b]\e inic ap. lxxvi
^o-o'a^aiii ihAi]\eA]^ yoy, aja^^ x)]\on5 oiLe iiac iiaiiiIdiiii. Acc ^^^^j.
■oo t)]\'i5 tiAC cca^aIa'da]! riA teA'bAi]\ a^a a ii'oeA]\nA'OA]\ min- P'^^ixed
lOgAt) A^tlinn A^ AH CCA0b]"0 "Oo'n -pAIIVje inA by-UltinTO A]\ Glossary.
•oeo^iAi-oeACC, teAC ahuiij "oo beAjAii, nio^i b'eToi^A tinn a
cceA'oi'A'OA "OO leAnriniin acc a inbeA^An.
An TDA^vA m. tDio-o a py a^a-o, 5tin<.\b i<-Vo ha IcaIdai]! c]MiAi"6e
A]A A]\ CUljVeA-OA^X HA ^^eAtl-VI JT)A1]\ ^tuAl]^ lilinigce AJU]^ Ay A]A
5tACAinAi]\ iiA ]:ocAit]"eo poy niAilte ye ininnigAX) iia X)^\iiin5e
]AeAn'ijAAice, "00 ^b^ Ag ceA^Ai^g 50 •oei^ioriAc: Arii^AA Chotunn
Chiile; A^aIIaiii An -oa ShuA-o; "PeiLiiAe nA tlAoiii ; peiti^^e
Ui 5ho]\niAin ; LeAlbAjA lortiAnn ; SAnA]'An iDheACA phAcc]\Aic ;
1"eAn-Sc]\eA]Dr]\A meAi"ii]uinn, aja-j' -j-eAn-leAbAiii pAipei]* inA
b^^jnc nio^iAH •oYoctuib cjiuAi-oe gAn miniii^AX) ; yo]\iip ITocaiI,
AjAp'Oeiubpn^v -oon e-AjnA An G-ij^'i ; a^a]' ii]\m6^\ An leAbAi]!
oym Am AC nA jbiiAipe x)o ^Iaca-o 6'n inlDAOcgAtAC ^\eAi1i-
]\Ait)ce.
An zyeAy m. \)\ox) a poy Ag An beijceoin, nAp n'liAn tmn
A5 c]\iAtl. An beA5-fAocAi|\]'i, ACC CAit eijin potAip 'oo
CAbAi]rc "oc'n Aoy 65, aja^ "oo'n Aoy Ambp]^ ; a^a^ An c-Aop
eAlA-onAi A-^Ay eotuip -oo bnop'OA'6, aja^ x)o t^y\oyA-6 "oocnm
A lonnpAmbA oibe "oo "oeAnAin ni ^y i:eA]V|i, a^a^ niip VionniAi-|Ae.
-Acc ^y tnine nA|A leAnAmAi]; 50 yAVA a]\ moyAW vo nA bit-
ciAtbuib cuiint) An cAOf "OAnA, AjA-p eAlA"6nA co nioniAt) "oa
bpuib •o'-jrocinib Annpo -oo inmni^At), a^a^ "oo leigeAmA]!
•oinn yoy, bunA-oAp loiriAt) "oo nA poctAib -o '1:01 tip 11 5 at) 50
p6i]\'LeACAn, "oo bju^ 5n]\Ab teip An Aoy eAt<\'6An 50 ponn-
pA-oAc Ay nio bcMneAp, a^a^ nAC bpnt ]\iAC'OAnAi' a^ cac 50
coicceAnn teip niA]i aca aca teip nA peAn-teAb|Aiiib "oo
cuigpn, A-^Ay X)o leA^A-o.
-An ceAC]\AniA"6 ni. l3iot) a poy aj An Aoy 65, aja^ Ag An
Aoy Ainbpp, te]\Ab niiAn nA peAn-teAb]\nib x)o teAJAX) (ni nAC
bpnb nA AinccAp Ay eobcAib Ay cci]\e) 5niAAb AnnAiii h\oy coi-
meAT) ACA A^A cAot be beACAn, no beACAn ye cAob -00 p^^uobA-o ;
A-^Ay ^y p]A-ceA]\c ctn^ux) uaca Ay connpAinib, mA]\ aca b. c.
x). y., A-^Ay niA^Apn ; a^a^ yoy, Ay AnnAin ctn^Ait) ■pneA'o -pAtDA
A]A -jj-ocbinb. S^^nobcAjA 50 mime cuto "oonA connpAimb a]a
■pon A ceibe, mA]i aca .c. a|a -pon 5, AgAi" c, aia f on "o. -A^po
I'AifiAib nA bpocAb ciACApA ccuigpibeA^A A nAb-jiAm A]\ yon nA
bpocAib-po : Cbo^, lonAnn aja^ cloc ; ajat), acax) ; beAj, beAc ;
co'obA'6, cocbA"6; aja-o, a^c, a^a^ mA]A pn. Ct)i]\ceA]\ pop 50
mime Ae, Ap pon ao ; AjAp ai a]a pon aoi ; A^Ap pop 01 a]a pon
A01. SompbA A]ipin mAp p;5pobcAp 50 mmie Aex), Ay lonAnn
AjAp Ao"o ; AjAp cAeb, ip lonAnn A^Ap cAob; AJAp bAOl, AJAp
pop bAi, ip lonAnn AgAp boi. S5]\iobcAp j^o mime e Ap pon
560 APPENDIX.
AP. Lxxvi. A, \r\^ i^eAn-teAbpAib, niA]\ aca, a|' loriAnn -oie, AgAp ioia;
Address ^^'^ ^V ^onAXMr\ AjAf cie; AjAr mA]\ -pin. S5]\iobcA|A 50 ini-
prefixed to mc .1. A]\ yon, inA]A ACA, [ecc.]. SjiuobrA]! 50 coicceAiin, A,
Glossary. O, tl, A]\ yon A Ceite A n-X)ei]\eA'6 ^TOCAlt, 111 A]A ACA I^OIIipiA,
1'onipto, poiiiplu ; ceAiA-ocA, ceAiroco, ceAjTOcu.
APPENDIX No. LXXVII. [Lect. VIII., Page 178.]
[This reference is an error. There is no list of contractions at
the end of the Preface to O'Clery's Glossary, only a few of the more
common contractions are used, such as are to be fou.nd described in
Irish Grammars.]
APPENDIX No. LXXVIII. [Lect. VIII., Page 178.]
^%a-iM Original of the last Will of CucJioigcriche O'Clery.
O'Ciery. [The will of Cuchoigcriche is unfortunately much injured. Many
words are quite obliterated, and some of those that remain very
indistinct. The folloAving is a copy of as much of it as I can make
out with any certainty. The spaces left are to denote passages at
present illegible. The translation Avhich I have added is quite
literal. The lines in the original I have also thought it right to
mark out ; they will be foiaid separated by a mark (||) wherever the
line ends in the original, which is to be found at fol. 276 of the
little MS. volume classed 34. 4. in the Library of the Eoyal Irish
Academy : —
1ii Ainin An AcliAii AJtif An 111 eic aju]' An SpioiAA-OA
llAoimli.
Uioninunn niAnAiii "oo *0u\ uite cvhiiacIicac, Ajup Aicbnini
111A co]Ap "oo t\\]\ II 1 1TlAinipce|\ buiiAgepi llniAibt, no gibe
hoite ecclAip cAipecAiicA || p-AicpAi-oep -ooni
diAi^roib inA-onAcnt; pAgbAim An niAoin "oob AnnpA tiom ||
•o'a^i c1nii]AeAp Ain peilb ipin pAogAt (iha^aaca mo teAb]\Aib)
Aj 1T10 "oiAp II nibAc, 'OiA^iniAit) Agnp SeAAn. l3eAnAT0 a
ccApbA eipcib gAn miLLeA-o Agnp "oo || pei]A a piAclicAnAip,
Agup cAbiAAit) A pA-oApc Agup A ngnArti^A'o -oo cboinn II
CliAipbpe iiiAp lAt) pein, Ajup ceA^Aipgi-o lAt) -oo peip . . .
II Aip cboinne CliAi]vbpi tjo liuinAX) Ajnp -00
ceA^Apcc A ccboinne || Aicnnn
"oiob A mbeic 50 jpA'OAc, inuinceAp-oA nicoAiiiAi'L ....
II ip ]Ae nA ccboinn pein, niAp niAic teo 'Oia x)o
poipbrnJA-o [-ooib pern Agup •00 cvip] || pAcliA oppA a]a An
pAOJAt Abnp Agup A ccuit) 'DO pbAiceAp *Oe -ooib [cAtb] .
. II Aicb 11151 111 niAp An cce-onA cupA . . . . eini
CAcepinA mop bep iiia peibb
Agtip An cApAbt pein "oo
beipini A peAbb "oi oni' bAp pern aitiac
Agup -oo pei]A niA]\ Ap peA]i]\ cipgcep
APPENDIX. 561
ACA .... .... txxvui.
I'e^Ait) . . . A mbiAiiiA l-Aini A^iq^oo bei^M[m] j^esxtb x)!
(X) ei]' lil'eCCA) A]A cIlA^DAtt || A^U]' A]\ 1'eA]\|AAC, AJUf "OenAt) I'e CucoigciUhi
5AC niAic bt)|^ eTOi]A tei]" x)o -Denoiii iii]\]\e 5. . . || cu [ifTo] ^'^'
A cu-jiAm "oe 50 ne<MiinAi]\. TJa iToeAcliAi'6
II intiAOi eite ^\e tinn a
TToioniAomi)' no . . . An beAn ||
A]\ cuTO A "oeiubfeACAiv, Ajuf XDA ^tAib An beAn t)iob bef . .
II b^\A1C]te A^" OTOHeA'OA 0]\CA A]AAOn
]\e binn An-o || ^An niA^ACAin. 'Oa
ngbACA-o An buACAitb be^ ITIac Gac
II i^uAiifineAi" corimAi^ce cuije aju]" ceAcc in enAic
. . II Aguf A SheAAin acaiih
AjA Aicne "oib An uibe n'lAic biif ion
II -oo -oenAiii "oo ^Aei^ mA]\ tjo pnni
ineip A511]" II Ac1iAi]A
Agtl]" -OA -peAnACAIIA, A^Uj" "OA feAnitlACAIIl. tlUA ....
II bo "CO ctii]^eA]" inA yeibb "66 "oo t co-oa no tda
b|\ACA-n II chomnAi;5e A]AAb]:tiib 'oenAi'O
. bti^A cceA"0|"Ait) ]:ein bei-p An .
. 11 ACcommAoin Ai):]\eAnn -co i\a-6a te bAnAin SheAAin
Tnhej 5 II "Oo cipceAp -OAoib
yein.
CUCOGRY (.sic) [ClEIRIGh].
A cC^^^\\\\ nA hCibce, An 8 Ia
feb., 1664, x>o i\ei|\ nA niiir(i]Ae
Af m o
[ikANSLATION.]
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit.
I beqiieath my soul to God Almighty, and I charge my body to
be buried in the Monastery of Burgheis UiiiJiail [Borrisoole], or in
"whatever other consecrated church .... in which it will appear
best to my friends to bury me. I leave the property most dear to me
that I have put into my possession in the world, namely, my books,
to my two sons, Diarmaid and Seaan. Let them take their profit
out of them without injuring them, and according to their necessities;
and let them give their sight and their constant access to Cairbi'e's
children like themselves ; and let them instruct them according
to benefit of Caii'bre's children, to teach and
instruct their own children I am charging
them to be loving, friendly, respectful,' * as they
would be to their own children, if they wish that Grod should be
propitious to themselves, and give them prosperity in the world
here, and their share in the kingdom of heaven to them in the other
36
562 APPENDIX.
Lxxviii. world I charge in like manner
~_ Catlierina or great
CucoigcrUM that shall be in her possession, and the horse
0 ciery iu J^er own hands. I give her its possession from
my o-wn death out and
accordingly as it shall appear best
There is examine
what shall be ui her hands, and I give her possession (after my
death) of a horse and of a foal, and let him do all the good
that he can to her [until he has put] her care off him non-shame-
fully. Should go ... . another woman
in the time of their idleness or ... . the woman . . .
upon the share of her sister, and
if the woman of them who shall be brethren
that shall be heirs of them both in their time there
.... without being alive. If the little boy, the son of Eoch . . .
should take quietness of residence to
himself, and come to the one place with
And, Seaccn, I am charging you to do every good which can be done
accordingly as I have done, and .
father and to his grandfather and to
his grandmother a cow Avhich 1
put into his possession to hiui of your
share or of your brothers residence
in which he is, dispose of it according to your own wishes . . .
as a benefit [pay] for saying Mass
for the soul of Seaan Meg-G
as shall appear to yourselves. CtrcoiGRi[cHE 0 Cleirigh].
In Curr-na-h-EUte, the 8th day of
February, 1664, according to
the greater comjoutation.
APPENDIX No. LXXIX. [Lect. VIII., Page 179].
Two Poems Original (toith translation) of tivo Poems hy Cucoigriche
migcHcH 0' CUry ; fvom MMS. transcribed hy James Mac Guire, in
o'ciery. 1727, for Hugh O'Bormell (of Lark/ield), now in the pos-
session of Professor Curry.
I. 1.
Cucdjc^Mce O CLeijAij "oo |\inrie Aii CuchoigcricM O^Chry that made this
•OA-n-i'A -Do'n cViaIIjac IIiia'6 niAc poem for the Calbhach Ruadh, the
nV\jnA-pA, rtiic Cuinn 615, inic Cu- son of Maghmis, son of Conn dg,
iiin, niic An CtiAlbAiccli, son of Conn, son of the Calbhach
(O'Donnell).
lonnnnn ay\ Iaoi-o 'LeA5CA-t\ funn, Beloved the lay which is read here,
C15 uAic, A cliAlliAij cujuin, Wliich comes from thee, O CaM-
^Y^ c]\e yviin •pA'LLi'A ^o feAf, ach, to me,
Ace ■oo f u]\ AnnfA c'eicceAi-. Not through a treacherous design
I know, [poet.
But to seek the affection of thy
APPENDIX.
563
<\ ■poiT) LcAc 6-0 -oiveic n-'ooimi- jit,
pA'onA CAiunie i^' ctti O cCumn,
S-OAipce 'oi<Miii\<x c]\u Clioiiuill,.
niOi]A CA01 'OA CU]\ 1 CCeiLL "OAlil,
Jo-n-'oLijpnn ■o'AicLe Anr(-ii5t)A)\
■pA neAiiiCAM|'fiii jte ha DyeA]\,
Cuinine-peAiicAi|" 'bA|\ pnnfeA|\.
niAIC An 1A|\]\A1-6 C115 Ctif A,
■Dot •o'po]' nnL ah c-feAiictifA,
"Oo'n ceiDpof bA co jAoi]' cpeAit,
30 ^o]\Aoif eigio]" ©nxeAmi.
Sen-]\A-6 eAjiiAit) AcpoA ^0111,
" ©oiti]" ei^ionn 1 cC|\tiAcoin",
"Oa ViniL CA^A CAC CtlJAI-j' coil;
ni gAti fAC fujAif jiojoin.
AcAit) \An ri|\ |ve Viauato,
ImClipuACAin Cliuinn C'he'O-cACAij,
111 inliAo'LcoiiAi|\e gAn coi-p,
t^A AOlb CCOJAITJe Ag C^IACOllj,
puAi\Ai|' fo-p eoLii-p oile,
■A5 ctonin CAOitii niliAoi'Lconoi^e,
t^AC A^X ceo JA|\niA Af tei-fv Lit),
Cpe ]\enn tii'ojtAniA o'lti oi'Oit>.
fbocc cliuinn, tAoc^VAi'o gAn
tocc,
AcA An c-Aintn Cuigeo Clionnccc,
Ua-o mac -pAnn 1 teic teAt)AtA,
Cjxe A m-oeic Ann Ag AicpveAljA'o,
T)ifte te Conn Coije'o Stipieing,
tlo en cvnje'o An (Ji|\inn,
V\^\\. cuitTDeAf "o'a ctoinn 6 foin,
5An ixuiTJteAf Cl?oinn -oo CA|\coin.
A Ua &x^ cConn cuAit) 6 c1ioi\ai"o,
'Sa cliuinn ciA|\ 6 ccAngoDAiix,
Hi ■oeo^Ai'oeAcc, a -oeAixc gtAn,
CeAcc 50 ceot-oi^eAcc ClijAtiACAn.
ni •oit)ei]\u -ouic ciai\ jac aid,
C-|\e neA]ic Aintpne neAccp^Ann,
A ClAb •otlJClilA-p HA CCOtX CCAf,
"Oct 6 ■OUCcVlA'T 50 "OUCCAp
I understand thy design accordingly, ^p_ lxxix.
That too far from thy noble bright
face are Two Poems
TJie witnesses of the munificence ^.v. (\
and fame of Comi's race, \_Conall. o'ciTry^^
The secret records of the blood of
As thou art putting me in mind
Tliat I should, after our authors, —
Ungentle are the words of the
men, — [cestors.
Eeraember the history of thy an-
Good is the seeking that thou hast
made, [tory, —
To go seek the knowledge of his-
■ To visit me first would be an idle
journey — [Erinn.
To the home of the learning of
An old saying, wise and ancient this,
"The learning of Erinn at Crua-
c/iai)i'\ [given will.
To its learning above all thou hast
It was not without reason thou
hast made the choice.
They are in this land a long time,
Around the Cruachain of Comt of
the hundred battles,
The 0' Maolchonaire's without fault
In chosen esteem with chieftains.
Tliou hast, too, found other know-
ledge, \jiair^.
With the comely Clann Maolcho-
The cause of our invitation from
thee, [from my tutors.
Through the career of my learning
From the race of Conn, champion
without fault.
Comes the name of Connacht
Fifth [{.e. Province,] — [books, —
A statement not weak as regards
Because of their having been there
inhabiting. [Fifth (i.e. Province),
More favoured with Conn was Srengs
Than any other Fifth in Erinn,
It was not becoming his children
ever since,
ConrCs special right not to cherish,
Thou grandson of our northern Conns,
from Torry,
And of the Conn in the west from
whom thou descendest, [eye.
It is no exile, thou of the bright
To come to the musical assemblies
of Connacht.
It is no banishment to thee in the
west in all time,
Through the force of stranger fo-
reign tribes, —
Thou of the clustering, crisp, curl-
ing hair, — [other.
To go from one native land to an-
36 B
564
APPENDIX.
AP. Lxxix. "Ha ceApMolrA ryji'Ar o\<v,
' " tlA )i-eiccp pn -pumn cVionnocc,
Two Toems tnAiuleAtn ri'A)\ Iaj'oaij tdo caiI/,
^y. ^"t . 'S5U1^ A|\'OAi§ ei)A|\ "ooin AtiAit.
OClery.
t'JI'Aoi' ioniiniine 6Y ia-o fin,
Lei 51 T) LeAin iriA ticiAibVi,
'b&]\ cuei-pc -oo jriAC o'n •oaiiti "oil,
1-p ni nA]A CAc "o'a cLuinpn.
■A ninn-p y^eX, fjo-pfA me,
O 'cAiT) AgAm iiiA^ pnn^,
til •pobi\Aini A ccio '-pni eel,
Hi |\A'6 ■po|\bAinn a nAibe]\.
Da ■j\a'6 a]\ cuf Ar ceAcc co|\c,
t\^&y cm^ 5AiLb 50 epic CliOM-
nocc,
C-pe •pAbAi'D jiiAifiriip riAc jlAn,
"bA^A -pAiiiAib "o'^iAiftib ■U'La-6.
t>A njlop AM C)\10C •00 CAIAAIf,
"Ouicp riAC fAC f AtcAHAIf,
'SjojA 5A]\ oibe 6 CA01 cjAeAbA^v,
Ca]a tlllioije A01 A\\ AiciAeAbA-o.
■niACAipe dioiinocc riA ccac,
Se't^ bfA'OA e '11 A f-AfAcli,
"Oe n'A]A fjxiipif, A jne jeAl
5uip cuiiMf e fA -poiixjiieAiii.
CoiTi|\A'6 A eot/AcTi uile,
■D'Aoif AicjAeAbA An TnliACMi|\e,
tDoib Y\A]\ b'Aicne e -pA bAiL,
50-0 |\e cAicirii jei a CliAtbAij.
'S 5ii|\ cw\\ C11 -pA cjAom eAtlAig,
Iac oii\'6ei|\c An ■p^^i^i^-^^AnnAij
1f tTlAJ Ao^ o'n peim 1 |\Aibi,
5o]A leip gAc Laoi a l/OinpAi|\e.
■A jAA'o pib ni fAT) nAijAeAcVi,
"Oo beic eAiciiieAc con jAi)AeAd,
'S50 ccAice, jA fAOi]Ae -peAb?
SjAice niAoine gAn niAoi'oeAm.
If gu^A rnAc reAjlAc ic ceAjli,
tllAfvbu feiLi fe Ap finnfeAf,
'S'oo beic Ann fA Aoib jAn "oimvic,
In gAc Am "DAOib 50 •oAoiniuc.
Ke't) linn im cTifWAcAin nAcceAn,
Tli ■pint UAf aI no ifeAb,
tlAc leif niA ceAc nitii]\n mof,
1mA f eAc cuif m if coiiiot.
The praises they have bestowed on
thee, [Connacht,
Those learned men of the land of
Well pleased I am that thy cha-
racter is not lessened, [breath.
And that it lias heightened my
My beloved friends are these,
They convey to me in their letters,
Thy common report, from the dear
band, [liear it.
And it is no shame that all should
To tell their story I shall forbear,
As now I have them as witnesses ;
I don't propose to publish them,
nor conceal,
No forbidden words do I speak.
Of their contents at first, speaking of
thee, [nacht's land,
How the foreigners sent to Con-
By a dangerous enmity, not pure.
Thy like of the nobles of Ulster.
Part of their words — the country
thou hast loved, [uiity,
To thee shall not be a cause of en-
And that shortly again, as thou art
prudent, [in.
Till thou lovest Mar/h Aoi to dwell
Machaire' Connacht of the battles.
Though long it had been a desert,
From it thou didst not cease, thou
bright of aspect, [closure.
'Till thou didst put it under eu-
The conversation of all its learned.
Of the residents of the Machaireis
That never did they see it pros-
perous, \_ach.
Until the spending time of Calbh-
And that thou hast placed under
heavy stock [nach ;
The noble land of the Finnbhean-
And brought Magh Aoi from its
former state, [pastures.
That every day sees its well-grazed
To say of thee is no shameful saying,
That thou art spendive, hilarious.
And that thou spendest, — what
happier time ? —
riocks of kine without boasting.
And that company is frequent in thy
house, [ancestors,
Such as was seen in the days of our
And that thou art with never a
frown.
At all times with crowded people.
In thy time around Cruachain of the
loves, [ferior,
There is not a superior nor an in-
In whose house there is not great
merriment,
APPENDIX.
565
With circling bowls and social ^p. lxxix.
drinking
lonTOd «xcA eic feAnj;A,
■pion, •pleA'o-o'L 1]' pccVieAtt/A,
'SbiniTO teAcn<i gAc lAoi 'iia
ccoij,
5aii I'eAcriA a]a cAe'i no A|\ conoii\.
1oiiAnn lomcpAit) h<s\\ noi^Ae,
^n 5AC A1C c'ao]' lonnioine,
'Spot) jMAjXCAJA itn CliiwiACAin
Chuinii,
'SA CCUACAlb 1A|ACAip tlniui'Lt.
"OA mAT) lAT) c'ctiAtiiAip ^eiti,
"Oo cui|\yeAX) -00 ctu in nncein,
■Ooib ni irecpAoi, a lieo a]a nib ah,
A 'oe|\cA6i 50]\'Le6 An leAnArii.
Ay c'ei]:eAcc -pein ■{niAn\ cufA,
An -po oi|\|\'6eiy\c Annuv fs,
Oca An JAi^Ain ^ac -on, ni ■oic,
bAjA nAinni i^' OAp cctu 1 ccoic-
C]Mc1l.
CiA "oo'c y|Aeiih ^Ai^ no i\uij\e,
■Oa leAjVicA A Remi IliojiM.ii'oe,
VtiAiyv An uA|\'bA ■DO "OO "oteAcr,
116 ]a6 AnniA jAn oi)\'beA]\c.
■Oa liicin pn a iheic liiip,
111 AX) AiL'bAi\nAinni -oo cbumpn
"beAn -pe bunATDUf -oo beAjxc,
teAn 'D'vi]\|\ii-6u-p if -o'eifeAcc.
11 A 'oeAc ftiib, Ap]\ y:mne,
A nAincpi-oe, a nAinnmne,
AofA -rioiA-cniiiTD llAp ng^tiAib
n^eAt,
1lob ctiA)Apoc|\iJin A pbteAX).
Illo '\\A'6 ^A 'oeoi'o pe't) "opeit
n-oumn,
tlA bi ceDtwiceAcli coniumn,
jAn iTAC nA b]M-p c'AnnfA a|\ po\\,
Ace i\Ann]"A ]\^]• •oo -poi-cion.
Ill cbu f&f 1e A cv]\ 1 ccem,
A'DbcLO]' ingine UAiceijA,
A^ bAix) if A]\ bAi\]\ ceinit,
Hi nA|\ An cAm •©' Aibeitm.
■bioTD j;o mbeiu a|\ beAjAn c|aui'6,
ni clu1nceA|^ UAice a VieAfb-UTO,
5ac a|\ CA1C "OO cuAni) 6 cAf,
'SA TtlAIC 5An UAlbb gAn AilAf.
Many with them are graceful steeds, Two Poems
Wine, banqueting, and chess-play- t>y Gu-
ing, [in their houses, o-cier''"^
And wide-spread boards each day
Without avoidance of road or high-
way, [den
Alike do they bear thee as their bur-
in all places, — those who love thee,
And thou art sung out at Conn's
Cruac/iain,
And in the lands of the west of
Umaill.
Were they thine own Oliamhs,
That had sent thy renown afar,
They would not be noticed, thou
life of our maidens, [own.
It wovdd be said the pet was their
It is from thine own good sense thou
hast received
Tliis most illustrious name.
Since it is hailed everywhere, it is
no harm, [ing territories!
Thy name, and thy fame in border-
Who of thy stem, king, or chief —
If thou wilt read the kingly succes-
sion— [rited,
Eeceived the reward which he me-
Or an illustrious name, without il-
lustrious deeds ?
On that account, my active son,
If thou desirest thy name to be
heard,
Adhere to thine original deeds,
Follow nationality and prudence.
Let it not molest thee, thou Man of
the Finn,
The evil hearts, the malignity
Of those who envy thy bright brow ;
Their gaze is the omen of secret
peace.
My last words to thy noble mien :
Be not the first to fly from friend-
ship ; [with man ;
Causeless break not thy affection
But share with him thy highest
love.
No empty renown to be sent afar,
Is the fame of the daughter of
Walter ; [ture.
For friendship and for best of na-
No shame is the time to Aibhei-
lin.
Though she may be of chattels scant,
From her her wants are never
heai'd, [out regret,
What she has spent is gone with-
And her goodness is without pride,
without ostentation.
566
APPENDIX,
AP. Lxxix. K&X) 6i,^■£ 1 cctwAif a ceiie,
50 inb'i jAn •oui'L "ooiiVieine,
50 -pAOllueAC, gA 'OAl'L 1f -0116 ?
'S50 TjAoilceAc, fAiiii, pmpVi"6e
Two Poems
l)y Ct«-
coigrricM
O'Clery.
The words of all men in each other's
ears : [ill-temper,
That she's ever without shade of
Cheerful — what state so lovely ? —
And disbursive, placid, simple !
To her appearance we have given our
approval, [of pride,
And to her goodness, without ore
And to her mien along with these;
It is not hke any other woman she
is beloved ! Beloved.
[Note. This poem commences at page 323 of the volume, and the following poem at page 336]
T)A h-AI-pjTOlb CV^^ATll A^A CCOll,
If 'OA WAic, jAn niein iiaIjaija,
1f "DA jriAoi HA ii50i|\e foin, —
ni tnA]\ tViriAoi o\\,e Af ioniiioiii !
lomiiGin.
II.
Cucoijc-jMce O Ct/ei|\i5 -00 ]Mrine
An •oAn fo, "oo t:hoi)\-t\'6eAtDAc O
■OoninAitt, niAc CAcbAjA-p.
THO triAfLACC O^AC A fAOJAlL,
TTlAif5 riAc CCU15 -oo |\6-'bA05Ai'L,
'S50 ccui^e -pein a cceili "ouiTin
tlAc "oiob 5]\a'6ai jce c'fO]\ciiin.
^Z^■b lonroA -pi ai\ a |\Ai'b meAf,
■pUAI^A t1A1C fige Agii-p flAlceAf
'St)A cciigAi-p mmiAn, feAfOA, if
■pLeATi),
VeAccAp A cc|\ioc fA "oeif eA-o.
lonroA ■ptAic Af -peAfAc tiiin
lOtlTOA AifoiMjh "oob in jiil,
llA ngein clipiofo ca|\1,a Ap -oo
liiuin,
'Stjo c-|\Af5|\Aif fiof 50 CAiiniiin.
II105A if trionAif c An 'oo-mAin,
O CA A muL 'nAjx ntifvcoTiiAii\,
ITlAf fiA-onA fCAi|\ce nA n-of onj
■OeAixbAiTD 50 fio|\ A nAbfoin.
tliojA nA nAffA|\'6A if trieAt),
CugAif 'ooib f eAb n'A|\ fo-bcAj
CAbbAC-OA If peA^\f A n'At\ bAg,
VUAIf f CAC f eAb, CA1C Ap JAbf AC ?
AbescAn-oef , tY1onA|\c mo^
Ce-o Inipef Sfeg nA ngbAn-
fbogb,
5e'^m6i\ A tiieAf 'f^ i\o-neA|\c
t)i]\ ciAn A f e CO iiiA|\coigeAcc.
lubiUf CAefAi\ 50 nAjh,
Cet) Inipeip f eib nA lloiriAn,
Af njAbAib An 'ooiTiAin bAif,
-AfAOgAlb Cf eAt) fA'f Cf Af5f A1f ?
II.
Cuchoigcriche O'Cleni that made this
poemjor Toirdhealbhach O'Donnell,
the son of Cathbharr.
My curse upon thee, O world !
Woe is he who understands not
thy great dangers, [sensible
And that thou thyself makest us
That thy fortunes are not an object
to be loved.
Tho' many a king who had been
esteemed [reign ty ;
Eeceived from thee reign and sove-
And to whom thou gavest mirth,
feast, and banquet :
Behold their fate at the end !
Many a sovereign that we know.
Many a high king who was their
equal
Before Christ's birth, mounted thy
back, [gromid.
Whom thou didst cast down to the
The kings and the monarchs of the
world,
Whose knowledge we have at hand,
If the histories of the parties be
witnesses,
They prove truly what I say.
The kings of the Assyrians and
Medes, [small ;
Thou gavest them a space not very
The Chaldeans and Persians, — not
weak, — [they gone ?
They had their time, — where have
Alexander, a great monarch,
First Emperor of the Greeks, of
noble armies,
Tho' great his esteem and great
strength, [thee.
His time was not long for riding
Julius Cfesar of renown, [mans,
The first real Emperor of the Ro-
On the world having been con-
quered by him, — [him ?
O world ! why didst thou prostrate
APPENDIX.
567
■Hi]\ ei|\i5 tieAc ciA|\ no to^\^,
A]\ ■0|\U1111 •OO |\Oc1lA A f AOJAll,,
riAc e A 'Dei|AeA'6 ia]\ jac f o-o,
A cti|\ f A01 An ^oc fA '6iib]\6n.
■boicc An cfAojAiL miA^'eAc,
■Oioc Ai' beice •ooi'l!) buToeAc,
111 caTdjaa ni •661b ■DOT)' liiAoin,
'Sni beAnA •oio'b tio comAoin.
C6n\ A buToe \\e Dia -011,
A]\ nib|\eic 1 nAinip|\ c]\ei'oini,
l^'C'iuo^'T) ■d'a^x ieijiof 6'|\ ccoii\,
'SgAn A'6]\A'6 ■otiicp A f AOJOll.
a\ f^eAb niA-p ACA 1 VeAb]\Aib,
1lAinonAii\cp, AClioi|\]\'6eA'LbAij,
ni bA nieii-oi Aj "OiA bA|\ nAir,
5An ■ooL •oib nA ccomppAicc
C|\A-6 tiom no jeniibnijA-o 'OAon,
"SjAn ca'oaL'L ■Dine A-jx liiicAoin,
Ace po^-yuAc mA)\ 'cA |\e c|\eAl.L
eAcc^AAnn A|\ UAij'tib ei|\eAnn.
JiTJeA^o, ■oeAnA •oinibjMj ■oe,
"Oa niAi\|\A pb nieAf yoi'|\i.'e,
■Do beic oi\Aib caLL 'y-x bu]',
5b6ii\ ■DO "OliiA, ACA A]\ •DO cunuif.
SnniAin 6 cuf 50 ^iija^o -pb
1 nAm c^v\bv\T6 11' c|\ei'oiiii,
11lA-[\nAc ^xujA'O (Ttio|\ ]\e A tiieAf),
11a niOnA11\C CUA]', ■DO A1|MiieA]\
UAbAi^i ■poijei'oe it) b|\oi'D,
5Ab cotiiAi]\Ve 6 ^ac ca|\oi^o,
■Da bpiibiige niA|\u]AA gAn coi|\,
buAine ■ouic beACA fucAin.
TAinic lof A r\\6 UA|\ ccoi]\,
■Oo mtii AnuAy 6'n Acoii\,
'S^oo ■ooijAc pub A ctii]\p lube,
-A|\ Ap nj^XA^o c|\e cp6cui)\e.
A]\ ■6o^'j\x: gAc IIIa^ciia ■o'a bfuib
O tuy 50 ■Dei'peA'o •DoriTUin,
"Do bvi moj-jeb b]\Aon •Do'n pub
■Oo ■Doi^\c1oyA cT\e A^\ ccionctiib.
VtiAi|\ C]\io)'-D bAf c|\oice A|\ A-fv fon,
"Oo 1A^\^\ o|\uinn a]\ cc|\oc ■o'lom-
C0|\,
'Sain ccoib "oo cuniA ^\e a coib,
Ajii^' e ^euToo beAnriioin.
No person has arisen, west or east, ap. lxxix.
On the back of tliy -wheel, 0 world 1
AVhose end is not, after all hap- Two Poems
piness, [sorrow, '^y <^«-
To be buried under the wheel m o-ae?/*^
The poor of the earth all arotmd,
To thee they have cause to be
thankful ; [wealth;
Thou givest them nothing of thy
And thou deprivest them not of
thy gifts.
It is proper to thank the loving God,
That we are born in the time of
religion, [our sins,
And that Christ has healed us of
And not worshipping thee, O world.
Their story, as it is found in books,
Of these monarchs, O Toirdheal-
hhach, [with God,
Thy place will not be the worse
Not to follow them in comparison.
I am grieved at thy being cruelly
fettered, [trust,
And thou hast not merited dis-
But true hatred, as there is for
sometime, [ofErinn.
By the foreigners against the nobles
However, make little matter of it,
If thou seekest perfect esteem
To be upon thee yonder (in heaven)
and here : [power !
Glory be to God, it is in thy
Reflect, firstly, that tliou bast been
born
In an age of piety and religion,
As were not born (highly is it to
be prized) [named.
The above monarchs, whom I have
Bear with fortitude thy captivity ;
Accept counsel from every friend ;
If thou shouldst suffer martyrdom
without guilt,
More lasting to thee is eternal life.
Jesus came, through our guilt.
From heaven down, from the Fa-
ther, [body
And He shed the blood of His whole
For our love, through mercy.
What all the martyrs have shed of
their blood, [the world,
From the beginning to the end of
A greater loss one drop of the blood
Which Christ has shed for our
crimes.
Christ received death on the cross for
us;
He asked us to carry His cross,
And to shape our will by His
will,
And to follow Himself.
APPENDIX.
AP. Lxxix. fw^iir c"r^' YATctiiiAce A xwm,
A rne^c CAc'bA|\^\ tli "01101111111111,
Two roems rii 6 "OliiA Agvif -pe fA |VAC,
111 •oLije 'beic "oe ■oioin'oAc'h.
by C'u-
coigerichi
O'Clery.
tTUAjlAlf l-AOgAl l.-A'OA giAll,
\iA^^■^ A]\ f eAcuiiiojAc bliA-oAn,
tonj All AiiiTiA AH co|\p 5on5|\Airi,
lYllCIX) "OO 'pO|\C "DO gAlJAlL.
■Re tmn fiotcliAiiA i^ fo6|\A,
■puA|\Ai'pbeAcA loniiiobcA,
1A|\ bpLAiincii JAT) ic c'lyv CAbb,
"O'Ainupne Aiiic]\in eAcc|\Aiin.
1 MAUI cogA-o "DA eiy' pri
5ac a|v beAii pbli "oo'c "oAoinib,
"OO f-AOfXAI-piA'D &.\\ 50]^CA,
'(\]\ bAf -JTUACCA If fiOIMIOCCA.
CiA be An fbAiu "00 •]f•]^e1n1 "OliAbAiJ,
"Oo ■pei-[\niib iiA bAmiAbAi j,
Cug oiyveAT) cobA)\cA bib,
In Am cojAit) 'o'a -oAOinib?
"Oo piMf be6, ceAnn 1 cceAnn,
tljMiio^ C615 ccoiji-o e1|^eAnn,
"Oa n-oi-oeAn a|v ^ac -peA-oAin,
"OO jllAbbAlb, ■00 jIlAOTOeAbAlb.
11ij\ d:Ai]'cibfiot) ci|\ -o'lob 'po,
1 beiu Cbumn, no 1 beic niliojo,
■JIac bio-o cniic in jac bAibe
Tliu YS^^'''' '^'^'^ ^^ ccoiimAToe.
Vi\6 An tr-u-puAcc cu5A'OA)\ '661b,
Ho A b-pUAItApOC UAUA -D'onoill,
'Stjo beAn x)iob (op "pgeb fiixe)
X)^\eAm "OO bucc jag en cipe.
■OO COl'Ain CU lA-O AlilbAT6,
1le ^e An cojai'o cAc-ApniAi 5,
Ceicpe bbiA-onA 'ooi]Abe'oe5,
11A]\ beijip f Aibb 'nA ccoimex).
Ji'o moix-oiob 'Oo bi beo bocc,
A5 ceAcc cujAib x)'a birtipcocr,
'S'OA ccujAi-p niAom CA^An ccoip,
•A A'DiiiAib Amu A-p e-ooig
CuiiiAin beAm 50 |\ioiVicaoi -pn,
C]\i iTiibe bo A^A "OO liiuinncip,
Agup lAtJ uile A-p bA)\ ccup,
Va't) beAJA'O ip jTA't) 5eA|\|M1'6.
UujAip bcAc f6x, lAp gAC f eAb,
Thou hast received, and it should be
valued,
O son of Cathhharr O'Donnell,
Gifts from God, and a time of pros-
perity ; [fill to Him.
He does not deserve to be unthank-
Thou hast received a life, long and
pure,
Over seventy years ; ' [soul :
The valiant body is the ship of the
It is time for it to take a port.
In the time of peace and prosperity
Thou didst receive a praiseworthy
life, [land within,
After there had been planted in thy
Strange, tyrannical foreign tribes.
In time of war after that.
All such of thy people as followed
thee, [tion —
Thou didst free them from starva-
From a death of cold and nakedness.
Who is the Idng of the race oiDdlach,
According to the knowledge of the
annals,
Who gave as much relief as thou,
In time of war, to his people ?
Thou hast traversed with them, one
with another, [of Erinn,
The most part of the five provinces
Protecting them from every party
Of the foreigners and of the Gaedhil.
They traversed no land of these, —
Of Conn's Half, or of Mogh's Half,—
That there was not envy in every
place
Of them, and they not residing.
Greater was the relief they gave to
them, [of honour.
Than what they received from them
And there adhered to them (since
it is a true story)
A party of the people of every land.
Thou didst defend them in that way
During the time of the battle -armed
war;
Fourteen inauspicious years.
That thou didst not neglect to guard
them.
Though many of them that were but
alive and poor,
At coming to thee for their relief,
And to whom thou didst give more
than proper means, [likely.
To acknowledge it to-day is un-
I remember when there were counted
Three thousand cows to thy people ;
And all these at thj'^ disposal,
Under thy laying down and thy dis-
tribution.
Thou didst bring still after all time
APPENDIX.
569
Iat) uiie Ag "oot \^A •olijeATi,
5u|\ fjAoilreAc pA]\ Agiir roir,
lie lieAj iiib'LiA'DAii 56 aca pb,
A^\ -p|v beAjAii 'oo'c Tiniiniicii\,
tTuA^Ai-p beACA jAn iiAi]\e,
'Snip -tin AX) leAC a liiointAine.
'bio'6 iia'|\ "oionjtiiAlA I^c^'a,
A]\ CCeACC 50 llAOl)^ AtNl'ACCA,
"beACA ■meAi'A]\'6A •oeAiTA-p,
■Oob •peA]Afv i tiA b]AAi5t)eAnA|*.
C-peij 'oo •oiomAf, riA ieAii "oe,
miciT) •6111c in e^\y. c'Aoife,
SaojaI riA rtieAn^ •oo cuijpn,
'SriAc cu AniAin ■oo ■|\o-cui|\p5,
CAic|Aeiin '•ppeAi\)A yA jt^em jbom,
■Oo neoc •oaY gem a]a cAbnioin,
'SA-p buAine •66 cAbb iai\ iToob,
bi.iAi6 A|\ -oeAiiiAn 'y&\\ '6oiiion.
CiAi nAitiToe AH AnniA jac Atn,
"OiAbAb, fAojAb \a cobAnn,
'OATnbei]\e cufA a mbtiAi6 pii,
1lACAi]\ 50 ]\ei6 •oo'n llijcij.
jwi'oiTn "O1A ^Moc, A i\iin -oib,
Ha belt; -pu lb cJi]\ioi:-o 1 iiAi^ji^ob,
Cuibb ■|\e bAic|Mre 5e1'|^, gboin,
•Oo -oob ipii -picii fn:icoin,
"OenA A11 cinc|\eACA'6 •obige,
O c«f 50 eip.^A c'Aimp]\e,
Sj-pil-O Ab-pUA1]\ cu 5 AC CAII,
'Sa iroeAiMiAi]" pif '-['An •pAojAb.
■bio-b cm-p-p ^y conjtiin cpi-oe,
Ope cpe ctnlbeAiii oipoipe,
An CI Ap A ccii5A'6 jAn coip,
tlA niibce cpecc cpe-o cioncuib.
triA "00 cpAi'Dip neAc 6 coib,
1 ccbu, A mAoin, nA cpe pjAnnoib,
■OeAnA AipeAj Ann 50 coip,
"Oo peip opeicpe An con-pepoip.
"bu^o bttAice biompA nA bilj,
(be coib T3e) •o'pop An Uigcig,
mobuibbe pjuip Ape po,
■Oibpe 1 nxjeipeA-o mo ceApmo.
tno ITIAbbACC
The whole of them to go under the ap. lxxix.
law, [eastward,
Until they dispersed westward and Two Poems
At Port-Erne under thy hands. ty C^l-
A small term of years though thou art, ^^cTe'ry'"^
With only a very small part of thy
people, [out shame,
Thou hast received a living with-
And thou wouldst not prize it in its
entirety. [worthy,
Although that thou wouldst not deem
At coming to the age of seniority,
A living of moderate extent,
It were better than captivity.
Abandon thy pride, follow it not,
It is time for thee at the end of thy
age,
To understand the world of wiles,
And that it is not thee only it has
distressed. [sun.
The best triumph under the bright
For any one born upon earth,
And the most lasting for him yon-
der where he goes, [world.
Is a victory of the demon and the
The three foes of the soul at aU times,
Demon, world, and body, [tory.
If thou but gain of these the vic-
Thou shalt go smoothly to Heaven.
I pray God for thee, my dearly be-
loved ;
Let not Christ's blood go for nought.
Merit by a sharp, pure repentance
To go into the peace eternal.
Make thou the necessary criticism.
From beginning to end of thy life.
Scrutinize what thou hast received
in all time, [in the world.
And what thou hast done with it
Let there be distress and contrition
of heart [rebuke
Upon thee, for having deserved the
Of Him, upon whom thou hast un-
justly brought [faults.
Thousands of wounds through thy
If thou hast aggrieved any one, of
thy will, [scandal,
In fame, in wealth, or through
Make thou restitution in it justly,
According to the words of the con-
fessor.
Sooner shall I go than thee,
(With God's will) to visit Heaven,
My finishing blow it is this.
In thy behalf in the end of my
term.
My curse.
570 APPENDIX.
AP^^^xxx^ APPENDIX No. LXXX. [Lect. IX., Page 182.]
Memoranda Original of tioo memoranda in \>e^A\\ tiA h-tli-one (R.l.A);
in Leabhar ■/■' J "^ K \ \ /
nah-Uidhri. J 01. OD.
OjiAic "00 fnoetnuniM HIac CeiteAc1iAi]A rriAc nnc Cuitto
riA inbocc, -po ix]\ib ocii-p ]ao]X|auc Ateb^\Aib ej^^AnilAib in be-
bii]i-|"A, 0]AAi"o "oo X)omnAbb nu\c niui^AcheA^^uAig, nnc 'Oom-
riAibb, mic UAit)j, mic l3]iiAir> true AiiropA-p, nnc l3|\i<Mn
l/iii^nij, nnc Uoi]-iiAt)ebbAi j nioiiA. ^ffe m 'OomriAbb pn \\o
f\i]\A^\, Achtnti-onijAT) iiApeA]\]"Aininpn be]A i"C|\ibA'6 in i-ciatti-
bebA]\]"A, A]\ Sln^^AAit) Ua Cin^A^UTOin ; ocu]" ca ye\^\\ 'ouin'o a\\
nibeAnx)Act: "00 clni^A Ambeb "otime 50 \^e\\ in biubAi^i^eA nA a
I'AjbAib A151 ; octi-|" I'ecciiiuin onu"6 co -pAUA^n Caj^c, ocui'
l^ccnuiin on-oe co liAine in ce]"DA, octi-p -oa Aine o-p-oA uija^i
.1. Aeni riA -pebi nitii]Ai, ocu-p Aine in cep"OA, ocu-p ip ingnA-o
mo]\ pn ic A^AAite "o'eotcAib.
0]iAic An-opo "o'-dot) lltiA'o mAC Heibt S^ij^b 1 T)boninAibt
"00 tobAi^ CO -poiiejnAc An bcAbA^ipo a]\ ClionnAccAib, ocup
in LeAbAp 5®^?? mAibbe p]up, lApnA nibeic nAp necmuip o Aini-
pp CACAib 615 1 ConcAbAip CO liAimpp KtiAi'opi nnc Q-piAin ;
ocup "oecbneAbup cijepnAT) ecoppo p-op CAi]\bpe.^®^^ Ocup
AnAimpip ConcobAip^^'^^ mic Ae'oo In 'OonniAilb -|aiica"6 pA]\
lAt) ; ocnp ip iTiA]\ peo ]auca"6 ia*o .1. in tcAbAii 5®^1H^ ^ -ptiAp-
cbot) 1 'OocApcoij; ocnp "LeAbAp nA b-Ui-opi "oo *oiii a p-UAp-
cbot) nnc OtbAmon 1 *OonniAitb pe peAncup, ApnA ^AbAib "oo
CliACAb Anjitb fpip. [ocufoeic 1M5] Ap Ceneb ConAibb ppip pn o
ConcobAp CO b^e-o.
APPENDIX No. LXXXI. [Lect. IX., Page 183.]
Entry in OHgirial of entry in the '■^Annals of the Four Masters', at 1470.
Mag., U70. CAipben Sbccij *oo gAbAib bA b-tlA n-T)oninAibb pop
'OoifinAbb TIIac e^ogAin Hi ConcobAipi, iaji m-beic acato p-o'OA
in lomptn'oe p'Aip, A^np a bpeAc yein "opAgAib "oo conicoib
•o'IIa 'OonmAibb tDon cup pn bA cAob tniitA, Ajiip ciop cAnA
o 1occA]A ConnAcc. IDa "oon cnp pin "oo i\A'Oax) "oo An beAbAp
5eA]\p, Agup beAbA]\ nA b-t1it)]Ai, Ajiip cACAOipeACA 'OonmAibb
61CC puccAt) pAp pie binn SheAin 1llic ConcobAip oicc Hi
'OonmAibb.
(98) The following Extract from a list of the Obits of the Chiefs of Tir-Chonaill In a Book
transcribed in 1727 by James Maguire for Hugh O'Donnell of Larkfield, now in the possession
of the present writer, will explain this. The abovenamed Concobhar, son ol Aedh O'Donnell,
ob. 1367; after whom were : Mall, son of Aedh, ob. 1376; Aenghiis, oh. 1382; Feidhlimidh,
son of ^ecZ/(, ob. l.SSB; Seaan, son of Concobhar, ob. 1390; ToirrdheJbhach of the Wine,
ob. 1414; Niall Oarbh, ob. 1456; Neachtain, ob. 1473; Rughraidhe, son of Neachtain, ob.
1486 ; Domnhall, son of Niall Garbh, ob. 1488 ; Toirrdhealbhach Cairbreac/i, ob. 1490 ; Aedh
Huadh, son of Mall Garbh, ob. 149.5.
APPENDIX. 571
APPENDIX No. LXXXII. [Lect. IX., Page, 184.]
Original of entry in same Annals, at 1106. Entry in
UlAolnuiiite niAC TTIic Cinnt) riA mbocc "oo ifiA]\'bA*6 a\\ 1a\\ Ma";/no6.
"ooiiiitiAcc CtuAriA 1Tlic n6i-|' tA liAOf ATonnllue.
APPENDIX No. LXXXIII. [Lect. IX., Page 184.]
Original of Memorandum in tyeA'bA]\ ha h-t1i'6]\e {cit the top o/^^™-J|''""
fol. 45). Leabhar
J J na h-Uidhri.
P]\obAcio pennAe inAitmiini mic mic Cuin"o tiA ni Docc.
APPENDIX No. LXXXIV. [Lect. IX., Page 186.]
Original of Memorandum in the Book of Leinster (the MS. Memoran-
7 7 TT c\ -t n m ^ -r\\ 7 i i> f i l-\{\c\ 7\ Au-m. in Book
classed H. 2. 18., I.C.JJ), at the end of jol. 202, b). of Leinster.
iDecA ocuf i"tAince o "pirro Gp^xop (.i. citti "oaj^a) "oo Ae-6
niAc C]iimcAiii, -00 pjiteigiiTO ai]\'o-]\i5 teidii TIlogA (.i. 11tiA-
•OAc), ocup "oo ComA]\bti CotAim mic CiumcAinx), ocu]" "oo
ibpiin-penciiAix) Lai^oii, a|\ gAC-p ocup eolup, ocup ciAebAijie
lebu]A, octip fe^yA, ocup po^tominA. Ocup pc]Mbc1iA]\ -OAm
■oeipet) in pceoib bicpe co cinnce "ouic, a Aev) AmnAip, a p^
copn nAebobb-niAip; ciAn -^0 -|Aicem "oo-o [?] binjuAip, niiAn
•OAT11 tDG bic cum 'oomjnA'o. Uucca]; t)Am "ouAnAiiAe tllic
LonAin con -pAiccmi-p a ciAbtA nA n-ouAn pbec Ann, ec UAte
in Chin-pco ecc."
APPENDIX No. LXXXV. [Lect. IX., Page 187.]
Original of Memorandum in the sayne hooh {at the top margin Memoran-
o//o^. 200 a.). ^-U'Jl-'^
" \A intii|\e] Af mo]A in gnim "oo ^Mngnet) in hG^un'o intDUi
.1. hi CAbAinn Augn^^u. 'OiA]imAic mAc 'OonncliA'OA lllic
1'nti|ic1iA'OA, -jii l/Aijen Agu-p jaII, "00 innA^\bA t)o ire^Aib
hGnen-o [ca]i in mt.ii]i fAiii.] uc, uc, a coiiToiti citD x)o gen".
APPENDIX No. LXXXVI. [Lect. IX., Page 195, Note '"''■']
An abridged List of all the Gaedhelic MSS. in the Libraries o/mss. in
the Royal Irish Academy and of Trinity College, Dublin. xcd.^'"^
[It has become impossible for me to prepare the complete List I
had originally intended to form this Appendix ; and anything less
than a complete List Avoiild not answer the purpose I had in view.
The mere skeleton List itself of these MSS. would in any case
occupy, indeed, a greater niimber of pages than could be properly
devoted to it in the present volume. I can only hope to find
another occasion to redeem my promise of pubHshing it, in some
form sufficient to give students of Irish History an idea of the
immense mass of reading these great MS. Libraries contain for
those who will quaUfy themselves by some preliminary study of the
language to avail themselves of it.]
572 APPENDIX.
^^^^"- APPENDIX No. LXXXVII. [Lect. X., Page 216.]
Title and Qriainal of the Title and Introduction to the Book of Gene-
Introduction ^ iJ J , /•w^ii.^v^a^i. . ''
to Mac Fir- aloqieS Of X)UDALCAC Til AC kinDifix:.
biss' Boolv of i] J I I 1 O
Genealogies. C^AAoTdA COl'bneA-|"A A^Af ^eUJA geneltll^ JACA ^A^aIa '0A]1
JAb C^ne on Am]"A 50 liAxjAm (acc pomonAij, l^octAnriAig
AgAj" SaxjaiII AiiiAin, lAmAin o cAn^A-oAii -oah cciia) 50
riAOin'ifencAi', aja-j' lAeim ]Aio§]\Ai'6e 'Po'o'La -po-p, a^ai' -pA
t)e6i5 ctAjA 'ha ccuiinp5ceA|A (ia]a tivi^to Aib5i'0]Ae) nA Stoince
AgA]" tiA ViAice oi|\-6eAncA ItiAicepi ipn teAbApifA, "oo ceAgto-
mAt) teif All 'OubAtcAc IIIac p]\bip5 "LeACAin. 1650.
\)\Q)t iimo^A|\o, 5ii^\Ab |:on -pAiiiAit pn Af jriAicce cAbAi|\c
cio'OAi'L "oo beAbpAib ^e bm ait binep, 111 beijireAm bojAg a]\
SeAii, An SeAn^nA-j" ^jAiAnAC, 5<^oi'o&^^<'^c "oinn, oi]\ A|'e ai"
■poibeijAe, TnAjAi'o.
t/oc, Aimp^A, peA^AfA, AjA]" cti^ATO -pgjAibne 'oon beAbA^A^A.
"Loc "60, CobAiixe S. tliocob 1 n^Aibbirh, Aimp]A "oo, Aimp^A An
cojA-o c|Aei"OTni5 e-oijA CliAcoibcib Cjienn, AjAf C^ACicib 6|Aenn,
Abbun, A^Af SAXAn, 50 liAi^n-oe ipn iTibbiA"6Ain 130 aoi-j"
C^\i]x. 1650; peA]A]-A •60 'OubAlcAc niAc 5iobbAio]^A 1111ioi^a
tllhec pbiiAbipj, ScAncAit), ecc, a beACAin tllliec pbi^v-
bip5 1 cUi]A phiAC^AAC niiiAToe; Agn]" ctijAix) ^^gpbne An
beAbAi|\ ceu'onA, "oo iiio]\ti5A'6 gboiiAe tDe, a^ai^ "qo jetinAm
nnb "00 CAC 1 ccoiccinne.
Uegeun'iA'o qAAjo meAfpAt) neAC e^m lonjnAX) ipn obAi|Ap
c^e ATobbe aja-j" i-oi]\beicne nA SengenebAc^^A fiA]\ a]a nA
ceii"OAib cineAX) coiiMJceAiA Ann 50 bA*6Ani ia]a nniTO a n^Aob
|Ae ^AAibe, iiAi]\ AX) cUnnini yen "OjAongAib a "oept) nAc e-oijA
geneAbAij ^^o^**^^-^^ '^^ b-|Aec 50 bnn 111 a^i i^oin. 5^be |:ac rriA
nAbjAATo pn "00 beAiATiiAoif bA]\AThuib "OA TiiAt) bjAij binn, ai^a
ni "00 ACAinuTo, acc "oo cAipoeunAt) nA p|Ainne ia|\ j^enyjuib-
nib iniToi^ce SuAt), SeAn-nAoni A5AI" pAuic-f-eAncAX) 6-]Aenn
ob-ceAnA, 6 ceu'oco]' nA nAnnpojA gui" Amu, ni nAc cni^Ace 1
5CuncAbAi|Ac, UAi^A A"!" lAAt) coicceAnn coiriiion'0]AAic x>o ^bAin-
beAb]\Aib ^^^oi'o^l-S^ AopoA G|AeAnn nA b]AiAU]\A]"o pop Ag
yoibb-piugAX) bAJCc coniieut>A An SheAncAi-p. A^i^o mAn AXDeiA:
TIIa bee noAC pA]\p"Ai5eA]' cia i\o coiiriet) An ScAncA^ r IDioc
A pof A5 CAc 5n]Aob ^AeAjAAig 50 ]Aeeib ^Aoyo-OA, Agu^^yeAnoijAe
cuirimeACA ciAnA0^n)A "oo "oeonAij 'O1A X)0 coiiiien-o Aju-p 'oo
Aifneif SheAncAif C^Aenn ibeAb]AAib "oiai j in-oiAi j -oo gAcb
•onine o *6ibinn 50 bAiin]^i]A llAoiii Pa'0]aai5 (cAinij i]^in ceAc-
lAAtiiAt) bbiA'OAin -pbACA bAo^uijAe mec lletb), AjAf Chobuim
Cbibbe, AjA-p Chorh JAibb l3eAnnciJi]A, AgAf "phinen CbbuAnA
blojAAi^ro, AgAi^ llAotfi C]Aenn a^a ceAnA, \\o i^^juobAt) -pop a n-
gluinibj'i-oe 1 biub)\A, lonnAf 50 -p^ruii \e a]a AbcojAAib nAoriicA,
APPENDIX. 573
icdjib i"5|AeAbq\A, i tAnnub S-|uiiceA"6 AjAf f UAt), AjA-p -peAn- lxxxvh.
CAToeAX) orm aiuac ■co bnAc.
I ^-^ ' . , . Title and
50 pn ACA All i\A"o ]\eAni-nAice, A;gAp ArA niAp poi^ALeicne introduction
ipn LeAbA^x ^'-'^bAtA; teAb^^t pii bA io]A "oo 'oeiriinigeA'o ah b^ss'lsookof
necepi. UAipip pn, aj po pumiitAt) AnniAnn uj-OA]; SeAncvnp, ^eneaiogiesi.
AjAp eAtA-OAii ebe C]Aenn AjAinn ^e jac ^AbAit "oa ccAimr
mnce, ^A\\ pen-p^^^eAbcuAib ciAriAop'OA ctii]\eAp pop rriAH yo.
Ax)e\\ "LebAi^ 5*^^^^^/^^^ l3Aconb-l/A'6]\A ceu'oiiA horoe 6]\enTi,
ottAlil P 1 1 A] \CAt Ai n .
Pi^Tiuv, pite AjAf SeAncAi-o cbAinne tleiiieA"6.
"Pacac, pite 'PeA]\ mlDotg, -00 caiia-o SeAncAp, tAOi-oe a^aj'
p^eAbui-oeAcc "ooib.
CAijibpe, -(\oi, AgAp CA-OAn, pteA-oA UIiuac "oe T)1"iAnAiin \\e
SeAncApAib A^Ap tAoi-oib, A^Ap •pgeubtii'oiocc beop; A^Ap
p-op bA Iati "oo eotup AjAp "o^iAoi-oeAcc tipiiiop UApAt UhuAche
"oe 'OAHAnii tiite.
^AOToib c]\A, ni biAT) A5 11AC pAibe bucc com'ieti'OA a SeAn-
CAp 'p^AC A1C imbA'OAp, llAip ITenUip "PAIipAI-O A peA11ACA1]\ bA
ppioiii-ti^'OAp 'priA bii-beuiAUnb e, n'l mAoi-oce Aipv eob-up* a
SheAnctipA p^en. ITIaja pin beop "oo Heb itiac penitipA ipiii
Cjipc; CAiccAp "opAoi ipin Scicia, AjAp 'piiA 5^octAijib,
Agup eAcop]\A piUj-ou Ap cApAn^Aip Cpe "ooib, ecc. 1llili"6
CppAine '0'X\\ b'Ainni 5'°^^^""^ ''^1^ iToot "oo a bCApDAin 50
S51CIA, AjAp Ap pin 50 hCgipc, po po^btiimpio'o p-oipeAnn
x>A itiuinceAp ppiom-'OAnA mnce .1. Seu^o^A, Stnp^e, A^Ap
SobAipce ppiA pAoippi .1. ars .1. caIa'da (Amu); tllAncAn, "Put-
niAn, CAiceAp ppiA '0]\Aoi"6eAcc. iDA-OAp buA'otAmn, A^Ap
bA"OAp pn|\b]\eACAc cpiAp ete "oa mumcip .1. 5oip"oen, Annip-
51 n, AjAp TDonn (pec teAu 91, 92). Aimi]A5m ^^iiin-geAb
niAC llliie'6, CACAin, AjAp Cip niAC Cip c]m p-iteA-OA 1T11iac
IDibit). 'PiteA'OA, bpeceAiiimn, peAncAi-oe, A^Ap pgeubtn-oe-oA,
Aimip^m, A^Ap CACAin, AjAp Cip rriAC Cip pe p^iti-oiocc, A^Ap
pe p^eluToecc; OnnA pe ceot, A^Ap C]\tnci]\ecc "oo lllliACAib
tTliti-o, mApcA ipn l^eAbAp ^AbAtA: " 'Oa riiAC ITIitit) miA'6
nop-OAn, etc.", L 99.
CtAnn tl^ome liioip, bA tAn "o'eotiip "opeAiii "oiob, iriAp Ap
pobbAp Ap lloigne Rop5At)AC, itiac "Ugome, Ap u5X)Ap tDo
lortiAX) pcAn-pAX) "PeneACAip.
OtbAiii 'po'obA pi Cpenn "OAp liAmmmgio'o Ap Arable a
eobApA, ObbAin, tiAip GocATo A ceti"OAimn ; Ape'oo pmne "Pep
UeATii]iAC Ap cup. 1Tlo]raAib pcAp nCpenn pin -oo nit)ip
II105A e-]ienn o pin ^aca cpeAp btiA-onA "oo coniieu'o pcAccA
A^Ap piA^bA, AgAp "OO ^tAnA^O SCAnCtlip Cpeim, A^Ap "OA
pgpiobAX) 1 SAtcAip nA UeAriipAc .1. 1 IcAbAp Aip-o]\i j Cpenn.
(99) i.e. " The Leahhar Gabhala saya" : etc.
574 APPENDIX.
Lxxxvii. ^A\\ beAg pn -pen "00 coiriieino SeAncuii' Imojacca ta
Title and TTieti-o, til lieAX) go ]\Ait)e CAob lei^% UAi|\ ni|i hAi]An'ieAC 50
Introduction ccAinij; AOiTitine 111 Clunn At: iiAC bee Aor i:o"ctomcA i\e
to Mdc Fir- • rr • I r O I
biss' Book of COirtieUt) A SeAtlCU^^A.
Genealogies. peACC Atin \\e tin COTICAbAljl bAX)A]A 1200 pie in AOIll
bin-oin ; uai]a ebe mite, uai^a ete yeAcc ccet), mA]A -oo bi iie
tin -Ao-oA line -dinmi]AeAC, aja]' Chotuini Chibbe: a^a]- -^oy
An jAC Aon Aimj^i^A eAco]\]\o pn bA mo be 1i6pnn a ^AAbj^A-o
•oo cUA]\Aib no "oo ei^^^ib ]Ae beobti-p innce inA a ct:eA]"OA
UACA, lonnA]" c]\e nA bionitiui]ie, A^A-p r\\e nA ccponroAcc ^m\\
cj^iAbbAt) A nx)iocA]\ A bGjiinn fo t\\^, ^Hji "po^^'OA'OA^A tlbAi-o aja
■j.-ebe lAt), tnA]A a]" be]i An -dni^AA Chobnim Chibbe, "oo con^Aib
|:a "oeoi^ ia-o a^a]" "oo cui^a pbe jaca ctiAice, a^a^^ pbe ley
An jM^ "oib ("OA neuuc]\onui5A'6 "oo cac) 50 ]:piitTO -|:oi]Ane a]-»
A bo]\5 ]Ae binn ^ac bine Ag coimeut) "OAb nA "oiimce -^vy An
CAn]'A. 11 1 hi At) pn ATiiAip acc jnj, AjA-p nAoirii, aja^ eA^btHj"
Cpenn iiiaja t>o -pAToeA-p ceAnA, coiiiieu'OAi'o An SeAncu]' -pop
'Peuc'^'°°' pijAciiAqie pbe; SeAncA iiiac AibebbA; He-oe niAc
A-onA; A^onA, niAC Uici^v; ino]\Ann iiiac tllAoin; ^\ici]\ne;
Co^miAc Ha Cinnn An CAi^wing; Co|nnAC 1TIac CuibennAin
|\i5 lHuiiiAn; "plAnn 1llAinip'0)\eAC ; GocIiai'd Ha pboinn ;
^lobbA nA nokon'i "Ua 'Ottinn, aja^ iiia]a pn. C]\ex) "oa
mbiu "OA nAi]\eAni ni be-oi^i cineA-6 0]1]ia ^An bAin-beAbA]A
"DO ^^gpobAi!) "OA nAniTiAnnAib, ajaj^ jAn acc cioDAb nA
cnpAclic "00 i"5|\iobpAC no cu]\ \\e a ccoi]" AiliAin, niA^i -00
|ion]^Ani ceAnA ]\eiiie i^o, acc "00 coiriiex)po"o An i^eAncup jnp
iiA bAimpioninb 'oegeAncAib cnnciobb CU15 no ^pe ceu-OAib
bbiA-OAin o pn ; -pA ctiAipni nA bAinippe pn "oo copAi jpiot)
AnA|" nio *oo nA -pboinncib 5<'^oi"6eAbcA acato in Gjunn Anop'A,
AgA"!" "OO gAbpA-o no -|Ao bopix)Ai5i'6 cmeA'OA *oo bee ]\e SeAn-
cup AjA-p ]\e beAbA-onAib ebe in lonbui'opin, "o^iong x)ib -peAb
|ienie, A^Ap j^eAb iA]\Ani 'opeAiiiA ebe, lonnAp 50 p'p^tnbi'o 1
ccipb G]\enn Ag -pbACAib ■pApeAc \\e a SeAncup "oo i^gpiobAt),
A^A]' -j^e bAipipnib, aja]" ]\e bAnnAbAib, AgAf \\e 'oeunAifi
•DUAn n-oeAjApgAiceAc Ap nA SeAncupAib pn beo^, AjAf -pe
coiTTieux) AgAp ceAgApg jAC AipceAt)Aib -pop-oopcA n5<^oi'6eb5
ceAnA.
A.-^ yo "oponj "oonA SeAncAToib pn gup nA biACAib AjApnA
bAip*o-cineA-6Aib "oa bAbi\AT0 ^y in Aimpip -oegeAnAij. O1
IllAobconAipe Ag Siob ITItn^ieA-OAij 11111 CbpuACAin ; 'opong
"oiob 1 cUtiAgriitiiiiAin, AgAp ApAibe 1 tyAijnib, AgAp ipin An-
JAibe 'oib. CbAnn pipbipg in loccAp ClionnAcc AjA-p in 1b
pIllAllCAC ITIUAI'Oe, A^A^ in lb -dlilAb^Alt), A5A]' CeApA, A^Ap
15 Hib "phiAcpAc Ait)ne, aja-]" Cacc^a, AgAp Ag Sliocc ChobbA
(100) i.e. " Behold".
APPENDIX. 575
llAif .1. Cl<\nn nT)oTlinuiLt. tTluinci]\ 'OuibjeAnriAin aj lxxxvii.
Ctoinn 'mh<\oi'L]\UAiu\i'6, a^a-j' aj ComiiAicne tllhui^e ^^^i"" • i-jti . and
inuinci]\ Clui1|\nin AJ lA.l1A]\CACAl'b, A^A-]' A]\Al'Le. Mi 'Oulb- Intioauction
AjAin 1 IllAineACAib. 11Uiinci]\ Chte^ug, aja]' 1Tlumci]A CIia- bLs'Book of
riAnn aj Cineut jConAilt. ITluinci]; Ltiinin aj peAjAAib Genealogies.
tTlAnAc. ITIuincip Chle|\ceii Ag CineAt G05A111. 1T1iiirici|\
'Ohuinnin ipn ITIuniAiii "oo tinmo]\ .1. a^ Siot C05A111 lllhoi^i,
iTiA-p cAit) CtAnn ChA]\|\rAi5, Siot SuilieA'bAin, aja]" AiiAite.
ITIac ah ^Ii^^^^^^ii"! ^'^ Siot cCmne-oi^ in t1]\inniiiiAin. ITltnn-
cijA Kio^lbAiroAin in Cte. CtAiin Cli]itiiciii a^ai^ iniiinci^\
l^h^uiAToeA-oA 1 cUuAJriiuttiAin. CtAnn tllliec ^lottA CheAt-
tAij in 1a]iua|\ ChonnAcc A5 tlib "plitAicbeA^icAij, AjA-p AjiAite.
■niA|\pn i:a iDA'DA-p cmeA'OA ete in C^unn ^iif An eAtA-oAin
ceuTDnA, AjA-j" ■o'pACAit) A]i jAC nAon ACA "00 beAn "Ol "OIOJ'
tinm yioji^tAn "oo "oeAnAiii iii]\]\e.
lllAitte ^\ui pn "00 t)it)i-|^ b]\eiceAniAin nAl3<xnbA aj CAoninA
An cceu-onA, tiAi^ ni b]\eiceAn'i nAc SeAncAi-o, aja]^ ni ScAn-
CAi-Q nAc b]AeceAn*i 1 ml3|\eACAib TlimeA-o .1. teAbA]i 'oe^ii'6
fAouAi-p nA SeAncAt), AjA-p nA tnbjAeceATriAn beo-p.
'Oo b|Aij nA inbiMACA|A yy^]\e inn, *oa^a n'0015 i:eAi^"OA ni
■puijceAn AoinneAC eA^nui-oe AiceuiiiAi" nAC ti)«j-|'A ^enetce
jAoi-oeAt "DO b]\eu 50 Haoi aja^ 50 bA-OAili, A^Ap iininA
ccne'oe i^e pn, nA]\ cpex)e ye jn^ob niAC "oa acai^ pen ep-en,
UAi^A ni 'pint loiTijiAtt ipin SeAncnp genetAc acc AiiiAit AgAp
mA|\ 'o'-pAjbAi'o An c-acai-|i a^ An niAC e "oiai^ inxdAi j.
'OApv n-ooi^ cpex)i j cac An Sg^nobcuiiA 'Oia'oa "oo be|i ge-
neAt^c lonAnn -oo -peAnuib "ooniAin o A"6Arii AnuAp 50 tlAOi,
A^A]" ^enetAc Cb^npc, a^a-]" nA nAic-|AeA-6 nAOiii iA]iAiii iiiaja Ay
tep ipin GAgtinp. Cpe'oeAt) i^e -|^in (no "omtcAiT) 'Oia), A^Ap
mAT) cjACoeAnn, cjieAt) nAC cc]\e"opeA*6 SeAncu]" ete a]a Ainbec
'Piopcoiriieu'o mA]i SheAncn-p 6-]-\enn. po-|\coiirieu"0 "ono,
A-oepim, ttAipi ni ^heA-o AiiiAin 50 pAbpAt) lAoitionrhAp niA^ "oo
|AAit)peAin ceAnA, A5 coiriient) An cceu'onA, acc "oo bi opt)
AgAp "otljeA-O ACA, ACAf OpjAA Ap nA]A e-OIjA 'OOlb (gAn "01 oc
A"6bAt) bpeuj nA p^AttA-p "oo -oenAin Ann, iiia-ja Ap tep (1 teAb-
|iAib peneAcupA nA pcotA, AjAf if nA jpAbAib p^iteAt) pen) a
nop\"o AjA-p A nTDtijeA'o, UAi]\ ni -|iAibe tAocjiAib, nA ctiA]i
citte nA cuAice in Gpiinn (^np cununp^eAb An c]iioc) ai|\ nAC
nibAoi 6]\x> Aipi-6e (-oa n^oipceAp 5]\a-6a .1. ceniieAnnA); AjA-p
tsti^eAX) nA n^pAb pn -o'-piACAib Ap ^ac "opoinj "oiob x)o
coniieu'o p"A pen i^ttiacca A^Ap a non6]\A "oo CAitteAiii (inA]i "oo
ygpiobpAiii inAp poctoijA IpeneACAii^ tAb]iAp 50 ir6i]\teACAn
oppApin, A^Ap A]\ '6ti5eAt) 5<5^oix)iot 1 ccoiccmne).
SeAncAb Cpenn, tiiTio]ipo, beA^ niAb gebceA^i ipn i^eAn-
Ainipp -oipiA eAcop-pA AjAf l^enij, AgAp An '0]\on5 -oa njoip-
576 APPENDIX.
Lxxxvii. ceAjA Aoy "OAriA Amti, tiAi|\ bA 1iA0ti--p50i'L 50 minic "oo e^pb
e-]\enn tnte aii lonbui-opn, aja]" a]' Aiiittn-o bix)!]^ a^a]" i^cacc
Introduction n5]AA*6A ACA .1. OttAlll, An]\A'6, Ctl, CaTIA, 'OO'l", TIIaC ^1111^111-6,
bis's'^Bookof ^S'^^'^r pO^^<^5' AnniAlinA riA I'CACC nglAATi) fAll, AinUlV ACATO
Genealogies. i-eACC n^JAAI-O eAJAtl'A .1. Sa^AJIC, 'OeoCAItl, Sl1l'bx)eOCAin,
AjA-]' A]iAite. 11a j|\a"6a pteA-o uitiohiao, "oo biA*6 (niAi'Le te
^Ac 'oti^eA'o cle) -o'-piACAib o]A|aa bee fAO\[ jIah a]\ 501*0 aja]'
A]\ niA]\bA*6, A^l A0]1A'6, A5AI" A]\ A-Outc^AA^", AgA-j' A]\ gAC 111 bA
toe "OA ]:]:o5ti.inn, Aiiiuil aca ipn pAiin^-A: —
lo-onA tAin'ie, tic jaii juin,
lo-onA beoit, jaii aoi]i nioiiTouib,
lo-OIIA ^"OgtAITlA 5 An je]',
-d^A]" lo-oriA tAiiAninuip
^ibe ]'eAricAi"6 c^a, iyia'd OttAiti [no] An]AAt), no gibe giiA-o
^ ACA nAC ccoimteA-o nA liio-onA .1. nA gtAine pn, x>o CAitteA-o
•pe A tecencActAnn, ajai" a onoi^A -00 ^ie^\ 'otiji'O, AgA-]' -oo bee
l^iriAcc A-obAt Ai]i beo]\ IDa b]\i j pn beo^", ni hiniiieA-p'OA 50
^-puit "ouine cetti-oe ipn c^unnne nAc ppnne bA ronniiiAi]\e
tei-p "oo tuA"6, iininA bee "opvc Aije Ace eAgtA *Oe, a ono]\A
AjAj" A eneActAinn t)o cAitteAX). ConAt) "oe ^^m nAC copiiuit
ctAon "oo ctiji A tec nA SeAncA-o ceojcA. J^-oeA-o, -oa
■pg^uob'OAOi]" "OAOine eipon-o^AACA b^^euj AgA-p a cuja a tec
peo^ncA-o "oo be-oiiv a -out a niioctu x)onA feAncA-OAib inunA
■pAbuix) Aip A cconiieu'o, aja^ a peucAin An a p]\iriiteAb-nuib
U JXDAITOA geblt) An lut AJAp Ap inA]1 pn Ap C01-]\ -00 CAC iiite,
eiDIjA CUACA AJA-p peAnCAlx!) JAC ni A^\ A inbl AtiipOjIAp ACA
•o'peucAin, AgAp munA ppAgtii-o "ocAiAbcA 1A]A ntDejteAbjAAib e,
A cnncAbAipe pen "oo cti]i \\e Acoip (itia]i t)o nimpi pein \\e
liAjAoite "oo pteACCAib piApAin ipm tcAbA^ipA) AgAp mAp]"in
pA0)ACA]\ nA peAncA-oA AjA peAC]\An CA15 ete "oa ccunitiipje
opiiA (nA]A tege 'Oia).
bAoi "oo "oucpAce iin -OAtAib 6]\enn "oo lonicoinient) Ag nA
peAncAi-oib nAp ctnpce in longnA^o oppA piop "oa poi]\tecne
•OA ppV115pi"0ip Ap llAipteACC AJAp Ap Ap-onop CAlj, Aip nip top
tec pin jAn pgpiobA'o ApA -OAoipneiin-oib, Ap tcAJAib, AgAp
pAopmb nA peAnAiinpipe, niAp btip tep piopAnA: "o'poittpui-
gA-o ■otic]iACCA nA peAncATi), AgAp peAcpAin HA "opoinge A"oep
nAC pAbpA-o oibpeACA ctoc in G]\inn 50 ceAce 5^^^^' ^""^
t^octonn innee. -dg po rriAp A-oep An penptiocc. Cex>
tiAig, ceo pAop, A^Ap cex> lAp^Aipe, "00 bi in Cpinn Ap cup
pi Alii .1.
CApA pe tejeAp ni tAg,
tie peiiieAp po Ida coiiimeApc,
APPENDIX. 577
I]' 'LilA'pA'O An yAO]\ gtic ^te, lxxxvit.
^ 1 1 1 • 1 ^ ^ • Introduc-
e-ADA .1. DAinLiAiT;; CAinir ai\ Aon Le CeAfAin, aii UAi?:tionto
o1 -»-. • 1 1 i ' 1 Mac Fiibiss'
UAIIAip. biAnjA IIIAC pA]\CALAin AH C]\eA-|" UAI^, CAIIIIJ La Book of
PA]\CotAn in e-]\inn. 'PeA^XJnA UA C|\1Cinbet An CeAC^AAlilA'O Genealogies.
tiAij, cAinig A]\Aon te ileiiiix) in e-fnnn. "Lcaja "pheAiA mlDotg
■oin, *Otib-OA 'OubtofAC, AjA-p CoTJAn CoiincipieAc, aja^
"Pinjin "pipocoA, AjAi' UlAine niAC gp^lT'^c, [ajai^] Aongu'p
Anue)\nAniAcli. teA^A UlniAce 'oe 'OAnAnn .i. 'OiAnceAcc,
A^A]" AXi^vmeAT), AgA)' IlliAch, ecc.
11a |v\oi-h umo]\i\o, a^j^o AnniAnnA '0'i\oin5e •oib "oa n^AijA-
ceA-|\ i"AOi|\ nA b-p^uoiii-ctocli.
Alii An, cAii^beoi]! Sotmon. CAbAjA cAipteoi^A nA ireAiii|\AC.
L)Ai]\nib CAi-pieoi]! 6]a]mco. iDAcvif, 'oin, ^lAcbuToe lleAiii-
lAUAi-o Cin5'oo]An cAi]'beoi|\ Cbon^Mii. Ci]a cAi-j-beoi-p lloniA.
'd]\on'o CAi]'teoi]\, lA]Mii'Abein. Oiben (no Cteouoi]\) cAi^^beoi^i
ConixAncmopoib. t3otc itiac DIaiia ^AAcbni-oe Cb]\i.iACAn.
5obt Ct0CA1]\ CAipbe01]\ IVilC 1lAt)]:i\A01C. CAp]\iibA CAipbeoi-|A
AibiAC. Ilin^ni, no IIi^iaui, a^a^ 5^^^^^ ^^^ ^^ 5<^^?^» ^^
5Ai\bAn, "OA cAi-pbeoip Aibi^. 'C]\oi jbeACAn iAAtbui*6e UeAnifAAc.
iDAince, no bAibcne, iiiac 'Oob^wi, ^lAcbvii-oe GAinnA. t)Abti-[A
niAC DuAntAiiiAi^ -[AAcbm-oe 11aca 0^\ep. C^ucib iiiac *Ouib-
C]uiice nAcbuToe IIaca Aibinne.
ConA-o iA"0 pn pAOi]\ nA b-p^uoiivcboc, AiiiAit Appe]AC aii
Iaoi-6.('»'^
[translation.]
AitiAti La Solmdin r\A fUiAg, \_Ailian, with Solomon of the hosts,
t)A cAifleoip congbAij cAoiii- Was an erecter of beautiful, noble
'JAUA'6 ; Ca/sefe ;('02)
A5 TleAtTiixuAT) bA biicAi]\ LeAtn, With Nimrod, I am pleased to say,
CaU]\ |\o c|\ticAig cAifeAbb. Caur it was that formed Caisels.
bA^vriAb ■01A]\ bo mici'6 "oo, ]_Barnab, when it was his time,
CAii'beoi|\ ciMcni) beiMco, Was the Caisel builder of the land
llnj Hoiiii Ci|\, bA CAOtii A jAeAng^ of Jerico ;
A]AAnn, -j^AojA lA)\ui'Aibeiti. Rome took Cir, gracefulhis chisel;
Arann was the builder of Jerusalem.
1 cCon^TAiicinpoit bA p)\Ab, [In Constantinople actively,
cbeocoi]\ f\obA ct\eun jAbjAX), Cleothoir, was a powerful cham-
A5 neAiii|\iiA'6 gAti buAX) buToe, pion; [tion,
"bAcuf -puA-o bA flAcbui'oe. With Nimrod, without poetic fic-
JBacus, the red-haired, was Rath-
builder.
CAi]'beoi|\ CbonjAui, Cin5'oo|\n CAirt ; [The C'cHse W)uilder of Cu-roi [was]
the comely Cingdnm ;
(101) These words are not translated in the text (page 222) : " And these were the builders
of the chief stone buildings, as the poem says". [This poem (by Domlinall. son of Flannacan,
who flourished about a.d. 1000) is not translated in the text. See at page 2'22. A literal
translation of it is therefore inserted here. It is but a repetition in verse of the names
previously given in prose.]
(102) A Caisel (pronounced " CasheT') was a Raith, or fortress, of stone.
37
578 APPENDIX.
Lxxxvii. A5mActlAcirt\Aoic'li5o"L1CtocAi|\; With the son of Natfraech, was
■ CA-p]MibA cAifteoijA 11A c]\ec Goll oi Clochar ; [builder,
Title and Ag A inbi-o b)\Aif-be6ib blAic- Casraia was the high-priced CmseZ-
Introduc- beAC. Who employed quick axes to
m"" f b" ' smoothen stones. [armed,
Kook of "OhA cAii"beoi^ Aibij An Ai-ptn, [The two Cn/se/-builders of Ailec/i the
Genealogies. Uijixni AgA-p 5Ai\bAn TnAcn5Ai|\b ; Ilignu, and Garbhov, son of Ugarbh;
UivoijbeACAii ATibuij -oeAbbA, Tz-o/cz/e^/iKw, who sculptured images,
liAcbuToe cui|\ c|\en CeAiiiiAA. Was the Kath-builder of the hill of
Teanihair.
■foobc mAc "bbAi^N 6 -Au "bbAifx binn, [^Bolc Mac Blair, from sweet Ath-
•RAcbwiTDe C^xuAcriA Ch-po-in'o, bldir, 'iCro-flnnn.
■bAince iiA mbiMJ a b)eAi\bA, Was the Rath-builder of Cruachain
llAcbuToe iMg ixuAiu eAniiiA. Bainche', the gifted, from the
Berbha, [of Emhain.
Was Rath-builder to the noble king
tjAbti^, i\obA 'oiobibviin 'oe, \_Balur — it was worthy of him, —
•po CU111 -|\AicT>ibi\iojnnii]\ inlD^e^i, That formed the strong Rath of
C|\iceb 111AC "Ouib, 1AA1U 5A11 -[Mim, Breas. [without satire,
flobA ]'A0|\ A1C ^o^x Aibbmn. Cricel, the son of JJubh, a saying
Was the acute builder oi Ail/inn.
"Oo |\ACA|A neAtii nuA-pAb riAti, [May high happy heaven be given
"Oo "OoiiiriAbb niAC •pbAnnACAii, To Dom/mciU, son of Flannacan,
"Oo cum bAd-o tiAc bAiiTpA]\ binii, Who has formed a lay ■which to us
O CA AibiAn 50 bAibbinii. is not awry,
AibiAn. [Extending] from Ailian to Aillinn.
AUian.']
'Oo ^eulbniAOii" itiomA'o "oo oib]\eACAit) ao|"o<\ 6|ienii ]-ie a
riAinmnni^A'o mAilte -jaui pn, a^a]" ha -pAOijA "oo pin iatd, a^a^"
HA iMJ, AgA-]" HA ]\o--j:tAice -OA nt)eAiAniii'o accjoiha-o eirinlc a
TiAi|'nei-|^ jmnn ; i:ec aii LeAbA-jA 5^\bc\tA niAt) Ait a ^""irAgAii;
A5AI" Til -1:1111 AiiipA-p AjAinn 50 HAbixst) tjenuA, itiaia oib-pcACA
1 -pio^AccAib ebe 1111 An Am 1 n'oeApnA'6 iat) ; A^A-p ciieux) An
|:ac nAC betJif, tiAi|i ni cAinig ^AbAbcAi^ in C]\inn acc on
"oorhAn Anoi]i, ihaiaca SbAin, AjA-p A|\Aite, a^a]" a]" longHAt)
cpeux) An eA]^pAi*6 incteAccA "oo nA '0]\on5Aib cAnjA-OAii in
6-|iinn AiiiAib bAoi -00 riiepni^ lonncA G-]ie "oo gAbAit nAC bee
•oo CUlb-OOA]" teo A1C]M"p A llAICIjCe AgAp A hlOpCAT!) "OO Ct1]A A
ccopiiuiiteAcc -pi-p An ci|a o-p c]\iAbbi"At3 iA|i mbiinA*6ti-p, no lA-p
n 11*0111111116; UAi-p ni he-oin nAC a]\ beol -ooib in'oeAll AicjieAb
tl]1lil01]1 e-0]ipA A^Ap pAT) A]l CCOACC (f5AC fll^l'O inA|\ gAb-
-pAc) A S51CIA, AhCjipc, A 5r^5' <^bAitneAp"OA, a pe1ipx)ine,
A b^AppAin, AjAp A]iAi1e, 50 1i6]\inn.
AgAp niA-oo ponpAT) nA jAbAlA ut) Cpenn oib]\eACA innce
in lonnAiiiAil obAp nA ccAlniAnn cpe a ccaii jc\x)Ap, itia]i Ap
coprfiAil 50 ntDeApHpAt), cpent) inA ppmlcoAp -ooib. II1 puil
Acc cpep nAC ppAicceAp IaIIa'da aoIca in a peApAiii ip nA
liAicib "00 co^bAX) tllile 50 lee, no "oa linle, no upi riiile, AgAp
ni Ap ino X)0 bliA-onuib opin : ni nAC lon^nAX) ^An Abec, UAip
Ap 5io]\]u\ inA pin An Ainipip 'iia ccij caIaiii ca]i oib]\eACAib
o'oo b]Mpt)eAp IAT), no o cuicto uaca u-oen cpe AppAi-oeAcc.
'Oa "oeApbA-o pin "oo connApc pen cAob Apcij "oo pe bliAX)-
APPENDIX. 579
nuib "oevi^, CAi-pten a]i"oa AoIrA mte, ■(\]\ riA rroeunArfi -00 ctoic lxxxvii.
AotcA, A^A]' Anni (a]\ tiA ccmcini) ni iriiit acc iiiuca cAtniAti
t)A CC10]MJA1]Ap, AgA'p 111 11lO)\ JO nAlclieonA-O AineotAC 50 Introduc-
I^aId^^a-o oibpe Ann ^v^]\. jia" I'lrbiss'
SinceA]l pn AgAf nA hoib]Ae "OO ^AOnAT) nA CeU-OA A^A^ ^^^^Qgnealo les
Tintce btiA-OAin 6 fin -i\e cete, a^a]' ni hionpiAt) ('oa n-oeun-
ca]a) iiiunA bee ireAbAi^ nA ^'ec\n-obA]\ (-j^eAC oib]\ib nA liAim-
1'i]\e p) ^An ctoc nA a]to tiipe -oo Aicne inA nAicib ; p'oeA'o
ni llAlilbAI-O ACA (-oo ApjlACCATOe nA nobA]^ nAO]"'OA) ACATO
pAcu ]\io5-6a ]\o nio]AAi, AjA^" leA-pA 50 bioniTiAii A]\ ■jTH'o Gjienn
nA p-uitit) ioLa^i ctoc ^^nAice, -pbeAiiiAn, aja^ -i^oiteti^i, no
ccAJAp" -pA CAtiiiAin -jTA A muiAuib, inA|i ACA 1 TIaic inliAoib-
CACA, ic CAii^ben Cl"ioncAbAi]i, tDAite tli *Ohub-6A 1 cUi]\ pVii-
AC]iAc A^i ^l^^^S n<^ IlluAi-oe. AcAit) nAoi i^oibeiii ctoc ccoirii-
fleAiiitiin -pA iiiu]i nA ]iaca pn ; aja^" "oo bA-OA-]' if^^S innce
AjA-p i^AoiLim 50 b-puit, A|A ]\Acuib iomAO-|"CA CjAenn ; AgA-p Af
niAic An Ai|i"oe bA-ob-ouin aca 'nA mupi. "PA^bAim pn aja^^
loiTiAt) A lonnAiiiAib ebe 'gun aoi' eAjntii'oe -pe a b]\eAci.i5A'6,
A^AppitteAiii 50 A]i cceu-o-AigneAX) unne po .1. copnAiii p]\inne
An cpeAncui-]" a]\ a n-oeunAit) AineotAig etijoiiA eie Ag ^aax) 50
mbepeAnn p'ip\ Cpenn uite 50 IllACAib lllitix).
Ai-o-oeuiiiAix) lA-o -pen p^Alti^A Ann pn -oa bpeucAit) a p^uib
"OO eAccAincmeubAib 1^' in teAbApi -pA pen nAC bepceA]\ 50
ITlACAib lllitno, iTiAH hxif te]\ |\oiTiuinn 1 ccu|ip An tiubAi-p
in iob-Aicib; AjAp peiicAit) po -piA nA cebe.
Ap yo -pAine (.1. neiinonAnnAi') At) p-iA-oAix) ^\o-eo'LAi5 An
cpeAnctipA im eAXAiiitAcc An "oa [nA cpi ?] cineOk-6 neugpA-
liitnb pitet) in e-]Mnn .1. e-oi]^ lA^^pniA pheAp nilDotj, aja]-
■peAp n*OomnAnn, AgA-pg^Aitiuin, a^a^ UliUAtA "oe 'OAnAnn,
AgA-)" HlliAC IIIiIto.
"^Ac Aon Ap jCAt, A]" "oonn, Ap "OAnA, Ay enij, Ap tjeu'otA,
A-p -j^onA, A-p cio-6nAicceAc -petiT) a^a]" iriAoine, a^a-]" op-ouipi,
A^Ai" nAC eAjAt ppiA cAc nA con'itAnn ; ApA"o I'An lAp^^niA
111 h AC niitix) in e-pinn.
5^6 Aon A-p pnonn, a^ inicli, A-p i-nop; jac Ai-pjceAc, ^ac
ceotifiAn; luc-o cet)binniop"A citub, AjA-p Aipp"i"oij, m^ niApicAc
-po]A ^Ac ceA-px) 'op\Aoi"6eAccA, A^A-p JAC iTiiA'ocuince A]i ceAnA;
ApAX) -pAn iA|\piiiA UlniAc -oe IDAnAnn in Cpinn.
5^c Aon Af *oiib, A-p bAbA]\-^topAC, beuxDAc, -j^^e-ubAc, en^ec,
eucAi-oe; jac -oonA -oii^^ip, "OAop^Aip, ti-omAtb, Anb-po-puit),
Ain"oiuix), Aininic; ^ac nio^, ^ac mo^-lAtDpAin, jac "OAoiceAp-
nAi^; gAC Aon nA concuAip p\i ceob, nA Ai]\pix)io'6; tiicc
biiAi-oeApcA 5ACA cAinjne, AjA-p t;AC AipieACCA, aja^" lomco-
-pA1X)e CAIC, ApiAT) lAppillA "plieAp IlliDob^, AJAp ^^'^iblOin, AgA-p
tiojiTiAine, AgA-p pheAp\ n'OorhnAn in Gpinn ; acc ceAnA, a-|^
37 b
580
APPENDIX.
LXXXVII.
Title and
Introduc-
tion to
Mac Firbiss'
Book of
Genealogies.
iA]A"pmA "pheA-it ml3otj a\- tiA •oib pn Anniit A^'pejic An -peAn-
CA1X);
[translation.]
[Be it known to the Historians of the
men of Fail, —
Let them not be about it in error, —
The difference of tlie sons of MUidh
and their children, [Danann.
Of tlie Flr-Bolgs, and Tuath De
[Every white, every bold, every brown
[man], [bat,
Every brave [man], hardy in com-
Every [man] valiant in deed with-
out noise,
Is of the colony of the sons of
j\[iitdh of great renown.
[Every fair great cow-keeper on the
plain, — [nious, —
Every artist, musical, harmo-
The workers of all secret necro-
mancy,—
They are of the people of the Tuath
De Danann. [tinction clear, —
[Every blusterer, wrong-doer, — dis-
Every thief, liar, contemptible
wretch;
[Such] are the remnants of the
three peoples hitherto, [_nann.
The Galleoin, Fir-hholg, Fir-dom-
[I have placed in a synchronic line
The differences of these three par-
ties, [historians not false,
According to the arrangement of
As they relate, be it known to ye.]
Stiocc -peAnteAbAin pii, ^I'oeA'o Aicne 'j:i]Ae AicmeA'6 A|a a
riAigeAticAi'b, AjA-p c]AotAili), m cui^Aini 50 cnince \\6m A]\a'6
gi-o 50 iriAt) e'oi]\ A Ibec po\\ ^\■ 11A ceu-OAiiTipoiwiilb (no 511]^
ctiniAip^eAT) nA cineA-oA a|\ a cete 50 niinic ia^aaiii), tiAi]\ a*o
ciinit) 50 tAece^Kniuit \\e\\ tmn, a^a-]" At)ctinnmix) 50 minic
6|\ -peAnAib, -pAiiitu JAX) c-jaoca A^A-p CAile, AjAp benf beop "00
bee Ag pne innce -pen "oo 6-]\inn -|Ae AjAoite; ajaj" ni VieA'o
AiiiAm 50 nibi pn 'pAriittii'o, acc a "oejAceAiA 50 mbi co-priiAibeA^
A55AC bucc en c]\ice innce p-en jAe cebe, a^ai^^o inbi em betip"
AbAin A-p A nAicni jceAjA ia"0 aca uite, niAp Ap e-oip a ctnjp
Ap An tAoit) fi : —
[translation.]
[For building, the noble Jews,
And their truly fierce envy ;
Large size [is characteristic] of the
guileless Armenians ;
And strength of the Saracens,
[Cunning [is] in the Greeks, with
valour; [Romans ;
Excessive haughtiness with the
(103} Literally : "As the Historian says".
nA biT) uime in iomA|\]\Aiii,
SAine inliAc mibix) '-[m cctAnn,
pheA^ mlDoLg, If dniAC ■oe "OAn-
A.nn.
5AC gOAb, 5AC "OAIIA, JAC -001111,
5ac caIiiia, c]\i.iai'6 i cconilAiin,
5AC gAjXCAlg 1 1151110111 5AII gbo^l,
CA]'5A|\ nillAC nilllt) 11lbtAX)-1Tl6-f\,
5ac ponn-AijAgueAc mojA AiMnuig,
5ac ceAfvoAC ceobiiiAi\ cii'bui'6,
"Lticc "|'^1'^''5 5*-^^ ciiAicLe caII,
"Opong pn uhuAce -oe "OAnAnn.
5ac jloiAAc, beu'OAc, miA-o nj;l,e,
5ac byvAf, b-jAeiijAc, eiicAi'oe,
lAjAfHIA 11A CC|M CUtlAC AIIAbb,
jliAibeoii, -pheAp mlDobg, V^i^^^^r
nDoiiinAnn,
CtijAf -pnAice C01111 jne CAin,
1in pAineiiA cc]m n-o^onj; fAin,
^A\\ -ppec I'eAIICA'OA IIAC bAg,
Aiiiuib AT) pA-oATo pionnAX). t^.
Cuiii'OAc tiA nluTJAiueA-o riA^t),
-AjAT^ A ffopilA'O p01A-5Al\5,
nieAT) HA nAi]\iiiiAiiAc 5 AH -peAbb,
A5A]' -poiiAi^ce SAi]\cenn.
AiiiAiiifi 1 115|^eu5A11^ 50 njAib,
■Roi-'oiuiTiU]' A5 lloniAnAuil!),
APPENDIX. 581
'Oun\e r\A Saxah iiiaitia6, Dullness [is the characteristic] of lxxxvii.
AjAf bupbok e<.\fpAnAc. the creeping Saxons ;
And fierceness of the Spaniards. Title and
SAiicAi'oe 1 i:iri^Aii5c<.\ili) -piAeAciAAij, [Covetousness [is] in the responsive intioduc-
^W reArs iT.TiA-lih,AeAciiAib ; French, MacHrbiss'
Aj yo eoLiii' iia cc|\aiiii 50 ceA]\c, And anger in the Jiritons; — Boolj of
C|\AOf 5AiL AgAf ceAiiinii'6e<.\cc. This is the knowledge of the trees, Genealogies.
justly ;— [merce.
Gluttony of the Danes, and com-
■>noi|\-nieAnm<.\ C|MiiuneAc ni ceAl, [The high spirit of the Picts I cannot
Aiiie AjAf cAucpA-o ■gAoi'oeA'L, conceal; [Gaedhil;
AT)bei\ JioLLa ha -nAoiii ci\e iiau. The beauty and amorousness of the
■A Ch]\\]-T: i\ob caohi ah cmiTOAc. C. So says Gilla na Naomh through
verse, [pleasant.]
O Christ ! may the composition be
*0a]\ tTooij a-]' coi\Ai'oe All cofniAiteA-|"iix) "oyA^Ailin e-]\inn
IIIAIA CA "OO 'otlgeA'D 1 SeAnCA-J^ ^^^0]\ phA'0]\A15 -OA CCCA^IIlAt)
beAii ev^\\ "oij' feA]\ in Aiinp]\ coiiiipeA]\cA, lonriAf nAi\ ^^^reA-p
"oi CIA "Oil!) ACAi^i An coi^\]icifoo ^eli) An uAijipn, A'oe^A'otijio'o
(nuinAb ex)i)\in tcAnAb "oo cu]\ a]\ acai-^ p\\e a]a ino*6 ete)
e-jxeAcc te-i" 50 ceAnn ceo^AA inbtiAA-oAn 50 cci pne-c^\uc,
pne-^tic, A^A-j" pne-betii^A "66; aja]" 5^^^ ''^o^'' "OApoii ^\e a
cce-o 50 ucu^Ann pn cun^nAiii inToeAnniA "oon limAoi ai^a,
tiAi]\ iTieA]n)A]\ ^iijAAb \,ey in feA]\ ten copiun'Le An leAnAb e;
AgA-p 'OA^A tioni AX)o coTiicAjAAi jeA"© pn 1 n-otijeA-o S. Pac|\aic
A-p neiiiiion^nAt) a beu nA A-ptJ-coitiAiA-oA a|\ cineA'ooib -peAc a
cete. t)io-6 nAc et3i]A a ■jta^ai'L p]\inneAc jac UAi-p, ni -puit
egcneAi'-oocc eobtii-p Ann ; AjAp yoy Ap ni e in a^ato ha
'0]\oin5e At)e|A nAc br cineAX) ipn c]\ic nAc ccm^ut) peAncAt)A
50 niACAib 1l1iti"6: AjA-p CA]A A ceAnn pn "oa iiia AiiitAix) vo
bee ni|A lon^nAX) e, viai]a "oa -ppeiicAt) -peA]! A^vTIIhACAibmi'Lix)
p'en (jtip nA cl-Annuib ]aaciiia]aa "oo poti-At) uaca in G]\inn,
A5AI" in AbbAin, AgA]" A lAJAt) riiAi]\eA|' "oib Anui) ni cui]a-
p'eA-6 in lon^nA-o jAn 'OAoine A]' tiippbe inATO (-oo bio"6 -pucA .
•[Ae p^a-oa) "oo liiA-jACAin, a]\ ^y -^n^t "oonA liA^ro-pbAicib (An iiai-[a
lonixDAi^iX) A cctAAnnA AjAi" A ccineutA) poiiroinge, peovu JAt),
AgAp yAj'ti^A-o A ccebeA'o AjAf A tucc teAnAiiiinA.
"Peiic e-]Ae, AgAy An x)oiiiAn tube "oia ccti^^AAe pen, AgA-p ni
■poib p'oijAceAnn a]a a p-pnige "OO epiombAipib Ann "oo pin, a]'
nAc lonpiA-o "OA rtiA-o 50 ITlACAib ITIibi'o "oo beupcAoi ui^AeAt)
genebAC pACA in e]\inn Anui.
'Oo b]\i5 5U]\ bo beup X)o nA peAncAi-6ib pbonnA'6 beAbA]\
A]A belt, x)o -[Aep A i"Aine, "00 'pAO]AcbAnnviib 5<^oi'^&^^^ (AbAin,
•oobio-o AnAi' uibbe a]a a nAi-jAe no loinconiieux)) niAjA CAbeAbA|A
ConnAccAC, UbcAC, LAijneAC, ITIuiThneAc; -00 jetinAin pioinn
AJA-p 'Oip^AIAI JA-O A-JA An bcAbA^A "pA A^A |AOinn A beAb]AAlb -|"Aine
po bion ^AbAb e-]AeAnn -|Ae n^Aoi-oeAbAib, AgA-]" p^o bion iia
ccpi 111 AC 111ibi-6 e-ppAine o|a ;gAbA'6 p'bAiceAp nA po-obA, beA-
bAp -GO iiA nAOiiiAib, AjAp beAbA]\ ■00 plioiiiopcAib, "OO l^ocbAn-
582 APPENDIX.
Lxxxvn. ntnli), "oo gViAtttiib, aja^^ SAXJAlttnb, -peAriA Aju-p nuA'DA
~ T "OA nef .
intioiiuc- .1. An ceti"o teAlJA-p "oo phA|AUAtATi -po ceutD-^Ali) G|Ainn lAp
Ma'cFiibiss' tTOltinn, JO CCOI'UJAt) All IcAbAIII, AJA]" CCACC ClieA-p-pA heoy
G°'n'iao ies ^^^^ V^^^ ^ 1^011111. All x)Ai\A ieA^A^A "00 TleTiiit), AH cjieA-p
x»''pheA|Auib IDoIj, ati ceAc^ATiiA-o "OO UluiAic "oe 'OAriAnn, An
cuijeA-o X)o jli^oi'oeA'LAi'b, AjA-p "oo tllliACAib ITIiIto uile;
gi'oeA'o A-p "OO pot C]ieAiiiom tAl!)p\A-[' 50 cpoc-nviJAT!) "ooib,
AgA-p A|^ mo An leAbA]! -pom inAix) j^eAcc leAbAi-p ia-ja -peAn-
■poinn, UAiji ACA ni A.y mo inA pn Ann ni A-p tionmAip\e inA
mA-p "oo bi lAiAiti, mApv bup teji "oon tetijcoi-p pApitiin. Art
'pepo'6, •00 pot 1|A, AgA-p-oo 'OhAiip'piACAc; "optiil e-]\eAm6in
15601" ■'■<5^"op*6e iiAi-p A-p etin 'oucAib "ooib in UtcAib -pe Iiauato.
An -peAC-omAX) 'LeAbA|\ "oo fiot 6bi|A, ajai' "oo ctoinn ttnj-oec
mic Ice, UAiiA Ap enn 'oucato '601b An ITllnimA ia|\ mbtinA-
•oup An coccmAX) teAbA-p "oo nAomAib GpeAnn. An nomA"6
AgA-p AntcAbA^v •oepneAc, "o'pomoiACuib, -oo l/OctAnncuib, AjA-p
"OO ^l^^'^tlAib.
SnToniJAX) A1\ IcAbAi]! (a teujcoi^i) munAb \.o\\ toAC z\\e
puTomJAX) i^opAijA -pe pmpio-p: ni A*oiiiuiin nAc Ain-minic aca
inncib, o Ipheniwp ■pA]ipAi"6 AniiAf ; -penc ctAnn ■pheninp-A
■pein .1. llel An -popAji 50 1iAipmeAc aj i^eAncAi'oib o co-pAC,
AgA-p TlAonbAt AH pnpo|A jAii ]\o nAi]Aiiie, ajai" mA-|\ pn.
Gpieriion mAc tTli'Li'o pA ccnit) ele "oo clomn tliiti-o a-j'
pnne inA-p; ni put cineAb a]i a pptiit Ann iTiA-p pn jup nA
l^toinncib TDejeAncA acato AjAinn Amu.
Penc mA-p cnipt) -peAiicliAbA tlltniiAn CtAnn CIiajacaij |\e
pot SuittebAin A-p pnne inAi-o, pot mtDpiAin -pe cctoinn
TnliAcJAmnA A-p pnne inAit), aja]" mAp pn.
Ctii|\i*o tebAi]i ete 1 Let Ctiinn, AjAp ctiip"6 'Oocctii'p
Cecin, TiiAtt llAoijiAttdc connA ftiocc Ap -po |ie nAb^AAicpb
bAt) pne inAp.
peuc 50 n-ooACAt) 'Ouac ^^'^^^'^c mAC l3pAin, An •poi'Ap ]\^A]■'
nA cp niACAib pceAX) bAX) i'ine inA-p.
Cuipt) yeAncATo Slut lllnipeA'6015 pot cConcAbAip |^e nA
pnpioi\uib.
Ctuiux) tltrAij IIIA5 Aon jnpA, "00 -ptiocc Chonmtt CheAji-
nAi j ]\e -ptiocc An pj ConcAbA^i, mA|i ApAt) -ptiocc Clionuitt
bA iiAtiiiAi^Ae Ann, AjA-p mA]\ pn "oo lomA-o ete bA heiiietc iie
A nAii\eAn"i ; AgAp niA tegueAii teo -j^An a 'oeAnAifi ia]i ccoi]i,
ciAeut) nAC but) 'oteAcc "OAmpA toAnmuin a tui|\5.
UAi^u-p pn, -OA yAoitoAt) Aoin neAc 50m At) AUJnA-p -put), ni
Viet) ceAnA, uai]a Af mime nAC et>ip\ jAn a •oeunAiii r]\e Aim|ie-
ceAc loniAt) nA nAicineAt) AgAp nA nitcineut Ag ceACC AnuAf
A]i A]\Aite, Aguf t)ocum A i^Aoitce o cete Ap ejin An pn-j^iop
APPENDIX. 583
"DO tejeAii i^eA^A ■peAt.A'o, a^a^^ ^^5jMobA*6 a^a ati fO-pA^, Ar;Af lxxxvii.
^]\^y A]\ All finf101\, AJA^^ inA]\ ]'in fA]^eAC A]1 UA1|Mb. Title and
Utii5 cuille teAc a ■Leu^coi]^, gunob "olijeAt) 111 6]\inn intiotiuc-
f 6f<\jl -00 CU]\ 1 |Y^1"^^^r ^1* betllAlb pnpil, niA]A A"Oe-|A An Mac I-irbiss'
-|MAJ<Mt -objl-O 1^1 Af An SeAnCA]"1ll6-H, AJA]" A-p An jreneACUf 1 Genealogies.
ccoicctnne, inA]\ -|'o : Sinpo]\ "La pne, -peAbcA Ia •jt'La.ic, CAjnA
La heAgttni" .1. An n Ay yme X)o pne "oo cu]\ 1 cceAnnAf nA
pne i^ni -jren ; aja^ An ci Ay ino ceVeA'OA aja]' cvniiACCA niAt)
coiii-tiApAl, e i\e nA pnpo]\, tdo cli^a ^y m pirtAiceAp, no ^y in
CljeA^UlAp, AJAp An CI A]' CAjnATOe "00 CU^\ An tlACCA^\AnACC nA
heAgtAipe.
^I'oeAX) niA ye An ^^inpojA A-p mo coccui", bi cijeA^AnA-p Aije,
no mnnA bpnt ^of a^ conii-cinet "oo Ay 1116 coccuf inAj' ye 'oon
cfuiTii A"oe^\ -011 jeA"6, bi cijeAiwA]' aj An pnpojA; lonAnn -pAn
yA ni iioniie.
AcA i\Ann coicceAnn CAncA]A x)o '6eA]\bA'6 5ni\ob "obeACC
]'opA]A "oionjbAbA -00 cti]n -|\i5e a]\ beulAib lomAX) pn]'io]\ nAC
biAt) 1 ccoucupAib -otigteAC, ut dicltiir : —
X)a mhet nonbA-p "oo bine,
6"0i|i n'lAC liiAic If fi^e,
-Ape A 'oio]\5A-6 'yAU ceA]ic coni,
A -|iioJA"6 pyAh 1 cceuTDoif.
A^Af 6y coi]i mA]\ pn fopA|i "oo ctip caja pinpioji 1 inge;
cpet) nAC cuifp-oe ("oa iiia Aib be ncAc) 1 ccnp beAbAi|\ e;
AgAp -pop bA inioiiio-oAib An nof ah f 6 "00 cuf Ay "oef ca-o bnifo
AjAp CAC ebe "OA iiiA lAt) A '6eA]\bpAic]\e bA pne "oo bee Ann
"00 cvy Ay copAc aja]' jAn ia-6 nA ^uo^a.
peuc p-op 50 ccmpceAf 'oaoii cbAnnA (ni beAt) AiiiAin) Ay
beubAib pAop clAnn 1 ccemib aitoa in 6pinn c]\e coice CAb-
itiui'oe -oo bee aca ; AgAf Ay lon^AncAi-oe fin nA An nop f eAiii-
piAice, AgA-p Af mo An CAf '00 UAipbib GpeAnn e, inA gibe Ay
bioc ptii-oigeAt) "DO be-pmit) Ay a feAnciifAib, \'^A^^ -otiAif
"oninn x)a cionn 6 Aom neAc aca. -<\ipe pn lAp-pAin "oo ac-
cuingi-o oppA beq^gcAb "oo ^AbAib, 5A ppo^AncAit) 50 p'AbbAf .
'otibliAtuAdi iiu\c piiblnsisli.
APPENDIX No. LXXXVIII. [Lect. XL, Page 243.]
Original of jxissage 171 the "Book of Leinster" (a vellum MS. off^^^^f^^^
the tioelfth century, classed li. 2. 18., T.C.D.),fol. 151. a., i.einsteras
as to the Historic Tales. Historic
130 nemcign-o "Pibe-o 1 Scebdib ocnp 1 ComgmmAib inpo y\y,
"OA nApnip -co "RigAib octip 'phbAcib .1. -pecc coicaic Sceb .1.
coic COICAIC *oe Ppim-pcebAib ocup "oa coicaic "oo pho-
pcelAib, ocup ni bApmicep nA "Po-pceoib pn acc "oo ceic|\i
'lak
584
APPENDIX.
Passage in
Book of
Leinster as
to the
Historic
Tales.
List of
Historic
Titles in tlie
Book of
Leinster.
jliA-OAib cATicum .1. OtiAm, ocu-p ^An^iAC, ocu-p Cti, ocii^'
CAno. Ocu-p i-|" I'lAci'o riA p^Mni-ixeoil .1. UogtA ocuj" UAriA,
ocii]' ■Coc1imA]\CA, ocu]" CacIia, ocvif Uaua, 0011^ 1ni|AAmA, octif
Oicce (.1. t)Aii"), ociif 'Pe]"]"A, [ocu-p] po^^bAf^^A, ocu-p 6cC]\At)A,
ocu-p AiciT), ocuf Ai]\55ne.
1C1AC -pO C-jAA riA UogtA.
[translation.]
Of the qualifications of a Poet in Stories and in Deeds, lieie
follows, to be related to kings and chiefs, viz. : Seven times Fifty
Stories, i.e. Five times Fifty Prime Stories, and Twice Fifty Se-
condary Stories ; and these Secondary Stories are not permitted
[assigned] but to four grades only, viz., an Ollamh, an Anrath, a
Clii and a Cano. And these are the Prime Stories : Destructions,
and Preyings, and Courtships, and Battles, and Caves, and Naviga-
tions, and Tragedies, and Expeditions, and Elopements, and Con-
flagrations. Here are the Destructions : —
APPENDIX No. LXXXIX. [Lect. XL, Page 243.]
List of the Historic Tales named in the " Book of Leinster''
(H. 2. 18, T.C.D.y — fol. 151. a.) — (in continuation of Pas-
sage in last Appendix).
. UOjhtA.
Cuirn'oe cip ttufvij.
Smuc^At C151 "OuTriA.
■OeocAijA C151 C&th&t.
UojcmL cige neccAin.
CojAiL b]MiTone "b-poin m^c b^Mtiin.
CogAil bixuTone I1-U1 "Ouile.
C05&1I b^u^'otie X>A CliogA.
UA-riA.
(CAin bo CliuAbjne.
CAin ceo|\A i-ie|\c ec-OAc.
DESTRUCTIONS.
The Three Circuits of the House of
The Possession of BuracKs House.cos^
The Ears -Battle of the House of
DumhaJ^'^^) [House.f'o'*>
The Diflerence of CathbhadlCs
The Destruction of Nechtain'^
House.<'06) IBergaS^"^'
The Destruction of the Court of Ua
The Destruction of the Court of
B)on, the sou of BriunS^°^>
Tlie Destruction of the Court of fJa
The Destruction of the Court of JJa-
COW-SPOILS.
The Cow-spoil of Cuailyne'^^^'^'>
The plunder of the tliree Cows of
(104) Lir appears to liave been tlie Neptune of tlie Tuatha Di Danann ; but this Tale of the
attack on his liouse is not linown to us now.
(105) Nothing known of these tales. »
(106) There is an account of such a Destruction as this in the Tciin Bo Chuailgni, and the
house there mentioned was the old " fort" or Dun, near the present Netierville House, above
Drogheda, in the county Meath.
(107) (or Da Derga); near Tallaght, in the county Dublin, where the Monarch Conairi ihir
was killed, a.m. 5160. Copies of tliis tract are preserved in Leabhar na h-Uidhri, (R.LA.), and
in the "Yellow Book of Lecain" (H. 2. 16. T.C.D.).
(108) Nothing known of these tales.
(1 09) This Fort was in West Meath, and the occurrence took place about the time of the Tain
Bo Chuailgni, or about a.d. 20. There is a copy of the tale in the MS. classed H. 3. 18. T.C.D.
(110) An account of this Tale has been given in Lect. II. (a7ite, p. 32).
(111) A raid made on Cenn-tiri (Cantire), in Scotland, by Cuchulainn and the Ultonians.
An ab.'>tract of this Tale is preserved in the MS., Egerton, 88, Biitish Museum.
APPENDIX.
585
The Cow
Tlie Cow-
The Cow
The Cow-
The Cow.
The Cow
The Cow
The Cow
The Cow
■spoil of i?0S.(I'2)
spoil of RegamanS^^^'>
■spoil of Flida{s.'^^*'>
■spoil of FraechP^^^
■spoil of Fit/iir.'-^^^')
■spoil of FailinS^^^'>
-sijoil of 6'eV"'J
-spoil of JjalrtS^^^)
-spoil of Ci-eban.'-^^^'>
COURTSHIPS, OR WOOINGS.
The Courtship of Med/MS^-'^>
The Courtship of Finer M^^)
The Courtship of A iMc^S^^^)
The Courtship of FtamS^'^^)
The Courtship of i^ae/.<i-'4)
The Courtship of Fer6.t'")
The Courtship of Fintiin^S^^^^
The Com-tship of Grian the Fair-
haired.""^ [haired/'-'''
The Courtship of Grlcm the Brown-
The Courtship of Sadhbh, the daugh-
ter of Sescemi.'-^^'*^
The Courtship of Fii/nrn^and lJairin€,
the two Daughters of TuathalS^'^^^
CAin bo Kuif.
CAin bo UegvMiiAiti.
CA111 bo iriixiAi^'.
CA111 bo Vl^^Mc.
C«M11 bo Vlcll1|A.
UA111 bo i'Aibin.
Caiii bo 5e.
CAin bo "Oaivca-da.
Caiii bo C|\ebAin.
cocnu\nc^^.
CocmA|\c niei'obe.
CocrriAyvc n&imip.
CocTiiA]\c Aibbe.
CociTiA-[\c ecAine.
CocTnA)AC V<-\^V®-
CociiiA^xc ■pe11^be.
CociiiAixc pniiine.
CocmA|vc 5]\eiiie pnne.
CocniAyvc 5]\eme •ouinne.
Coctiu\]\c SATobe mjine Sei'diro.
CocmAi\c pchi|\ne ocuy 'DAii\ine,
•OA injen CUACAib.
(112) Nothing known of this tale.
(113) Regaman was a chief in Burren, in the county of Clare; and his daughters as well as
his herds were carried off by the sons of Ailell and Medhbh, King and Queen of Connacht,
about the time of the Tciin Bo Ctmailgni.
(114) Flidais was the beautiful wife of Ailell Finn, a chief and warrior of West Connacht;
she was carried off with all her cattle, and her husband killed, by Fergus Mac Rdigh, the
exiled prince of Ulster, about the time of the Tain Bo Chuailgni. Condensed copies of tliis
tale are to be found in the Book of Leinster, and in the Yellow Book of Lecain (H. 2. 18.,
and H. 2. 1()),T.C.D.
(115) Fraech was a chief and warrior of West Connacht ; and while he was seeking the hand
in marriage of Finnahhair, the beautiful daughter of King Ailell and Queen Medhbh, his
children and all his cattle were carried off by a party of plunderers from the Alpine Mountains.
There are copies of this tale in the Book of Leinster, aud in the Yellow Book of Lecain, in
T.C.D. ; and another in the Book of Fcrmoy, now in the possession of the Eev. Dr. Todd.
(lly) Nothing known of this tale. Fithir is a woman's name.
(117) There is nothing known of these tales.
(118) This spoil was carried off from Dairt, the daughter of Eochaidh, chief of Cliach, in the
county of Limerick, by the people of Ailell and Medhbh, about the time of the Tain Bo
Chuailgni. Copies of this tale are preserved in the Book of Leinster, and in the Yellow Book
oi Lecain, in T.C.D.
(119) There is nothing known of this tale.
(120) This was the celebrated Queen Medhbh, or Meave, of Connacht ; but we have no detailed
account preserved to us of her courtships, of whicli there were several.
(121) This was the celebrated courtship, by Cuchulainn, of Enier, the daughter of Forgall
Monach of Ltisca (Lusk, in the county of Dublin). A fragment of it is to be found in
Leabhar na h-Uidhre, and 1 have a full copy in my possession, made by myself from the MS.
Harleian, 5280, Britisli Museum.
(122) This was the courtship of Ailbhi, daughter of the monarch Cormac Mac Airt, by Fi7iH
Mac Cumhaill. An abstract of this tale is preserved in the MS. H. Z. 17, T.C.i).
(123) The Courtship of Etain, or Edain, by the monarch Eochaidh Airemh, took place about
A.M. -5070. Copies of the tale are to be found in the Yellow Book of Lecain (H. 2. 16), and in
the MS. H. 1. 13 (a paper MS.) in T.C.D.
(124) Nothing known of this lady or her courtship.
(125) Ferb, the daughter of Gerg, of Glenngeirg, in Ulster, who was courted by Maini, one
of the sons of King Ailell and Queen Medhbh. Tliere is a fragment of this most curious tale
preserved in the Book of Leinster (H. 2. 18), T.C.D.
(126) There is nothing known of this lady or her courtship.
(127) There is nothing known of either of the ladies Grian.
{V2S) Sadhbh, '& female proper name, in modern times altered into "Sabina". Nothing is
known of this lady or of her courtship.
(129) These were the daughters of the Monarch Tunthal Techtmhar, who were courted and
betrayed by Eochaidh Ard-cheann, King of Leinster, whence arose the war which caused the
infliction of the Boromean Tribute, about a.d. 90. Copies of this tale ate preserved in the
Book of Leinster, T.C.D., and in the Book of Lecain, K.l.A.
LXXXIX.
List of
Historic
Tales in the
Book of
Leinster.
586
APPENDIX.
Lxxxix. rocm<i|\c mr\A CiMiiriii.
List of
Historic
Tales in tlie
Book of
Leiiister.
The Courtship of the Wife of
The Courtship of Eithn^ the Hateful,
the Daughter of CrimhthannS^'^^^
BATTLES.
The Battle of Maqh TttiredhP^^^
The Battle of TaUtenS^^^'
The Battle of Magh MucruimheS^^*^
The Battle of Dridm Dolach, in which
the Picts were defeated.^' ^''^
The Battle of Magh Bat/iS^^'>
The Battle of CoramiS^^^)
The Baitle of CldireS^^^)
The Battle of ToidenS^^^^
The Battle of TeamairS^'^'^^
CAVES (incidents of).
TheCaveof^(«f7ed('*2)
The Cave [or Cellar] of the Church
of IiichanunarS^*^)
The Cave of Leac BladhaM^^^
The Cave of the Eoad of Cu-glasS^*^)
t:ocrnAl^c eiuhne tiACAige,
ingine Cpi inch auto.
CAUhA.
Cac tlUiige Cxiil\eT).
Cac CAitcen.
Cac tlltnje 111uc]MmA.
Cac "OiAoinA 'Ool-Ac -oa^a
■DICA C)\iicni j.
Cac lllAige 1Iac.
Cac Co]\aiito.
Cac Cl,Aii\e.
Cac Coi'oen.
Cac Cem^xAc.
tlAc AngexiA.
llAc ecAti-A ImcinninAiiA.
11 AC ticce "btA-OA.
llAc 'belAig ConglAi^.
(130) This, I believe, is the tale of Crunn, a farmer of Ulster, and liis wife Madia, wliose
curse was the cause of the Debility of the Ultonians at the time of the Tain Bo ChuailgnS.
She is referred to in t\iQ Dinnsendius, in tlie article on ^-Ird J/ac/(a, in the Book oi Lecain
(R I. A.) ; and the whole tale is iireservcd in the JIS. Ilarleian, 52.-iO, British Museum.
(131) The daughter of Crimlhann, King of Leinster, who was wooed and won by AKiigtcs, son
of Natfraedi, King of Munster. They were both killed in the battle of Cill-Osnadh, in the
county Carlow, a.d. 4y'J. No detailed account of this courtship is preserved.
(132) i.e. of Maah Tidreilh, near Cuwja (now Cong, in the county Galway), fought between
the Firbolgs and the TaatUa Da Danann, in which the former were defeated, a.m. 3303. A
copy of this celebrated tale is preserved in the Yellow Book of Lecain, H. 2. 10., T.C.D.
Tliere is a second tale, jicrliaps incliuled in that named in the List in the Book of Leinster ; —
the Battle of ilmjli Tuircilli. na liltFomhoradi. This Second Battle took place at the Northern
Magh Tuircdh (in the county Sligo), between the Tuailia Di Danann and the Fomorians, and
the latter were defeated. (Jf this Battle an account is preserved in a separate tale, of which
there is a copy in MS. Ilarleian, 52S0, British Musc-um.
(133) Tills Battle took pUicc at Taillen, now called TclUown, in Jleath, between the Milesian
Brothers and the Tunttin D-J Danann, about a m. :j.JOO, in which the latter were subdued. The
mere fact onlj' of the occurrL:ucc of this battle is given in the Boole of Invasions ; and there are
some details given in the MS. 11. 4. 22., T.C.D. ; but tlie full tale has not come down to us.
•(134) The Battle of J/''^// Mucruimhc was fought between ^r<, the monarch of Erinn, and
his nephew Mac Con, a Munster prince, in which the former was slain, a.d. 190. Several paper
copies of tlie tale are pieseivcd among the JISS. in the Royal Irisli Academy, and there is a
good copy in my own possession in the liandwriting of Andrew M'Curtin (about 1710).
(13.5) A great battle, in which the Cruithneans, or Picts, were defeated. N^o existing account
of the battle is known to me.
(136) This battle ^\■as fought between the Monarch Domhnall and Congal Claen, and the latter
was defeated in it, a.d. 034. This tale was published with an Knglish translation by the Irish
Arch;eological Society in 1S12.
(137) This battle waslought in Connaclit, about a.m. 4-532. The Tale is lost.
(138) A battle in Last .Xlunster, about a.m. 4100. The Tale is lost.
(139) There is no account of this battle remaining.
(140) I do not know wliat Battle of Tara is referred to.
(141) Uatha, plural of (J<Uh, a \vord not easily translated. Uath Is evidently formed from
Uaimh, a cave, or cellar ; and signifies sonic deed connected Avitli, as the attack or plunder of,
a cave. It is only in the last name of this list (Uath (Jama Cruachan) that a dilticulty arises,
where Uatli is made to be a ch.-od referring to the Uaimh, or Cave, of Cruachain ; and I believe
this deed to have been the Plinider of the Cave of Cruachain Iiy the men of Connacht in the
time oi Ailill and Medhbh, as told in the old talc of Tain Bo Aingen.
(142) Tills, I believe, is the Tale (if the Cave of Cruachain, whicli ispreserved under the name
of Tain Be Aingen, in the Yellow Book of Lecain (H. 2. 16.), T.C.D.
(143) Not known to me.
(144) That is, the Buck, or Flagstone, of Blaclh; of which I know nothing. The Tale is lost.
(145) Cu-tjlas was tlie son of Donn Desa, King of Leinster, and .Master of the Hounds to the
Monarch Conaire. M6r. Having one day followed a chase from Tara to this road, the chase
and hounds suddenly disappeared in a cave, into which he followed, and was never seen
after. Hence the cave was called Uaimh Belaigh Conglais, or the Cave of the Road of Cu-glai
(now Baltinglass, in the county of Wicklow). It is about this cave, nevertheles.s, that so many
of our pretended Irish antiquarians have written so much nonsense, in connection with some
APPENDIX.
587
MAt rriAlje llACA.
tlOkU niAije Imbotj.
tlAC beinno euAi|\.
■Uac "Loca LtipjAn.
11 AC "Oeixcce Vcjwa.
Mac Hattia Ci\ik\caii.
imucMn^.
lin^Am lllAete'Diiin.
1nil\Ani lillA Coi\]\A.
mic e|\cA.
toiigef t)i\e5 teic.
tonjei' 'byvecAni.
tongef ■LAbjAA'DA.
longe-p VocAi"o.
oicnce.
Ai-oet) Con^vm.
Ai'oe'o Concu'LAinn.
AiTjex) ■p1ii'|\'oeAT).
AiTjeD CotiAiLL.
The Cave of 3Iagh UalhaP*^^
The Cave of Mag/t ImbolgP*^^
The Cave of Benn EdairS^"^
The Cave of Loch LurganS^^^^
The Cave of Dearc FernaS^^^^
The Plunder of the Cave of Cruach-
NAVIGATIONS.
The Navigation of MaelduinS^^^^
The Navigation of the Sons of Ua
The Navigation of the ship of Muir-
cheartach Mac ErcaS^^^>
The Navigation of Brigh LeithS^'-'*^
The Navigation of Brecon.' ^^^>
The Navigation of Lab/iraid/i.'^^'>
The Navigation of Fothadh.'^'^'' >
TRAGEDIES (or DEATHS).
The Tragical Death of CiiroiJ^^^''
The Tragical Death of CuchukdnnS^^^)
The Tragical Death of Ferdiad/iJ^^°^
The Tragical Death of Co?«a«.(i6i)
imaginary pagan worship to which they gravely assure the world, on etjTnological aiithoritj'-,
the spot in question was devoted. Tlie authority for the legend of Cu-glas is the Dinii-
teanchus, on the place Bealach Conglais (Book of Lecain). The full Tale has not come down
to us.
(146) Nothing is known ahoiit either of these caves or plains.
(147) Bcinn Edait\ now the Hill of Howtli. This was the great cave in which Dinr maid ar)fl
Crrainni (the daughter of the Monarch Cormac) look refuge, when pursued by that lady's
affianced hushand, Finn Mac (JuuJiaill. There is a copy of this short talc iu the SIS. Harleian,
6280, British Museum.
(148) Nothing is known to nie aliout this cave.
(149) Now the Cave of Dnnmore in the county Kilkenny. There is an allusion to the tram-
pling to death of some sort of monster, in the mouth of this cave, by a Leinsterwoman, in a
poem on the Graves of Hcroe.s who were killed by Leinstermen, preserved in the Book of
Leinster (H. 2. 18., fol. 27),T,C.D.
(150) I have in my own possession a poem in the Ossianic .style, which gives an account of a
foot race between CaiUi, the celebrated companion of t'inn Mac C'uinhaifl, and an unkno^vn
knight who had challenged him. The race terminated by the stranger running into the Cave
of Cruacliain, followed by Cailte, where he found a jjarty of smith.s at \vork ; etc No copy of
the full Tale has come down to us. I think, however, that it is the Tain Be Aingen, already
referred to.
(151) There are copies of this Talc in Lealhar na h-Uidhr6, and in the Yellow Book of Le-
cain (H. 2. 1(J.,TC.D.).
(152) This Tale is preserved in the Book of Feiino}'. See account of it in Lecture XIII.
(153) He was grandson of that Eoghan from whom Tir i'oglHiir, is named, and from whom
descend the Clann Neill. See some account of him in the Iri.sh Nennius (publ. by the Ir.
Archreol. Soc.) ; and of his death, in the Yellow Book of Lecain (11. 2. 10. in T.C.D.). There is
a short sketch of his Navigation in the JIS. H 3. 17., T.C.D., p. 71)8.
(154) i c. Brigh Lcith. Nothing is known of this Tale.
(155) This Brccan \tas the son of Purihulon, who came towards Erinn before his father, but
was drowned with his sliip in the well-known eddy called Cuiri lireacain, between the north-
east coast of Krhin and Cantirc in Scotland. The tact only is recorded in the Dinnsenchus
name Coiri Brecain) in the Book of Lecain. The Tale is lost. There is a sketch of it pre-
served in Cormac's Glossary, however, where Breacan is said to be the son of Maini, son of
mall of the Nine Ho.stage.s. See Lect. XII., p 257.
(156) This was Lahhraidh Loing.<:rch, who.se \\anderings from Erinn to Gaul have been de-
scribed in Lecture XII. The Tale (or an abstract of it) is preserved in the Book of Leinster
(H. 2. IS.), and in the Yellow Book of Lecain (II. 2. IC), T.C.L>.
(157) Tills Tale is not known to me.
(158) This was the gieat Ciiroi Mac Baire, King of West Jlimster, who was killed by the cham-
pion Cuclmlainn. (See Lecture XIII.) The story is told in Keating, and a very ancient version
of the Tale is preserved in the .MS. Egcrton, 88, British Museum.
(159) The Death of Cuchulainn. by the necromantic arts of the Children of Cailitin, in the
Bris'each Mhor Mhaighe MhuirOiernhni, or Great Battle of />'ris/tc/i in .3/j«riAem?je. A paper
copy of this Tale is preserved in the Royal Irish Academy. No. 1. 1.
(160) Killed in fight by Cucliulainn This Tale must be part of the Tain Bo Chiiailgni.
(161) That is, the champion Conall Cearnach, who fell at the hands of "the Three Red-
Heads of Munster" (See Appendix III). There is a copy in the MS. H. 2. 17. T.C.D.
List of
Historic
Talcs in the
Book of
Leinster.
588
APPENDIX.
LXXXIX.
List of
Historic
Tales in the
Book of
Leiuster.
'Ai'oe'o CeLucAiyv.
AToeT) ■Loe5Ai|\e.
AToex) ■pe|\5U'pA.
-AiTjet) ConcobAi]\.
^XiTjet) p1iu\tn<.\m.
Ai"oex) niAet^AcAivcAig mic UoriAin.
-Ai'oex) CAi-og -mic Cein.
-Ai-oet) mic SAiriAiti.
■pessA.
■peif cige 'bicAi|\.
i'ei-p cige UiiLcinne.
V^^V ^^'S^ CjMcitn.
Veif uige Li.
■pel]' cige line.
Veil' cije 5111c.
■peif cije 5nAAi^.
peif cije c]M inic "OemoncA^^x.
•peif cije Aiifcte.
•pel]' cige ITlett'oo'Lo.ij.
•p&if C|MU\CAri.
■peif emii<\.
■peif Aien-o.
Veif Cem|\A.
peif "Otiin bol^.
Veif "Ouiri bucec.
■pOlllDOSSA.
po]\bAi]' -pe^A p^i^vV.
■pOjAbAip eCA1]\.
The Tragical Death of CeltchairS^^^'
The Tragical Death of Bla Briu-
The Tragical Death of Zae^rAajr^.CS^)
The Tragical Death of Ferff/iusSi^^l
The Tragical Death of ConchobharS^^^''
The Tragical Death of FicnnainS^^*^
The Tragical Death of Maelfathar-
taif/h, son of HouanS^^^)
The Tragical Death of Tadhg, the son
of C/aM.('66' [(»■«.('")
The Tragical Death of Mac Samh-
FEASTS.
The Feast of the House of FerblaiS^^'^'i
The Feast of the House of BicharS^^'^^
The Feast of the House of Tid-
The Feast of the House of Tri-
The Feast of the House of iiV'ss)
The Feast of the House of Zin^.des)
The Feast of the House of GotM^s)
The Feast of the House of r?narr.(i68)
The Feast of the House of the Three
Sons of DemonchathaS^^^')
The Feast of the House of AuscUM^^^
The Feast of the House of Melldo-
The Feast of CruacIiainS^^^')
The Feast of EmhainS^^^)
The Feast of ^!7eHw.('«9)
The Feast of Temair.^^^')
The Feast of BunboIg.O^oi
The Feast of L>un BuchetS^''^^
SIEGES.
The Siege of the Men of Falga.^^^^''
The Siege of BtairM^^^
(162) Tliese Tales are lost ; but Keating has made use of them in his Histoiy.
(163) i.e. of Conckobhar (or ('onor) Mac Nessa. This Tale is preserved in Keating, and iu
H. 3. 17., p. 794 (see Lecture XIII.).
(164) (Son of Forrai). Nothing known of this Tale.
(165) King of Leinster, who died a d. 610. This young prince was slain at the instigation
of his father. There is a copy of tlie Tale in the Book of Leinster (H. 2. 18), T.C.D. (See back
Lecture XIII.).
(166) i.e. Tadhg, the son of Cian, son of Oilell Oluim, King of Munster, a.d. 266. This prince
•was killed by a deer on the brink of the Boyne ; but we have no details, the Tale being lost.
(167) No account of this personage is known to me.
(168) Nothing known of these Tales .
(169) Cruachain, Etnkain, and Temair were the chief royal residences in Erinn; those of
the Kings of Connacht, of Uladh, and of Erinn. Crnachain was in Roscommon ; Emkain
near Armagh ; and Temair (now called Tara), in Meath, about sixteen miles west of Dublin.
Ailenn was near Kildare.
(170) Dunbolg. i.e. (literally) the Fort of the Sacks. This Tale, I believe, is part of the tract
on the Origin and History of the Boromean Tribute. The Feast took place a.d. 594, when
Aeclh, the son of Ainmiri, monarch of Erinn, was killed at Dunbolg, in or near Balltinglas,
by Bran Duhh, the celebrated King of Leinster [See Annals of the Four Masters, at this year].
(171) Dun Bucket, i.e. Buchet's Fort. Buichet was a celebrated Farmer of Leinster, who
kept an "open house" of free entertainment for all men [See Annals of the Four Masters at
A.D. 593, for some account of the Feast]. The full Talc is lost.
(172) Falga was, I believe, an old name for the Isle of Man; and the " siege" against it was
by the men of Ulster, with Cuchnlainn at their head. There is a trifling, obscure sketch of it
in the JIS. Harleian, 5280, British Museum ; but no full copy of this Tale has come down to us.
(173) Of Etair, or Edair, now the Hill of Howth, See Story of Aithirni, Lecture XII.
APPENDIX.
589
■po)\b<M)' Aide.
i:o]\bAii' ■Qum bA]\c.
■po]\bAi]' 'OU111 binm.
■i:oi\b..\if re|\ ■pi'05,.\.
i:o|\bAif Life.
Voi\b<M|' bAT)i\Aiiri.
■poixbAi]' ■0|\oniA ■OAni5<xi]\e.
ecVicuAi.
eccl^A 11e]\A.
©cc-pd ITKMIlAin.
e-ccfVA Con|Mii.
eccixA ConcuLAinn.
ecC|\A COIIAlbt.
ecc|\A Concliob<M]\.
eccpA C^imcliAni'o tliAriAi^.
ecc|\A tllAcOk injine Aex)<s Huait).
GcciAA neccAin inic A'L-p^\oinn.
ecci\A Ailcin-o mic AniAbgAiT).
ecc|AA ■piri'o A iTOei^cfeA^MiA.
©cc^xA AeDAin mic 5Ab|\Ain.
e■ccl^A ■niAebuTiiA mic Idaicaiii^
e-cc]\A tnoiijAin mic friAcliiiA.
-Aiulie-OA.
AiceD niugAine |ve iriAmAiii.
Aiuex) 'Oei]\'o^MiiT>e -pe tllACAib Uif-
nig.
The Siege of ^cm7/.(i'*> lxxxix.
The Siege of Dun BarcS^^^> "
The Siege of Dun Bimf^S^^^'' List of
The Siege of the Men of FldhghaJ^"'' Histoiic
The Siege of the Liffey.^l^^ ^'^'^ ^l ^^^
The Sieg^ of LadJuu7iny'^'> _ Leinster.
The Siege of Drom Dam/ighalreS^^^^
ADVENTURES.
The Adventui-es of lYez-a."^")
The Adventures of FianiainS^^^')
The Adventures of Cu]-oiS^^'^>
The Adventures of Ciichu/ainn.'^^^^
The Adventures of ConaNJ^^*''
The Adventures of ConcIiobharS^^^')
Tlie Adventures of Crimhthann Nia
iVfwr.(i«"J
The Adventures of Macha, daughter
of ^e(//?, /^««rfA.<'87j [J//>on«.(i88)
The Adventures of Nechiain, son of
The Adventures of AUchinn, son of
Amhahjaidh.''^^^) [fearnaS^^^^
The Adventures of Finn in Derc-
The Adventures of AedJuin, son of
Gabftrim.^^^O) [BaetkanS^^^)
The Adventures of Maefuma, son of
The Adventures of Mongan, son of
Fiachna}^'^'^^
ELOPEMENTS.
The Elopement of Mugain vrith Fia-
main.^^'-'^)
The Elopement of Deirdr€ with the
[Sons of UisnechS^^^^
(174) (qu., of Acaill, near Tara ?) I believe there is nothing known ahoiit this siege.
(17-5) That is, the Fort of the Ships. Nothing Is now known about this place or siece.
(176) Not known.
(177) This was probably the Battle of Ardlemnachta (or " New-milk Hill"), in the county
Wexford, fought in the reign o( Eremoti, by Crimhthann Sciath-bhel, a Firbolg chief, against
a tribe of Britons who infested the forests of that country. See Dinnsenchus (on the name
Ard-lemhnachta), Book of Lecain, fol. 234. The full Tale is lost.
(178) Neither of these is known to me.
(179) Literally, the Hill of the Ox-Bellowing ; now called Knock-long, in the county of Lime-
rick. This siege was laid by the Monarch Corinac MacAirt against the Jlen of Munster. A
copy of the Tale is preserved in the Book of Lismore, R.I.A. (see Lecture IX.).
(180) This Tale is not known to me, unless it be the Tain Bi Aitigeti already spoken of.
(181) This Tale is not known to me.
(182) i.e. Curoi MacDairi. The Tale is not kno'mi to me.
(183) This probably was the champion's journey into Scotland to finish his military educa-
tion under the lady Scathach. If so, it is included in the " Courtship of Emer", already-
described.
(184) i.e. Conall Cearnach. This Tale is not known to me, but it is spoken of in the account
of the Battle of Ross na Riyh, in the Book of Leinster (H. 2. 18), T.C.D.
(18.5) Not known to me.
(186) i.e. those of tlie monarch Ci imhthann- Nia-Nair in Britain. See Annals of the Four
Masters, at a.u. 9. No copy of the Tale is now known.
(187) Probably this was her joui-ney into Connacht. See Appendix, on the Founding of
Emania. The Tale is lost.
(188) Neither is known to me.
(189) That is, oi Finn Mac Cwm/iaiVnii the Cave of Dunmore, anciently called Z>erc /"eaj-na.
This Tale is now lost.
(190) King of Scotland, about a.d. 570. Tlie Tale is not known to me.
(191) Not known to me.
(192) King of Ulster, killed a.d. 621. The Tale is not known to me.
(19-3) Not known to me.
(194) Published by the Gaelic Society of Dublin in 1808 ; and by me in the Atlantis for
July, 1860.
590
APPENDIX.
LXXXIX.
List of
Historic
Tales in the
Bonk of
Leinster.
Aicetj A^^e ingen eojAin \ie VDey-
•oe&X).
Aicet) HcMfe mjen ■p^ivjii^A fve
neA|ACAc1i niAC Ui "Leic.
A^tex> rtiriA 5aiai|\ inic ■Oe1]^5
|\e 5I-A]' niAC CinibAech.
Aicet) btAcriAiue injen pAilt
1DIC ITtoaij; |ve ConculAinn.
A^te^o '5|\Aitiiie j\e "Oiajmiiai-o.
Aicet) 111iii]\ne ]\e "OubiMii-p.
^icex) Ki.iicceA]MiA -pe Cuaiia
indc CAiLcin.
Aicet) &i|\ce inline "Loaiimi t\e
niuijM-oAcli niAC eojAin.
AiceT) "Oije |\e lAi-ocneri.
Aicex) ninA ^XiIiLLa nnc ©ojAin
■pe ■pocuT) CAiiAnn.
Allien e.
A^AgAin nUnje CejAlA mic V^bAi.
ApjAin Ac A 1i1.
A]\5Aiti "Oiine 'OiibjiAii'e.
Apj^Aiti 'Oinii 11ig.
Ai\j;Ai'n At A cLiAC.
AiAjAin "Oune 'Oe'LgA.
A|\5Aiii Cuii\ CoiiAin'o.
A]\5Ain Ailij ]:o]\ tleic niAC Iitoai.
•AjxjAin "belcon "b^eipii.
A]\5v\m CAi]\p^i Ciiin-CAic ^0]a
yAejx-clAntiAib lie]\etin.
The Elopement of Aife, the daughter
of Eog/nin, with Mesdead.^^^^'
The Elopement of A' (/ise, the daugh-
ter of Fergus, with Nertach, son
of Ua Leit'hM'''^)
The Elopement of the Wife of Gaiar,
the son of Derq, with Ulas, the son
of CimhaethJ '■'■*)
The Elopement of Blathimt, the
daughter of Pnll, son of Fidhach,
with CiirJiidainhS^^^^
The Elopement of Grainne \\ii\\ Diar-
mai.tS^'->') [rH/s.('9»)
The P.lopement of 3hdrn Avith Duhh-
The Elopement of Fadthcheam with
Cuana, the son of t'dilcinS^''^^^
The Elopement of 7i'/c, daughter of
Louni, with Muir<fadhach, the son
of E(jg/,u)iS-'^'io> [rHe«.(20i)
The Elopement of Dlr/he with Zrrirf-
The Elopement of the wife of Aihll,
the son of Foghan, Avith Fothudh
CanannS-''''')
SLAUGHTERS.
The Slaughter of .l/w^rA C<f^a/a, of
(by) the son of i^eia.'-os)
The Slaughter of Ath-hl [Athy].(203)
The Slaughterof DmiDuhbghlais^.'-^^)
The Slaughter of Dliin Flg/,S-'^*)
The Slayghter of .1^/^ C/lafhS^'''')
The Slaughter of Dun pelc/aS-"^')
The Slaughter of Conaing's Tower S-"^''
The Slaughter of Ai/ech upon Neit,
the son of LidaiJ-"^) [we.f^os)
The Slaughter of BeJcku of iJ/-e(J-
The Slaughter by C^/Z/yjrtf "Cat-head"
of the Nobles of Erinii.(2io)
(105) These three Tales are unknown to me.
(190) I presume the same story as tluit classed .as the " Tragical Death of Curoi Mac Dairff\
(11)7) A current version of tins Tale has been lately published, by the " Ossianic Society",
edited by Mr. Standish U. 0"Grady.
(108) Not known to me.
(100) RuWichearn was the daughter of Aedh Bennan, King of West Jlunster, about a.I). 600.
(Cuaiia was King of Fermoy in the county of Cork). There is a short cojiy of this Tale pre-
served in the Book of Leinster (H. 2. IS), T.C.D.
(200) Loam was King of Scotland. The L'oyhan mentioned Iiore was the ancestor of the
Cinel Eoghain. There is a short skotcli of this Tale in the JCS. 11. S. 17. (p. 708), T.C.D. See
the edition of Nennius, published by the Irish ArcliMologieal Society.
(201) This Tale is not known to nie.
(202) There is an abstract of this Tale presei-ved in 11. 3. 17., T.C.D.
(203) These three Tales are unknown to me.
(204) See the Exile of LaMraidh Loinr/sech (See Lecture XIL).
(•l(i:>) i.e. of the Ford of the Hurdles, i.e. Dublin. The Tale is not known to me.
(206) i.e Diindalk. The Tale is not known to me.
(207) On Toi-ry Island, off Donegal. It was a victory of the Nemediansover the Fomorians,
and is told in the Book of Invasions.
(20H) A chief of the Tuatha Di Daiiann, who was surprised and slain by the Fomorians. The
Talc is lost.
(209) Belchu and his sons were surprised and slain by Conall Cearnach. The Tale is pre-
served in MS. H. 2. 17., T.C.D.
(210) This was the celebrated Revolution of the^iWienc/j Tuatha, or " Attacots". There is a
copy of the Tale in the M.S. H. 3. 17., T.C.D. (See also Lecture XII.).
APPENDIX.
591
AT\5Ain ©cTiAc i:o|v a niACAib.
Ai\5Ain CAjtle CotiAilt.
A^gAin "OonriAn e^A.
AlAJAIM nilC "OACO.
A|\5Ain IIIIC TtlAgAC.
Tales in the
Book of
Leinster
A|A5Ain
A-pjAin
A]\5Ain
A]\5Ain
A|\5Ain
AngAin
A]\5A111
-<^1^5A111
<V]\5A111
Ai\5A1Tl
Si"oe nenuA.
S|\ACA CtuA'OA.
Sieibe Soitjec.
1Iaca Ri5bAii\t).
1lACA HuifjtiitL.
11 AC A CtiAij;e.
1IACA Ut1A1]'te.
Kaca UobACCA.
llACA dnicibb.
Haca Ciimge.
11 AC A CtnbLeiTO.
Ci\ocAn.
Cac|\ac "boitxce.
llACA 'blAI.
1\ACA 5<^''bA.
IIaca tlibbne.
Haca TlAif.
A|\5Ain tlACA 1)611116 Ce.
AlVJAin 1IACA J^AAIIAIIXT).
A^ijAin Haca 1)1111x15.
'bjvA-ir'LAng Scoine.
AigiTDecc \V^\cun\.
(AmAit ■p|MTii-fcebA -onA. Ai|\ini-
clietx riA -pcebA fo -pi-p .1. Uohia-oitia,
OCUI' pf, OCU|" Se|\cA, ocup StuA-
gi-o, ocuf CochoinbA-OA .1.
ConiAi'OTn bocA ©cac.
The Slaughter by Echadh of his lxxxix.
sons.^-"> [mo/Z.^-'^)
The Slaughter of the "Wood of Co- List of
The Slaughter of [St.] Donnan of "iftoric
The'Slaughter of Mac DathoS^^*')
The Slaughter of the Sons of Ma-
The Slaughter of Sidh NentaP^^')
The Slaughter of Sruth CluadaP^'')
The Slaughter of /S7?o6/i Soih/echS^*^)
The Slaughter of BdU/i RujlibardP^^)
The Slaughter of Edith liosgrnlU^'^o)
The Slaughter of Fuiith TiiaighcS22i)
The Slaughter of Fuil/k TtimskS^^i)
The Slaughter of lidlth ro/iac/itaS-i^i)
The Slaughter of Ildith TimchillJ-'^-i^^
The Slaughter of Rdith CiiiiiqeS22\i
The Slaughter of Bdlth CidllmjiS^^^')
The Slaughter of Puii'th Croc/iai7iS22\)
The Slaughter of Cat/imr Boirc/ieS^^'^>
TheSlauiihter of lidi//, BlaiS-'^'^^
The Slaughter of lidith GailaS^^S)
The Slaughter of Bdit/, U:/hi£(^'i3)
The Slaughter of the jRditk of
NaasP'^3) [Ce.(224)
The Slaughter of tlie ridlth of Bhm
The Slaughter of Rdith dranardS-'^^^
The Slaughter of Rdith BuirighS^'^^')
The Treachery of Scone ^^^^^
The Visitation of [King] Arthur.^^as)
(It is as Prime Stories these below
are estimated; namely, Irruptions,
and Visions, and Loves, and Expe-
ditious, and Marches, namely :
The Irruption of Loch BchachS-'^'^')
(211) i.e. Eochdidh Feidhlech. This was the Battle of Ath Cuniair. A coijy is preserved in
the MS. No. 1. 1. ; (H. andS.) E.I.A.
(212) Not known to me.
(213) Eg was an island in the Hebrides, in which St. Donuan was martyred (see Filire
Aengusa, at April 17). The Tale is lost.
(2i4) See note on DublithacWs land (onte, App. III.).
(215') These were Connachtinen ot tlie time of Ailell and 2fedhbh. The Tale is lost.
(216) This was a fairy mansion in Connachfr, of wliich Sigmall was the lord. This man was
charged with the murder of the Monarch Eochaidh Aireann, a.m. 50S4; and I believe the
slaughter of his people by the men of Erinu was the conseciuence (see the C'athreim of King
Dathi).
(217) Now Strath Clyde in Scotland. Nothing is known to me of this particular Tale.
(21 S) i.e. Sally-Hill; a place not known to me. The Tale is lost.
(219) This was one of the earliest Milesian Courts; but I know nothing of its "Slaughter".
The Tale is lost.
(220) There is no record of this "Slaughter" that I know of.
(221) These seven Tales are all of them unknown to me.
(222) In the county Down. This Tale must be a part of the "Triumphs otCongal Clairin-
gnech" (this hero was monarch of Erinn, a.m. 5017). Of the last mentioned piece there is a
cojjy in the MS. classed H. and S. No. 205, in R.I.A.
(223) These four Tales are now unknown.
(224) i.f. the Peak of C'lJ. The Tale i ow unknown.
(225) Not known.
(226) Burach was an ancient chieftancy in Ulster. This Tale however is not known to me.
(227) This, I think, was a Pictish Tale, but it is not known to me.
(228) Not known.
(229) i.e. Loch Ncagh. See the Dinnsenchus on the word Loch n-Echach (Book of Lecain,
fol. 252).
592
APPENDIX.
Lxxxix. CoinAi-om Ioca eijMie.
List of
Historic
Tal.-s in tlie
Book of
Leinster.
tTi^' tnriA tleimi'o,
■pif Cotic1iobAi|\ [.1. CocmA]Ac t^ei]\-
be?]
■pil' CtiiiTo .i.tjAite 111 ScAib.
Se|\c CAbtige be^iAe •oo trocAT)
CVlAHAITO.
Se|\c "OubiLAcA 'OO monjAii.
Se]\c 5o]\nibAice *oo 11iALb.
SUU\51T).
SbtiAgi'o AugAine moii\ co Vie-CAib.
SbllAglT) "OAcIiI CO SblAb lietpA.
SiuAgi-o tleibi tnic ecAc co ITluip
1cc.
SbuAJIt) ITlACIIA H11C "bAICAIII CO "Otin
n5i.iAii\e 1 SAJCAiiAib, ocuf id)\iiii-
I'luAgiX) lie-penn obceiiA.
cochomiA"OA.
CocombA'D pAi\c'hoboin 'oo cinn
CoconibAT) neniTo co 1ie^\inii.
CocoinbAX) ■p1ie|\ nibjobj.
CocoTubAX) CuAce 'Oe "OAnAii'o.
rocombAt) lllibe nuc b)ibe co hOf-
■pAin.
CocombAT) mliAC inibTO A be^'pAin 1
CocombA'o Cyiuicnec a U-^acia co
li&]\inn, octi|" A coconibA'D o 1i&-
jMnn CO liAbbAiii.
The Irruption of Loch Eirn^S'^^'^^
The Vision of the Wife of NeimidhS^^n
The Vision of Conchobhar^-^'^^ [qu:
the Tochmarc Feirbe?'] [>Sca//.'-33)
The Vision of Co?in, i.e., Baile an
The Vision of Fursa^^^i)
The Love of CaiUech Berr4 for Fo-
tliadh ChonannS-^^^ \^ganS''^(>'>
The Love of Duhhiacha for Mon-
The Love of Gormlaith for NicdlS-i37)
EXPEDITIONS.
The Expedition of Ugaine Mdr to
Italy .(■■238) [pine Mountains.(239)
The Expedition of Dathi to the Al-
The Expedition of Nkdl, son ofEoch-
aid/i, to the Ictian Sea.(24o)
The Expedition of Fiachna, the son
of Baedan, to Dun Guaire in Bri-
tain, and the prime Expeditions of
Erinn besides.'^^i)
PROGEESSES.
The Progress of Partholan to
Erinn.'2J2)
The Progress oiNeiviidh to Erinn^2is)
The Progress of the FirboIgsS^**')
The Progress of the Tuatha De Da-
7iann^-ii^) [of Bd(?, to Spain.(2^6'
The Progress of Mde, [Milesius,] son
The Progress of the Sons of Mile [or
MilesiusJ from Spain to Erinn.(247)
The Progress of the CruitJmeans
[Piets] from Thrace to Erinn; and
their progress from Erinn to Al-
bain.(2«)
(230) In the Dinnsenchus, (Book of Ballymote, fol. 209).
(231) Not known to me.
(232) i.e. Concliobkar, or Conor, MacNe&sa, King of Ulster; (qu. in the Courlship of Ferb,
daughter of Gerg, in the Book of Leinster, fol, 189 ?).
(233) The Vision of Conn of the Hundred Battles. See Lecture XVIII.
(234) This Tale is not known to me.
(235) A Tale of the third centuiy; not now known. See back in this List of Tales; —
the last of the Ailheda, or Elopements, ante, p. 590.
(236) Mongan was King of Ulster, and slain a.d. 622. There is a copy of this Tale in tlie
Book of Fermoy, in Dr. Todd's possession.
(237) This is the Tale of Queen Gormlaith referred to in Lecture VI.
(238) About A.M. 4590.
(239) A.D. 428. There is a copy of this Tale in my possession.
(240) A.D. 405. Some account of this Expedition is preserved in the Book of Ballymote.
(241) About A.D. 580, Baedan was King of Ulster. Of this Expedition there is some account
in the Book of Lecain.
(242j This is given in the Leabhar Gabhala.
(243) Given in the Leabhar Gabhala.
(244) The coming of the Flrbolgs into Erinn; given in Leabhar Gabhala, and also in the
Tract on the Battle of Magh Tuiredh.
(245) i.e. into Erinn; also given in the Leabhar Gabhala.
(246) Given in the Leabhar Gabhala. Mili, or Mileadh, Latinised "Milesius".
(247) Given in the Leabhar Gabhala.
(248) Given also in the Leabhar Gabhala. And as to the Picts, see the Irish version of Nen-
nius, published by tlie Irish Archaeological Society, 1848,
APPENDIX. 593
roconiLA-o tonjp l^eiAjtif a a IiUI- The Progress of the Exile of Fergus lxxxix.
cAib. out of Ulster.(-'«>
CocomlAT) •rtlurcjxAije x)e 111 Ait The Progress of the il/(«sc?'(^«flns into List of
iDlxeKom. Mauh BreagumS^^o) [(aV.(25i) HLstori. ^^^^
rocomLAT) nA n"Oefi o chenif A15. The Progress of the Deisi from Tern- gook. of
CoconitAT) Ctonine ©chAc 11luij- The Progress of the Sons of £oc/ia»c/A Leinster.
iiie-oom A nii-oe. Maiglimhedlioin out of Meath.(2a2)
CocoiiiLa'o Catoj 1111c Cem o Cai- The Progress of Tadhg, son of Cian
put. [son of 0(7/7/ Olnim^, from Cashel
[into Meath.]<253)
CocoihIa'o 'OaiI Uiacai 1 nALbAin. The Progress of the DaU R'lada into
Ocu]Mii 111 ]\o hoi\c ocuf |\o bic Scotland/-''*^ And all tliat were kil-
ocii]' AcbAc. Hi pLi iiA-ocoiiijiie led, and wounded, and died. He is
coiiiACAjMiA'o fcetA uiLe. no poet who does not synchronize
and harmonize all the stories.
APPENDIX No. XC. [Lect. XIIL, Page 276.]
Of the place of the Death-wound of ConcolbAn tllAc TleffA. ceatiiof
The clearest authority, as to the place where Conclwhhar^ or Mac JVessa.
Conor Mac Nessa, received the blow which was the eventual cause
of his death, is that of Father Michael O'Clery, the chief of the
" Four ]\Iasters". The follomng marginal note, in his handwriting,
occurs in the Index to the Martyrology of Donegall, the MS. of
which is among those preserved in the Burgundian Library at
Brussels : —
I^Aite At in l1pcAi^\ 1 cCine'L pAcliATo, aca UempAtb
TDatoi .1. bAit A|\ biiAiteAX) iniicinn 1lleip5e'6]\A Ap CboncobAp
Hi 5 ntltAt).
[translation.]
" The Town of the Ford of the Cast, in Cinel Fiachaidh, where is
Temple Ddidhi, i.e. where the brain of Ilesgedhra was struck upon
Conchohhar [or Conor Mac Nessa], the King of Ulster".
[For an accoimt of the occurrence referred to, see post, Appendix
No. CLVI. The spot referred to is now Ardnurcher, barony of
Moycashel, county of Westmeath, sheet 31, Ordnance Map.]
APPENDIX No. XCI. [Lect. XIIL, Page 293.]
Original of stariza in a Poem of S. 111060111165 about tJie 11 a stanza as
CoppA (from the Book of Fermoy , fol. 105). corra.
11 A COppA "00 CbomiAccAib
^An ciine ppiA conn-poprAib,
Op^piAii inA]iA inonjAip-rixein
A\\ pi op AllAOip lOn^AHCAlg.
(249) That is, of Ferghus Mac Roigh, out of Ulster into Connacht. This Tale is lost.
(250) In Tipperary.
C2ol) There is an account of this In Leahharna h-Uidhr6; and another in tlie Book of
Leinster, fol. 208. b.
(252) Related in a poem hy Flann of Monasterhoice. Copy in mj' possession.
(253) Related in the Battle of Crinna, in the Boolt of Lismore, R.I. A.
(254) Not kno•^^^l to me.
38
594
APPENDIX.
Poems by
Finn Mac
Cuinhaill.
^pp- ^^"- APPENDIX No. XCII. [Lect. XIV., Pages 302, 303.]
Originals of the first lines of six Poems attrihuted to 'Pinn ITIac
CuiiiAilt.
" Lije jtiiU 1 iriAij -RAisne".— [^. of Leinster; (H. 2. 18,
T.C.D.)-fol. 159. 6. a.]
"In ti-A no cbeilgm tdo ji^e^^". — [lb., fol. 153. b. a."]
" InniAin cAinij 6 dii]\cenn". — [lb.,fol. 153. b. 6.]
" Hof in-b]\oc nToni i^' conAi]i ctiAn". — [lb.,fol. 211. a. 6.]
" lllon in gnim "oo ^ugneAii) ^nin-o". — [ib.,fol. 211. b. 6.]
"Po^Anocc '00 -omn <\ 'Oli^\iiiin 'OcAn". — \_B. of Lecain, fol.
231. b. a.]
APPENDIX No. XCIII. [Lect. XIV., Pages 306, 307].
Original of first line of a Poem attributed to pe]\5i.if pnnbeoit,
the son of pnn HIac CurhAitl {from *Oinni'eAncuf, in the
'■'■Booh of Ball^mote" , fol. 202 a. a.) ; and of first line of a
Poem attrihuted to CaiIco 111c\c llonAm (from the 'Omn-
■peAnciif, in the ^^ Book of Ballf/mote", fol. 200. b. a.; and
the '■'■Book of Lecain\ fol. 236. a. b.).
" Uip^AA SeAnjAjyinnA yo a i^nA-j^". —
" Cli-onA cein-opn-o, buAn in be-o". —
Fenian
Poems.
Credlti.
APPENDIX No. XCIV. [Lect. XIV., Page 308-11.]
caei ua Original of jyassage from the -AgAltAiii nA SoAnonAc concerning
fndtheiZy CacI 11 A lleAmnAinn and the lady C\\e-b\ {from the Book of
Lis77wre, fol. 206. b. a.).
Utt^uif ACcVin t)iA liAine
^e-oec 1^' A111 p]\ Ai-oe
Co cecb Ci^e-oi ni i^nnn i^uaiI,
He liucc in cj^teibe AnoiivctiAit*.
-AcA A cinnet) •oAin "oub Ann
5ti C]\e'6i A CicliAib AnAnn,
Co ^\AbA]\ Ann yo 'oeAC]\Aib
Cer]\A bA ocu]' beic feAcbcmuin.
Aibmn in cecb in aca
1tDi]i p]iA 11' iiiACA i|' mnA,
l-oi^A '6]uii'6 ocuf Ae-p ceoib,
l-oi^i -oAibnim ^Y ^6o^]\]''e6^\\
1t)ii\ jibbA ycw]\ nAc -pceinn,
Ocuf iionnAi^ie ^le i\oinn ;
Aca a coiiiAi' pn tube,
-A5 C^ie-oi pnt), yobc-bui'^i.
APPENDIX.
595
IDu-o Aibinn "oAiiijw riA 'oiin,
1"oi]i coicAij ocu^^ clinii,
ITlA-OAlt "OO C^ieTDi ^o cto]",
iDut) Aibinti "OAiii mu chuiio^'.
SicIiaL A1C1 A pt i^uj f^ib,
^1" "00 gnie-o AbtAi [b]Ui?] ^ub,
*OAbcA glAine, jai]! "oeAj^cA,
CttpAin Aice ^\' CAeiifi-eA^xnA.
A t)AC AlTIA^t "OAC An AGlb,
Coilcig ecti]A]AA ociif Aein,
Sit) A ectin]u\ 1^' b]\AC 50]viTi,
'Oe]\5 6|\ ecti]\]\A i]' glAii conn.
■A 5]nAnAn, a cloc cin]ie,
X) A]\cAc ociif t)'6]\ bui"6e,
Um ji *6]Miminec ^An "oocrriA,
"O'eicib -oonnA i^^ '6^1^5 co^c^a.
"OhA u]Aiv\m tiAini"6i atdci,
aA coiritA, ni "oocjAAit) hi,
Ai^cec echcoA ciAn \\o cboi",
In c]\An"o bui nA ]:on'00|io]^.
CActiAi]* ChneToi -ooc iAiiii cti,
Da i"ua]\ca ^a -I'liAjtCA hi,
CAf A1]\ Ul|1]\e "0 0^ e-AbpA,
Pa co^tiib A CAeiiii tepcA.
LeAbAfo tncAi^ 'nA bine
"Piiib o^" cinn nA cauaiju,
'Oo ^onAT) AC Unite cai]i,
*0 o|\ bni*6e ip "oo tic togiiiAiii.
"LcAbAit) eibe VOX) bAiin '6ei^%
*0'6)i 1]' "D'AjicAt: jAn eii^beip,
Co pubuibb CO [pebbAib] mbujA
Co CAen'i-fbACAib c]\e"oun'iA.
A^n ce^bAch aca nA cig,
Ay x)6ib Ap Aibne ]io chin
In -OAC ^bApA, pbiniA A mbptnc,
Az CApA pinnA a poji-'j:tiibc.
X)o coi-oebcAip pip joncA,
ConA cAepcAib cpoin-pobA,
Re hentnb pi-oi ac piAnAn
Op b6p"oi,iib A gbAn ghpiAnAn.
IIIa-o A111 bui-oecpA •oon mnAi,
"Oo Chpe"6i -OA ngAipenn cat
ITlepAi-o nibup biA a bAit)i,
HIa-o ■da n-oibA A commAine.
AP. XCIV.
C'lel Ua
Nenmnainn,
and the Liidy
Credhi.
38 b
596
APPENDIX.
AP. XCIV.
Cael Ua
Neamnainn,
and the Lady
Credhi.
THax) Alt te hmgin CliAi^biAe,
tlTOAin ciii]\]:e a\\ c6^\\ ciA\\'oej
Cu nAb]\A irein iwn aIdu]",
1]' mo iii6i^\cin 'oo'o uu]AU'p.
Cet) C^AAI jlT) 1 CI5 ClT|Aeit)t
O'n cui^AjA 511 ^loic A ceile^
1]' pcic cjUMJTO coniui^'
A ieicec a 'oej-'ooiiiii^".
A liworiAcc 1^" A ctii^i
'O'eicib en n^ojun 1]" inbui'oi
A hu^A]"CA1A c1lA1]\ AC CobA]l,
'Oo jtAin if t>o cA^|vm ocaI.
Cecb]\A luiAitne urn ^ac beAbAi"6,
'0'6]A 1^" 'o'a|\cac c6]\-necAi|A,
5ein jtAine ei*oi^\ jac UAiuney
tlix)AC cenn Aii]uiAi^\ce.
"OAbAc Ann "OO c]\UAn -{rbACA,
-A I'lbeAnn -puj ^"ua^ac b^AAchA,
AbubL o]" cmn nA "OAibce
Co niiiiAC A qAoiiicbAi]Ace.
In tiAA^A VinrA^i co|\n CbjAeToi,
T)o Ttng nA "OAbcA X)ene,
Utncit) ipn co]An co cgjac
TIa cec]AA btjbbA a nAeinjreAcc.
Ar\ ceAC]AA|A ii-o "oo 1iAiiAriieA"6
G1]AJ1C A1A in y^AlclTOAlbeAIT),
UAb]\AC "oon ceAC]AA]A AntJinn
*Oeoc 5AC pjA octif AjbAbt.
In CI 5A CA1C pn tiibi,
1*Oip C:|AA15 OCU|" cuiti,
tluc C^Aeit)! A cubcbAib C]ai inbeAnn,
Gt) tijACAi|A *oo irinAib Gi^\eAnn.
1>A1'6 -punn cviice, ni c\\ot^ ca^
Til 5lAe]" biiijci CO tnAcb]AAi",
Co C]\ei'6i C]\UCA15 Abni%
y^ViX) ttic1iAi]\ be nio cii]\iif.
Ut1]AUf.
Octi]" I'p A1' 1^0 X)o cuAinAijAne "oo cu^a CacIia "pmn-qAA^liA,
ocuf AcconncAmA]A ocbAc "oo muinno^A pmn "oa^a nmnpAi^i-o
.1. CAob c-jAO-OA, ceiD-guinecb Ha lleAinnAinn. CAn Ap a CAnA-
ctiif A CliAeit, A^A pinn. A\- in l3]\ti5 bjiAenAC acuato, Ay CAeb.
C]\ec t)o iA]AAi-p Ann, a^a pnn. 'O'ACAbtAim mni]Aint)e, in-
line 'OeijAj, mo thinme -peni. Cm a A-obAjA pn, a|a ^inn
Ay bicin ieAnnAin cp-oe, ociif AjAXD-nuACAi^, octip coiaat) Aif-
APPENDIX. 597
tinge .1. C^ie-oe, injen ChAi-pb^M ClineA-pbAin, injen ^uj Cia]\- ^^- xciv-
lUMge LiiAC]\A. 1n bpeA-o^UM]' a CliAeil, a^ pmn, cdiito liipn caei ra
bAin-nieAtlc6i]\ bAn Gi]\emi, 0^ i]' ze]\c |'ec iiiAicb a iiG|\inn ^"^"fieLady
nA]\ bpec cum a TDtinATO ocu]" a 'oe5-A]\ui-|\ Octi-p in p"oi]\ creu/d.
cu JA com A lApu-p A-ji CAC, A]\ CAot. 'Oo i:et)A|\, A]\ "JTinn .1.
gibe Ag Ambeic 'oo -OAn, no 'o'pti'oecc •ouAn vo 'oenAtii •oi,
OCV1]" cuAnu^xbAib A CV1AC, ocuf A co^in, ocu-p A cupAX), ocuy
A In All, ocu]^ A lK\i]ro-teAi"OA^>, octii" A ]ii5-cech ]\o vr\6\\. Ac^
libitum Aciim]'A, A^\ nA cAbAi-jic "OAtii o lTllun]unn injen 'Oei|\5,
cm buime yein, [a^i CAet].
[literal translation.]
And it was from this we went to fight the battle of Finntrdigh; and
we saw a warrior (one) of Finn's people coming towards us, namely,
Cael, the valiant 0' Neamhnainn. "Where hast thou come from,
6WZ.^" said Finn. "From the teeming Bnigh, from the North",
said Cael. "Wliat didst thou seek there?" said Finn. "To con-
verse with lluirinn, the daughter of Deirj, my own nurse", said
Cael. " What was the cause of that ?" said Finn. " On account of
an enchanting favourite, noble wife, and the fruits of a vision, namely,
Cre'dhi, the daughter of Caivbre, the Wliite-skinned, the daughter
of the kings of Ciarraighe Luachra". "Dost thou, O Cael", said
Finn, " know that she is the chief deluding woman among the women
of Erinn? for scarce a valuable jewel in Erinn that she has not
inveigled to her court {Dun) and beautiful residence". " And dost
thou know what conditions she puts to each person ?" said Cael.
"I do", said Finn; "namely, whoever should have the gift, or
poetic genius to compose a poem for her, and describe her boAvls and
her (drinking) horns, and her cups, and her pans, and her (other)
noble vessels, and her very great kingly house". " I have it ready,
having brought it with me from Micirinn, the daughter of Derg, my
own nurse", [said Cael.^
APPENDIX No. XCV. [Lect. XIV., Page 315.]
Of the ancient monuments called Cpombec. OiCrom'ecTis.
The subject of the remarkable monuments popularly but im-
properly called " Cromlechs" (including those to which modern story-
tellers have fancifully applied the name of Leahacha Dhiarmada agus
Ghrainne, or Beds of Diarmaid and Grainne), is too extensive and
too important to admit of a complete and satisfactory notice in a
short note. It will, besides, come to be discussed in full in its proper
place in the Course of Lectures I am now engaged in, — On the Life,
Customs, Manners, etc., of the ancient Gaedhil. I shall therefore
content myself here with the mere statement of my opinion regard-
ing all these monuments, — that they never were intended and never
were used as Altars, or places of Sacrifice, of any kind ; that they
598
APPENDIX.
App. xcv. were not in any sense of the word " Druidical" ; and that they were,
OiCiomiechs ^^ ^very instance, simple Sepulchres or Tombs, each marking the
' grave of one or of several personages.
Autliovity
tt- t(i the
D'liii/inuch
Air aid.
Prayer of
St. Cuhiin
CilU.
Autlinrity
as to tlie
Calhach.
APPENDIX No. XCVI. [Lect. XV., Page 325.]
Original of passage in the " Tripartite Life" of St. Patrick
{my copy, p. 102 ; JEgerton MS., 93, British 3Iuseum, p. 26),
describing the piresentation by him to S. IIIac CA]\cAnin of
the relic called the 'OoiiniAc Ai-njit).
Ill CAiAAitt Paci\aic in 1ll<NchAi "oin chunpti, acc ^\•ex) X)0
choix) hi cpich 11 A C]AemuAiiTO. "PopocAije^-cA^^i cettA, ocu-p
congbAtA AiTo. "Pecc Ann occ cui^oecc "oo Pac]iaic "oo
Chtocu^i AncuAic, "oa -ptiAiiCAib A c]\en-i:e]\ -OAp "oo^iAit) aito
.1. Gp]xop ITIac CAi]\chinx). 1-|Yex> A'opubA]\c ia|\ cu]icbAit
Pacjaaic: tic, nch. Illu 'Oeb]\oc, ob Paujumc, ni bu gnAcli
in -pocubpn X)0 ^At) •ouiupu. A\w penoi]i, octif Ain bobu^i,
ob e-ppcop IIIac CAi^xcbint). "PA^xAcbAipni inn coniAbcu In
cebbAib, ocup nieip phop pxp conAiji. ITocmjebpA, -OAnA,
ob pAcpAic, 1ii cibb iu\pA i\o ocnp, A]i nApA "oiinicmti, nipA
110 ciAn "OAnA, co]ioApcAp immAchigixD ec]ion'o. Ocnp p"op-
ACAib Pac]\aic lApuiii, Gppcop 111ac CAipchm'o In Cbochup,
ocnp in 'OomnAcii Aip^ic beip, "oo ]\AbA"o 'oo pAcpAic "oo
tliin, "OiA mboi po|i mui]i oc cunoecc x)o cum nCpenn.
APPENDIX No. XCVII. [Lect. XV., Pages 329, 330.]
Original of first stanza of the Prayer of Saint Cobuin Cibbe
(leAbAp buToe tecAin, 3IS. II. 2. 16. P.C.D., col. 320).
1TToenu]\An "OAm ip in pbiAb,
-d pig 5]nAn |\op popAX) pet),
tlocA n-CA^bAigi "OAm ni.
Ha va in-bemt) cpi picic ce-o.
Original and Translation of passage concerning the Cacac, in
O'DonnelVs Life of aS. 'Cobum Cibbe {MS. classed 52.2.,
RJ.A.,page 190).
-An Cacac iino]\]io, Ainm An beAbAip rpep a cciigvV-o An cAch,
ocup Ape Ap A]\-o-n'nonn aj Cobum Cibbe, i cUip ClionAibb;
ocup ACA pe A]i iiA cum-OAc 'o'Aipgio'O, ocup ni tibeAJAp A
popgbA'o, AgAp "OA ccugcAp cpi huAipe "oeipiob 1 ccimciobb
pbuAig Chineb ClioiiAibb aj -onb X)o cum caca ■ooib, Ap
"DUAb 50 cciucpAi"oip pv\ buATo; ocup An ucc ComApbA, no
cbei]\i5 gc\n pcACAX) niApbcA Aip (mAp Ap peAp]i Ap peixjip
bei]'), .:>.Y c6i]\ An Cacac x)o beic A5 cimciobbc\-o An rpbuAig
pin.
APPENDIX. 599
[translation.] AP. XCVtI.
The Gathach, indeed, is the name of the book on account of which A„t,,ority
the battle was fought; and it is it that is Colum Cille's high relic astotno
in Tir Conaill; and it is ornamented (or covered) with silver, and <^""""^ •
it is not laAA^ul to open it ; and if it is carried three times to the
right around the army of the Cenel Conaill when going to battle, it
is certain that they would come out of it with victory ; and it is
upon the breast of a Comharha, or a Priest without mortal sin upon
him (as well as he can), it is proper for the Cathach to be at going
round that army.
APPENDIX No. XCVIII. [Lect. XV., Page 331.]
Oriqinal of Inscription on the Shrine of the Cacac. eiuine of
^ '^ "L . , ^^ ^ ^1 1 the Cathach.
01I01U -oo CAcnbA|>]\ t1c\ t)omii<Mli t^f i iToenriAt) m
ctiiiicAcb [iv\] 0C111" -oo Sicc]\uic niAC ITIeic ^ex)A "oo ^Ai^ne,
ocu-p "00 *Oom[iiAl'L] 111 ac RobApcAig, "oo comApbA CeriAniifA
\,Af 1 ITOe^MIAT).
APPENDIX No. XCIX. [Lect. XV., Page 334.]
Original of entry in the Annals of Ui^ennAc, concerning the The cwu-
CtiilebA-o {at A.D. 1090). {MS. H. 1. 18., T.C.D) ftcotm
tTlionrio CoUinn Citle .i. Clog riA II15, ocu-p An Cbuible-
bcMj, octip in "OA i^oiYcebo "oo cAbAi]\c, a Ui|a Cbonoibb, ocuf
■pace p 61 c uinje -o ai^a^io-o ; ocup .Aonjui" Ha 'OomnAibbAn
ippe "OOp pi1C ACVtAI-O.
APPENDIX No. C. [Lect. XV., Page 335.]
Original {with Translation) of reference to a Ctiibe'pA'o of Saint Jn^^CuiU-
Giiiin {in a vellum MS. of the year 1463, in the Library of'st. EmMn.
the Royal Irish Academy, classed 43. Q.,fol. 17).
Tllo Cacca^\ cato bi*o CAibme
PlM CAin 1-p -ppi comAi^ige,
l3e^AA]A binn, -po 'oo'o g^ACOAn,
llTo cbAp rp mo CuitebAt).
[translation.]
My pure quatuor (Gospels) is strong,
For law and for sanctuary ;
We bestow, they are good for your valour,
My clar (calendar?) and my Cuilefadh.
APPENDIX No. CL. [Lect. XV., Page 336.]
Oi'iginal (with Translation) of passage from the LeAbA-jt Dui-oe ofthe
tecAin {H. 2. 16., T.C.D., col. 312), concerning the tTlifAc. ^^^''''"•
[According to this authority, Muircheartach Mac Erca, monarch
of Erinn, Avho died a.d. 526, having been captivated by Sin, a Bcfi-
Sidhe [Benshee], drove his own wife Duaibhsech and her children
600 APPENDIX.
App. CI. and friends of the Cenel Conaill and Eoghain out of tlie palace of
Of th Cleitech on tlie Boyne. The Queen went to St. Cairnech of Tuilen,
Muach. who took them all xmder his protection, and : —
Ho e]'CAin CAi]\nech c-pA in "o-un Annpn ocu-j" -^0 bemiAch
tocc Aim, oc«|" CAinic A-p-p lA^At^n -po b^Aon, ocvi-j" -|:Acoi|ip. Ho
|iATO-pec timmo|A]Ao, CbAnriA Tieitt \\y^X'- ^©miAiS pnne, ot-
1'iAc Ano-j^A, A cteiuj, coiToigpuin -o^x z^\\ |"epn, iiai]a in
cinuAC -|"iiiiie i\nic.
1lo bemiAig CAi]\nec iac ocu-p -po -jJ-AgAib -pA^bAlA "ooib .1.
•oo cbAiTOAib CoiiAibL octi^" CoJAin : In uai^a iiac biAt) ai^ac-
CA-p e-penn, no a l^ige Acn, a i"pi\Aicc -po|\ cac cnicex) nA rnn-
ceib, ocuf coinA-jAbAi" Oibij, ocu]" UeiiipAC, ocwf "UbAt) acu;
ocu-p cen ciiA]\A]XAb "oo ^AbAib o ncAcb, a^a i]'e a i\ui'ote|'
•pepn 1A151 ne-]\enn ; ocuf cen ^lAf )^o\\ jiAbb, ocu-p meAc -po-jt
nA jiAbtu "oiA nebAX) ; ocu-j" buATO cac1u\ acu acc co cucax) -pA
A-obA]! coi]A, ocii-j" CO ^lAbAc c-|\i nic^i^i ACU .1. in CliACAcli ; ocu-p
in CI05 Pa-o^iaij .1. [cboj] m ll-OAchcA; ocui^in ITlij^Acb Cai]\-
nig; ocu-|^ no biA"0 A \\'\t pn uite a]i oen nimt) 'oib ^Ae bucc
CACA, AniAit -|\o -pAjAib CAi-|AneAC "OOlb.
[translation.]
Saint Camiech then cursed the palace, and blessed a certain
place there, after which he departed from it in grief and sadness.
The Clanna Neill said to him then : Bless us, said they, O Cleric, that
we may depart to our own country, for we are not giiilty towards thee.
Cairnech blessed them, and he left them gifts, i.e. to the clanns
of Conall and Eoghan, that when they would not have the sove-
reignty of Erinn or its monarchy, that their power shotdd extend
over every province around them ; and that they should have the
successoi-ship of Oilech, and TemJiair, and Ulaidh; and that they
should not receive Avages from any person, because the sovereignty
of Erinn Avas their own absolute right ; and that no hostage of theirs
should require to be locked ; and that such hostages should decay if
they eloped ; and that victory of battle should be theirs, provided
they gave it in a just caiise ; and that they had these three standards,
namely, the Cathach; and the Cloc Phatraic; and the Misach Chair-
nigh; and that the virtue of all these should be upon any one relic
of them against battle ; such as St. Cairnech left them.
APPENDIX No. CII. [Lect. XV., Page 338.]
Of the Of the t) AC Abb 1-|'u, or Staff of Jesus. (^Tripartite Life of
St. Patrick; my cojjy, p. 17; Egerton MS. 93, British
Museum, p. 5).
The following is the ancient tradition respecting the Bachall Isu, —
how this great relic was originally obtained by St. Patrick, — from
the Tripartite Life :
Cebeb]iA]'PAr]\Aic "oo ^^pniAn u\]\pin, ocn-|' -oo be]\c bent)-
Uj-chall Isti.
APPENDIX. 601
AccAin "oo, octi^" "oo •oechvMt) i"enoi]\ CAi^Ai-j^e tei-p o ^ei^iii^^i'' ^^^' *^"'
y]AiAiniconnec, ocu-p y]\iAce]XAi', Se^eciuj' a Aimn, ocu|" qj ^^^
■pACAjic o 5]^A'6, ocuf lie no bit \:\\^ vi]\x>u neACAilp |:|\i tAini BacUaiiisu.
5e|AmAin. tyiiTO pAqiAic iA]uim i:o]\ iinii]\, nonbAH itin. 1]"
Anni'ein -notAA inni-np cohaici a cec inie ocu]" in lAnAiiiuin
inoicit) Aim, ocuf connAccAi i^encAm c]\in iiTOo^iA-p in C151
yoi\ A l-AinAib. Cit) X)AA]' in cAittec, oi Pau]\aic, if" nion a
iob]\A? 'P]\if]\05]\Ac inx)octAc1i oc\^Y iffe-o \\o \\<kX)\: 6a
'OAm-i'A pn, ot in-ooctAc; niA'OA niACAi^i, ot]"e, a cteiMj, inA-
inginii'e Accece]"ti, ii^bobnu ptJi •oonix)ip. Cia c\\\.\t ajia lAt)
pn, ot pAqiAic? Ill Ann-j-A A in*oip, ob in-oocbAC. Acaatti
■punn o Ain^^e^i CiM-pc. 'Oo A]\Aibt a]\ "0001111111 'oiAmbAi ici]a
•ooinib bi -pop, con*oe]\n]"Aiii ybeTO "oo. iDennACAi-j' a]\ ceg-
"OAip ocup ponbenxDAC •pA'oeipf^in, ocup 111 cA]\Aibb in ben-
"OACcu pn A]i cbAnnA; octip bemiini cen Aop cen e]\c]\A i^unn
CO bf\v\c, ocu)' 1-)" -pocA o \\o cAi]i[n]5e]\e'o "onn, ob inx)ocbAC, -oo
ctii'oeccpi ; octi]' i:A]\ACAib 'OiAbinn conx)i5e]XA "oo ppAicepc
"DO ^^^etjebAib ; ocii-j" pofiAccAib coniA]\cA binm .1. bACoitb, "oo
CAbAi-|AC 'otiicpni. ill jebpi, ob Pac]\aic, co ca^toa -pein a
bAcboibb 'OAin. AnAip Pac]aaic t:\w bA ocup cin Amcbi occo,
octii" btiit) lA-jApem 111 SbiAb llepiiioin bi p^Aib nA inpi ; co |\o
A]ropAi5 "OO in Coihtoiu hi pvn-oui, ocni^ cone]\bAi]\T: p]\ip cecc
"OO p]Aocetipc "oo ^o^'oi^Aib, ocn-p co cAf\Ac bAcboibt nlpti
X)0 ; OCtip ACimbAipC 1\0pA'0 p'0]\CACCA15C1'0 X)0 111 cec ^UApACC,
ocup 111 cec ecomnApc iiiibiAX).
[translation.]
Patrick took leave of German (his tutor) then, and he gave him
his blessing ; and there went Avith him a trusty senior from German,
to taKe care of him, and to testify to him ; Segetius Avas his name,
and a priest in orders, and it Avas he that performed the offices of the
Church imder German. Patrick Avent then vipon the sea, nine in
his number. It Avas then the tide cast him on an island, Avhere he
saAV a ncAV house and a young couple in it ; and he saAV a Avithered
old Avoman at the door of the house by their side. " What has hap-
pened the hag?" said Patrick; "great is her debility". The young man
ansAvered ; this is Avhat he said : " She is a grand- daughter of mine",
said the young man ; " even the mother", said he, " O Cleric, of that
daughter, Avhom you see, she is more debilitated again". "IiiAvhat Avay
did that happen ?" said Patrick. " It is not difficult to tell it", said the
young man. " We are here since the time of Christ. He happened
to visit U.S Avlien He Avas among men here ; and Ave made a feast for
Him. He blessed our house, and He blessed ourselves, and the
blessing did not reach our children ; and Ave shall be Avithout age,
Avithout decay here to the Judgment (day) ; and it is a long time
since thy coming Avas foretold us", said the young man ; " and God
left (us information) that thou Avouldst go to preach to the Gaedhil ;
602 APPENDIX.
App. cii. and He left a token with us, namely, a bent staff, to be given to
thee. " I shall not receive it", said Patrick, " until He Himself gives
Bachaii isu. me His staff". Patrick staid three days and three nights with them ;
and he went then to Mount Hermon in the neighbourhood of the
island ; and the Lord appeared to him there, and said to him to
come to preach to the Gaedhil, and that He would give him the
Staff of Jesus ; and He said that it would be a deliverer to him in
every danger, and in every unequal contest in which he should be.
So much for the first and earliest authority concerning the relic.
Most of the historical vestiges concerning the Bachall Isu, or
" Staff of Jesus", are collected in the Introduction, by the Rev. Dr.
Todd, S.F.T.C.D., to the edition of The Book of Obits and Mar-
tyrology^ of Christ Church, Dublin, published by the Irish Archa;-
ological Society in 184i.
" The Baculus Jhesu", he says, p. viii., after speaking of some
other celebrated Irish rehcs, " ' quem augelus beato Patricio con-
ferebat', stands next on the list, and is of still greater celebrity.
St. Bernard mentions it in his life of St. Malachy, as one of those
insignia of the see of Armagh which were popvilarly believed to
confer upon the possessor a title to be regarded and obeyed as the
successor of St. Patrick ; so that some Avho had no other claim to
the Primacy than the power or fraud which gave them possession of
these relics, were received by the more ignorant of the people as the
true bishops. Speaking of Nigellus, the intruding prelate, who
was finally driven out by St. Malachy about the year 1134, St.
Bernard says ;
" ' Porro Nigellus videns sibi imminere fugam, tulit seciim insignia qusedain
sedis illius, textual scilicet Evangellorum, qui fuit beati Patricii, haculumque
uuro tectum, et gcmmis prctiosissimis adornatum, quern nonunant Baculum Jesu,
eo quod ipse Dominus (ut fert opinio) eum suis manibus tenuerit, atque for-
maverit. Et hffic summ£e dignitatis et venerationis in gente ilia. Nempe no-
tissima sunt celeberrimaque in populis, atque in ea reverentia apud omnes, ut
qui ilia habere visus fuerit, ipsum habeat episcopum populus stultus et insi-
piens'. — [De Vita S. Malacbiaj, c. xii. 0pp. Ed. Bened. vol. i. c. 675]".
" Thus it appears", continues Dr. Todd, " that the Baculus, in St.
Bernard's time, was adorned with gold and preciotis stones. It was,
therefore, most probably a crozier (still always called bachall in
Irish),^^^^-* and having been held in such veneration in the twelfth
century, there is no reason to doubt its great antiquity. It is men-
tioned also by Giraldus Cambrensis, who tells us, that in his time
it was removed by the English, perhaps for greater security, from
Armagh to Dublin S^^^^
" ' Inter universes Hibernife baculos', he says, ' ligneEeque naturae Sanc-
torum reliquias, virtuosus il/e et Jctmosus {cjxiem Baculum Jesu vacant) non
immerito primus et prajcipuus esse videtur. Per quem, vulgari opiuione,
Sanctus Patricius venenosos ab insula vermes ejecit. Cujus siquidem tam in-
certus est ortus, quam certissima virtus. Nostris autem temporibus et nos-
(255) Baculus Pastoralis was the usual name given to a crozier all over Europe in the middle
ages; see Du Cange in voce. [Dr. Todd's note.]
(256) Armagli was turned in 1178, with its churches and sanctuaries. (Colgan, from the Four
Masters, Trias Thaumat., p. 310 ; and Annal. Ultou, in 1170.) [Dr. Todd's note.]
APPENDIX. 603
trorum opera, nobilis thesaurus ab Armacliia Dubliuiam est translatus.' — app. cii.
[Topogr. Ilib., part iii. c. xxxiv.]"
Dr. Todd then mentions the existence of another account of the Bachaii isu.
transhitiou of the Baculus Jesti to Dublin, as having been accom-
plished by Strongbowe himself, who is stated (in the " White Book
of Christ Chiu'ch", and in Archbishop Alan, or Allen's Eegister) to
have brought it not from Armagh, but from Balliboghall, — a church,
in ruins, near Swords, in the County of DubUn, which is supposed
to have derived its name from the possession of some crozier or
baculus of St. Patrick ;'-^^^-' — but this account assigns the proper date
(1180) to the translation, and thus proves its own inconsistency,
since Strongbowe died in 1176. The statement of Giraldus is borne
out by three authorities qiioted by Dr. Todd (pp. 9, 10); the first,
an " entry, in a hand of the early part of the sixteenth century, in
the ' Black Book' of Christ Church, fol. 214:. a"; the second, another
passage of Giraldus, where, speaking of William Fitz-Adelm or
Aldelm, he says : " Nihil egregium in Hiberuia gessit, prseter hoc
sohun quod baciilum virtuosissimiun, quem Baculum Jesu vocant,
ab Armacliia, Dubliniam transferri procuravit" (Hib. Expugn. lib.
ii. c. xviii.) ; and the third, the MS. Annals of Innisfallen (H. 1, 7;
T.C.D.), under the year 1180, as follows:
IdacaLL lpoi'o|\Ai5 "oo "b^xeic o A\\'o " The Staff of Patrick was brought
ITlACA go b-AccbK\c be h-Uib- from Armagh to Dublin by Wil-
\A^m ^'\^■\c ^■oebni. Ham Fitz Aclelm".
Dr. Todd then gives the story of the Baculus, from the Tripartite
Life, in Colgan's Latin ; and proceeds (p. 13) :
" Frequent notices of the Baculus Jesu are to be found in Irish
history. In the ancient Irish poem by St. Fiech [Fiacc of Slebhte],
which Colgan has published as the first life of St. Patrick, mention
is made of St. Tassach, from whom the saint received the holy via-
ticum on his death-bed. Tassach was of Rathcolptha, now Eaholp,
near Down, and is said by some of the lives to have been a bishop
when he administered the communion to the dying Patrick. He was
skilled in the art of a goldsmith ; and in the ancient notes to St,
Fiech's [Fiacc's'\ Hymn it is particularly stated, that the Baculus
Jesu was by him first adorned with a precious covering : ' Thassa-
chus fuit faber ajrarius S. Patricii. Fuit primus qiu baculum Jesu •
pretioso tegumento obcelavit. Ecclesia ipsius est Rath-Colptha
juxta Dunum ad Orientem' ".
Several instances are then given by Dr. Todd (pj5. xiv. xv. xvi.)
of records of occurrences respecting this Baculus, which prove the
singular veneration of which it was so long the object ; he quotes
from the Annals of Tighernach two passages (under the years 1027
and 1030), — from the Annals of the Four Masters (under 1080 and
1143), — and from English authorities, an instance in Campion's
"Historie of Ireland", at a.d, 1316, one from Archbishop Alan's
(257) St. Patrick appears to have left more than one staff. In the list of relics preserved in
the monastery of St. Alban's are mentioned, relics "iJe Saiicto Patiicio, et taa/feojusdem
sancti". Dugdale's Monasticon (hy Carey, Ellis, and Bandinel), vol. ii., page 235. [Dr.
Todd's note.]
604
APPENDIX.
App. cTi. Register, citing a grant from John Earl of Moreton to John Comyn,
Of the Archbishoj) of Dublin, confirmed on this relic, and a cimous paper
Bachaii isu. (No. 53, in the bag marked " Ireland") in the Chapter-house of
Westminster Abbey, " containing ' an examination of Sir Gerald
Machshayne, knight', sworn 19th jSIarch, 1529, 'upon the Holie
Masebooke, and the great relicke of Erlonde, called Bacidum Christi,
in the presence of the Kynges Deputie, Chancelloui', Tresoror, and
Justice' [State Papers, vol. ii. p. 146]".
Lastly, Dr. Todd quotes the records of the wilful destruction of
this " great relicke" by tire, at the hands of the fanatics of the " Re-
formation", in the reign of the English King Henry the Eighth, a.d.
1538. The first of these is from Sir James Ware's Annals (p. 99).
The second is the follomng Irish account, from a ]\IS. in T.C.D.,
there "lettered Tighernaci Continuatio", says Dr. Todd in a note,
and long " supposed to have been the same as the Annals of Kil-
ronan, quoted by the Four Masters". (These are the Annals now
for the first time proved to be the Annals of Loch Ce. See
ante, Lecture V., p. 93). This account is as follows (at A. A.
1538) :—
"OeAl.'b rnui^xe -fvo tnio|\ljiii'lij -oo
lii A m - bAiLe Aca CiMimi, -oaiv
c)\ei'oe'OA|\ d-]\eninii j tnle Le cu\n
'oV\1nlp|^ -poiiiie -pn, "oo fLAiiAijeAX)
•ooiLL, ^511]% lioxJAiiA, Agu-p b^cAij,
A511]" jAc Aince'p Ai\cenA, "oo io]'-
jcvo te SAXAiicmlj. -Agu-p aii t)A-
caIL Io^'a ■00 bi A Tn-bAiLe Aca
cLiAcli, Ag ■oenAni fe]\c Ajup itiio]\-
"buiie lOfTTOA 1 n-ei]\inii o Ainipp
p1iA'o)AAi5 jup A11 lAepn, Aguf •00 bi
A LahVi C)\iopc pern, ■00 bo-pcA-o be
SA.XAncuib iiiA]A An ceAX)iiA. Agu-p
111 lieAT) AniAin, acc ni ]\Aibe C]aoc
iiAoni, tiA "oeAbb muii\e, ma loniAij
oi]\]\'oi|\c 1 ti-ei]\inn AjA A n ■oeA-
cIlAI-O A 5-ClimACCA 5AII bopjA-O.
AjUp 111 1116 -oo bl A 5-CIIIIIACCA A|A
oix-o x)o riA -pecc n - o]\TDiiib ha^a
■p5|MOfA'OA|\. -Ajtlf in pApA, AJUf
m ©jbAif uoin A5111' Abup ■00 beic
A coinneibAcliA'o nA SAXAn cim-o
Em, ^'^Viy gAn lumn nA co-jxa'd tio
eic ACA--pAn Ai|\ pn ecc. Ajup
ni 'oe|\b biom nAc a\\ An ni-bbiAf)Ain
Ain '01AIX) cuAfACA boi'jA'o nA niionn
rin.
The most miraculous image of
Mary, which was at Bail^ A tha Truim
[Trial], and which the Irish people
all honoured for a long time before
that, which used to heal the blind,
the deaf, the lame, and every disease
in like manner, was burned by the
Saxons. And the Staff of Jesus, which
was in Dublin, and which wrought
many wonders and miracles in Erinn
since the time of Patrick down to that
time, and which was in the hand of
Christ Himself, Avas burned by the
Saxons in like manner. And not
only that, but there was not a Holy
Cross, nor an image of Mary, nor
other celebrated image in Erinn, over
which their power reached, that they
did not burn. Nor was there one of
the Seven Orders which came under
their power that they did not ruin.
And the Pojie, and the Church in the
East, and at home, was excommu-
nicating the Saxons on that account,
and they not paying any attention or
heed unto that, etc. And I am not
certain whether it was not in the
year preceding the above [a.d. 1537]
that these relics were burned.
I may add here, perhaps, the account in the Four Masters, though
founded only on the foregoing authorities, as characteristic of the
period in which their great Book of Annals was written. It is
quoted by Dr. Todd (p. xvii.) "as a curious specimen of the light in
which the Reformation Avas regarded by a native Irish writer of the
APPENDIX.
605
reign of Charles the First" ; and it Avill probably be recognized as app. cii.
containing an expression equally correct of the opinions and of the q^^-^^
feelings of the " native Irish" even doAvn to the present day. Bachaiiisu.
A.C. 1537. eic^McicceAcc, Ajtif
yec^xAii nu^^ 1ii SAXAib c^ma ■oiu-
Ttnif, <^5i-i^' lonnoccbAiL, c^ma acco-
'bA]\, Aguf AncoiL, Ajw-p c]\e loniAcc
eAtAX)An necc^'AiiiAit, co ii-oeA-
cAccAt\ p|\ Saxaii in accait!) An
pVlApA, AJtl^ riA 1l6lilA. Ace ACA
111 CeilA, ]\0 A'6l\AUCA^\ "OO IjAjXAlil-
lAib exAiiilAili), Ajiif 'oo f-en|\eAcu
UlAop Ai\ Aic]\i]' An cmi'o Iiitdai je,
Aju-p -po JAi|\poc Ai]\'o-ceAnn ©cc-
lAi-p "Oe inA f-LAice)' -pem •oon |\i j.
"Oo |\6nA'6 tAf An -pi j, Agup La|' An
cConiAi]\Le, -otigce Ajiif fCAcuici
ntiAi-6e lAn nA X)-coiL -pein. Uo
yc^MOfAT) Leo nA Iuii^md -o'ia^x bo
ce'OAijcec f eAbb ^'ao jaoIca ■oo "beic
occA, e-oonjmAnAij, cAnAnAij, caiL-
teACA X)ll'bA, A5«f bt\A1C]M CJ\01]^,
Aju-p nA ceicpe IniiixT) boccA, ex)on,
An co]\'o ininvi|\, ■iD]\ept)niiA, Ca|\-
tniibici, Aguf AujupcmiAni. Ko
coccbA-o A cu1cce]^nl1]', Ajuf a
wbeACAi'O tube jii-p An t\ig. Tlo
bpvi^ex) beo •onA, nA niAini-jxpecA.
tlo |veAC-pAC A cccinn, Agtip a
ccbuccA, CO nA bAoi Aon liiAmi-pcip
6 <V|\Ainn nA nAotii co 11lui-p niocc
gAn b-pi-peTi), jAn bi.iAni\ebA-6, acc
niA'obeccAn nAniAi nO-pmn nAcucc-
■pAU 501 bb •01A nuiT>b, nAc •oia nAii\e.
Uo boi^pcpec beo]', Aguf |\o bjM-p-
fecc lomAije oi]\T5eAi\CA, "pc^Mne,
Agu^^ CAifi nAeih e^enn, Ajuf SliAx-
An. II0 boifccpoc niA]A An cce'onA
iAp\ pn TjeAbb 11Uii|\e oi-jx-oeA^Ac
bAoi 1 nAc Ci\tiini •00 jn'io'6 ■pe|\cA
A5U-pniio)\bAbA, -00 f bAnAi jet) ■ooibb,
btll-OIIV, AJU-p bACAl j, AJUp AOf JACA
cex)niA ApvcenA; Agiip An b)AcAbb
1ofA bAoi 1 n<\c CbiAc Acc "oenAih
niio|\bAb beo-p 6 Ainip]\ pAcpvAicc
gu-p An i\e -pn, Agit-p bAoi ibbAini
Cpvio-pc -OIA nibAoi ecii\ "OAOinib.
"Oo ■ponA'o beo c-jxa Ai]\-oeppcoip,
Agu]" -puibepfcoip ACA -pern, Ajuf
geY tTi6]\ mj^Aeim n<i nlnipi-pe-o
UotTiAnAc in AccliAi'o nA TieccAibp,
A-p -piiAibb niA cAimc A coniin6|\po
6'n Hoitii Anoipv ]\iAiri, co nAc eiccip
A cuA)\A-pcbAib -a'p-Aifnei-p no "o'lnn-
ipn munA nAii"neit)e-6 An ci •00
connAi]\c 1.
A.D. 1537. A heresy and a new
error broke out in England, the
efleets of pride, vain-glory, avarice,
sensual desire, and the prevalence
of a variety of speculative compo-
sitions, so that the people of England
went into opposition to the Pope and
to Eome. At the same time they fol-
lowed a variety of opinions, and the
old Law of Moses, after the manner of
the Jewish people, and they gave the
title of head of the Church of God,
in his own realm, to the king. There
were enacted by the king and council
new laws and statutes after their own
will. They ruined the orders who
were permitted to hold worldly pos-
sessions, viz., monks, canons, nuns,
and brethren of the cross, and the
four mendicant Orders, viz., the Mi-
nor Order, the Preachers, Carmelites,
and Augustinians. The possessions
and livings of all these were taken up
for the king. They broke the monas-
teries. They sold their roofs and
bells, so that there was not a monas-
tery from Arann of the Saints to the
Iccian Sea, that was not broken and
shattered, except only a few in Erinn,
which escaped the notice and atten-
tion of the English. They further
burned and broke the famous images,
shrines, and relics of Erinn and Eng-
land. After that they burned in like
manner the celebrated image of Mary,
which was at Atk-Tndm, M^hich used
to perform wonders and miracles,
which used to heal the blind, the
deaf, the lame, and the sufferers from
all diseases ; and the Staff of Jesus,
which was in Dubhn, performing
miracles from the time of Patrick
down to that time, and which was
in the hand of Christ whilst He was
among men. They also made arch-
bishops and sub-bishops for them-
selves ; and although great was the
persecution of the Roman Emperors
against the Church, it is not proba-
ble that so great a persecution as this
ever came at this side of Rome hither.
So that it is impossible to tell or nar-
rate its description, unless it shoidd
be told by him who saw it.
600 APPENDIX.
App- CUT. APPENDIX No. cm. [Lect. XVI., Page 343.]
St. Fiacc as Original {with Translation) of passage in the Poem of Saint
desertion "PiAcc of Sleibce, allucUng to the promised decay and deser-
ofTara. iIq^^ q^ Tava {from the Liber Hijmnorum; MS. E. ^. 2,
T.C.b.ip. 2,1, stanza 22).
1n A]\'oinAc1iA pLiAije,
1l' CI An •oo]\e]\Ac1ic e-mAin
1f celt nio]\ 'Oiin l/ecli-^iA^^l^e,
TliiTToit cet) ■oiclijuib UeinAi]\
.1. 111 1iiiiin<Mn leni t:eniAi|\ cix) y<\f.
[translation.]
In Ard-Macha there is sovereignty,
Long since Emain lias passed away,
A great church is Dun Lethgldassef
I like not though Temair be desert,
I.e., It is not desirable to me that Temair should be desert.
APPENDIX No. CIV. [Lect. XVI., Page 344.]
Of Saints Original of passage in the " Tripartite Life of St. Patrick'^
sechnaii,a,ni (mfii conii, V. 144: Eqertou MS. 93, British Museum, v. 36).
/-iacc; and ^ "^ , ^ "^ \ . \> i a^ / ^^^ a 7 /
the chariot Vecnc IIAlLl LU1"0 SecllllALL "00 AlTO IllACnA, OCtlf 111 11A1D1
of Saint Pa- ^ ' i l' ' . ' '
trick. Pac^aaic ln yo]y, C011ACCA1 "OAecii CA^\pviic La nniinci]\
JDAqiAic 'fO\\ A chiunn fo\\ -|"cti]i; ocu]' ]\o ^ia"oi SeclniAlt
bA cojiti intjeicb ucuc "oo b]ieic "oon ep]xop .1. "oo pAcc.
"UaI^I "OO lltlACC PaC]AA1C, ACcbllAp "OO A1li]'1t1. 1xO IllbcO A
CA^ipAcc yo\\ 11A edni, ocu]' nupiroi-oi Pachaic cen "ouine
beo, CO ]:eocA]\ innAiToi]^ni^\c bA HlocbcAe. t/OCA^\ "oei^^ebb
A]\AbA|\AC CO 'OonHIAcb SeCHAlbb. boCA^I 1A^\ 11A1]1Ce]\ "OO
Cbibb ^uxibi. b-ocA^i lAiipiii-oiti CO Cibb llloiiAch. "LocAii
u\]\v\ni CO piACC CO Sbeibci. 1fpi cucaic in cbA|\pAicc "oo
b]\eic CO piACC, A^i no ceijet) "oia SAcbAi^UTO Initii coinbic
oc Cnncc '0^\oniniA CobbAi. IIaiih "oo Ann. 11. bAi^ijin
beip, iie]io pvMiiA eyz. 'Oia SacIiai^ui'o Ca^c -oo CAiget) -oo-
cbiini Sbeibn, ocvip "oo chaijici boinnn beip "oeu .n. pAnibnp.
Ipi cucAic in CA]ipAicc "00 b]\eic1i "oo "PiACC, ]io cbnAi "OAib
A coipp conibn comocbjiAib bAp]' "oo.
[literal translation.]
At a certain time Sechnall went to Ard Macha, and Patrick was
not at home, and he saw two chariot horses with Patrick's people
before him, unyoked. And Sechnall said : It were more proper to
give those horses to the bishop, that is to Fiacc. Wlien Patrick
returned he was told that thing. Their chariot Avas [then] yoked
upon the horses, and Patrick sent them without any person with
them, until they were in his Desert with Mochtae. They went
southward the following day to Domhnach Sechnaill [Dunshaughlin].
APPENDIX. G07
They Avent by the east to Cill Auxili. They went after that to CiJl app. civ.
Monacli. They went after that to Fiacc to Slcibhte. The cause of of O' •
giving the chariot to Fiacc was because he used to go on Shrove- Patrick,
Saturday until he reached [i.e. used to go to] the Hill of Dromm Coblai. ff„]'^f^^a^
He had a cave there. Five cakes he had with him, vera fama est. the chariot
On Easter Saturday he used to come (back) to Sleibhfe [Sletty], and trickl"'' ^^
used to bring with him a bit of his five loaves. The cause of giving
the chariot to Fiacc was that chafers had gnaAved his leg so that
death was near him. [Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, p. 144, my
copy; Egerton MS. 93, p. 36, British Museum.]
The following is the passage in the Book of Armagh (fol. 18. b.) : Passage in
tuit) SechnAbt 1<\]\C<Mn 'Ollc1n'l^\]V\5At) PaC|\1CC imc1u\]\pt\C Armagh.
boie 'Laii\ 'Oipn -ouiroi-o pAcpicc iiicA]\pAC cuSechnAll
cenA^udi .11. aito acc Ainpt 'oucp*oe'OA]A, 'poi'O'pi SecViriAtt
6]AtiAii .111. Aicbji Aii-o iAip cuTllAnchAn octi|' Anif .111.
Aicbji tA]uiit)e. "Poicpp-oe ctipAcc. 'Olomip j-'iAcc "ooib.
lA]Apiii ice inimetocc\]\ mimu Anecti^' ].nidi]\i, cone]De]\c 111
cAinget, 1]" "ouicfiu clica'o 6 Pac)\icc 6 ]\iipci]\ "otibob^n.
[translation,]
Sechiall went afterwards to rebuke Patrick on account of a
chariot which he had. Then Patrick sent the chariot to Seehnall
without a charioteer in it, but it Avas an angel that directed it. Seeh-
nall sent it, Avlien it had stopped three nights there Avith him, to
Manchan, and it remained three nights Avith him. He sent it to
Fiacc. Fiacc rejected them. After that, Avhere they Avent to Avas
around the church three times, Avhen the Angel said : It is to you
they have been given from Patrick, Avhen he came to knoAV your
disease.
APPENDIX No. CV. [Lect. XVI., Page 346.]
Original of entry at the end of the " Tripartite Life of St. Entry atcnd
PatricJi'' (my copy, p. 160; Egerton 3IS., British 3fuseum, of snintPa-
p. 40). *"'^''-
AitoaIa 111 Ui5e]AnA 1]vv Cpi)x in bliA-oAin -00 ^^cpibAt) in
"becA yo -pPAquMC, 1477; ocu]' Oi-ochi "LugnufA iniA|\Ac,
ocup A mbAiti 111 1ll6inin a cig 111 U^Aoi^cig ■00 i^cpibAt) |'o,
be 'OoiTinAbb AbbAnAC O Upoi^ci ; ocuf "Geo gpAiciA]^ 1e]"ti.
APPENDIX No. CVI. [Lect. XVI., Page M7.]
Original and translation of a passage at the end of first awcZ Passage in
third parts of the Trip)artite lAfe of St. Patrick, ichere St. st.'patrick°
Ulta7i is mentioned as one of the ivriters of his Life; (my copy, st!'c^"a|, ^'^
pp. 34, 155; MS. Egerton 93, British Museum, pp. 9, 39).
Ice -po i:e^cA AtDcbui-oecA^t l^puici bGipenn, octip -oo^'^AArf ac
^o^bonAchi nAif nef en. AcchuAi'o cecuf yepcA pAcpAic, ocup
G08 APPENDIX.
App. cvi. lAo-pcuniAi Cottini Cil-oe niAc 'Pei'o'Limi'o ; UlcAn itiac oi Chon-
Passagein cobAi|i ; Ax)AmriAn o Aciiiiii ; he-te]\An in Gciiai ; Cia^iah
st'pa^Hck'^ belAij 'Ouin ; Cpjxop e-]\inex)AC o Clilochti-iA; CotrriAii Ua-
referriiigto iiiAcli ; Ci\uimcliin CoILaic o 'Onuiiii tloit'cech.
St. UUan. 'II I O
[translation.]
These are the miracles which the learned of Erinn related, and
Avhich they put into order of narration. C'olum Cille [Cildi at p.
155], the son of Feidlimidh, firstly nai'rated and compiled the
miracles of Patrick; Ultan, the son of oi Conehohliar ; Adamnan,
the grandson of Ati?mi; Elercm the Wise; Ciaran of Belach Dnin;
^h\\o^ Ermedach of Clochar; Colman Uamach; Cruimthir Collait from
Druim Roilgecli.
Note. — The names of Bishop Ermedach and Colman Uamach are not in the
first hst.
The following is the passage from Tirechctn's Annotations (from
the Book of Armagh, fol. 9, a. b.) : —
Tirechan Episcopvis hec scripsit ex ore vel libro Ultani episcopi,
cujus ipse alumpnus vel discipulus fiiit.
Inveni quatuor nomina in libro scripta Patricio apud Ultanum
episcopum Conchuburnensium, Sanctus Magonxis qui est Claras,
Succetns qui est [deus belli], Patricius, Cothirthiacus quia servivit
iiii. domibus magorum, et empsit ilium imus ex eis cui nomen erat
Miliuc Maccuboin magus.
APPENDIX No. CVII. [Lect. XVI., Page 350.]
From the Original of concluding loords of First Part of the " Tripartite
St. Patrick. J^f^'' of St. Patrick {p. 35, my copy; Egerton 93, British
Museum, 2^- 9)-
" biAc iiA -pe^iCA CO ^o m-oiu".
APPENDIX No. CVIIl. [Lect. XVI., Page 350.]
From the Original of Observations., hy the original icriter, on the open-
s" Patrick. ing passage of the Third Part of the '■^Tripartite Life'' of
St. Patrick (j). 100, my copy; MS. Egerton 93, British
Museum, p. 25).
Oen "0111, '0011A noebAib ocii-j' 'ooiia p^AenAib, q\ep a CAnic
inol.A'o ociip A-OAin^vu-QA^ in ChoinToex), pAX) "ooinib, cjte-p (no
r]Aiu) nA '}:i^\cti, octif c|ie^" nA ini^ibuti "oo -jn^ni 'Oia [pAip], oc
co'oitipcA'o niAub, oc ^tAnAt) chbAin, oc in'OA^ipAX) "oeninA, oc
bice "OAbb, ocup bAccAc, ocu-pbo-ouiA, ocu^" cecb cconiA otcenA,
in p^\en btiA-pAb Ai^Aimcnec "oiaca ai]icac1i in ecinon^ nA Qiee
OC11]' nA bAiin^^e^iAi^A] .i. SAnccu-p pAc^ucnif Cpiixopip.
[translation.]
One, indeed, of the saints and of the righteous men, through
whom came the praise and magnification of the Lord before men,
^ APPENDIX. 609
through the wonders and through the miracles which God wrought app. cyiii.
[for him], resuscitating the dead, cleansing lepers, banishing demons,
healing the blind, the lame, and the deaf, and every other disease ; Trip. Life of
was the righteous, noble, venerable man, for whom there is commemo- ^'" ^^*'^'"^^-
ration [at this time and period], namely, Sauctus Patricius Episcopis.
[Note. — There is some confusion in the original text here, and the words
in brackets have been taken from other copies of the Life.]
APPENDIX No. CIX. [Lect. XVII., Page 360.]
Orignal of the first tivo lines of the second stanza of the spurious from^the
SaIcai^ ha llAtin ; and original of the first line of that poem; saitaima
{Egerton MS. 185, British Museum). ^"""'
Pl'AtcAip 11 A \\AV\r\ hy^Y vi\<\\\ Ainm.
-A]! mo ■oA.n, m jai^uu hag gAec. —
TDo "oeAH "OAii -00 riiuinnci|i "oe. —
APPENDIX No. ex. [Lect. XVII., Page 362.]
Oriqinal of first two lines of the Martyroloqy of ttl AetiTiAine Wa from the
^oiAmAin {p'om Mb. vol. AVll., nurgundian Ijibrary , of Maei-
Brussels; and my copy in the pinvate Library of the Rev. Zorm<Sn
Dr. Todd, S.F. T.C.D.).
"PO]; CAitAtTO A]^ 8nA1]t
po fiechc 1]ni e^AjriA.
APPENDIX No. CXI. [Lect. XVIL, Page 363.]
The Pedigree o/ Aenjtif Ceite 'Oe; (LeAbAiA 1116]! 'OuriA Pedigree of
'Ooi5i\e, now called the teAli)A]\ b^eAC, R.I.A., fol. 28. a. a.) i^"' ^'"^
Aenguf, TTiAc AenjobAH-o, mic Oibbein, mic 'pi'o^tui, mic
*OiA]\nnii:A, mic Ainmi]\ech, mic Cel-tAi]i, inic Oengti^^A, mic
llAci^tuAig, mic CoebbiiTO, mic C]Auin'obA'0]iAi, mic G-cIiac
CobAi.
APPENDIX No. CXII. [Lect. XVIL, Page 364.]
Original of the ^^Canon'^ of pocA-o ha CAtioine; {from sawe jhe "Canon"
booh, same folio and 2^oge). otFothadh.
GcIa-j' *Oe bii,
Leic "Oil, HA piAi,
IDix) A ce]\c |:o]i teAcb,
peb A]^ "oeAch ]\o bin.
39
610 APPENDIX.
Cecil ]:1]^-^TlAnAc'h pt,
The"Canon" . 1P0]A A cluibtlf ngUn,
QiFothadh. *Oon ectATp X)1An t)1]\,
^mt) AmAit cech mo^.
Cecil 'oilinAiii iA]ii"in
■pil cen i\ecc cen ^\e]i,
CeAc CIA cei-p -pjxi bAig,
/AetDA iTiAi]A mic Tleilt.
[This poem consists of four stanzas, and the following, the fourth, was left
out in the text, — by mere oversight:] —
ll^n in iMAjAil che^AC,
Secli ni inon, in bee;
1^0511 At) CAch A 11105,
Ceil oil 1]' ceil ec.
[translation.] *
" This is the proper Rule,
Certain it is not more, not less :
Let every one serve his lot
Without defect, and without refusal".
APPENDIX No. CXIII. [Lect. XVII., Page 365.]
"Invocation" Original of tJie ^^ Invocation'^ from the \^eh\\e Aen^ufA (from
FeHri^^ the \^e^^\\ W\6\\ *OuiiA 'Ooi5|\e, noio called the "LeAbAjA
Aengu^a. ^j^eAC, R.I.A.; fol. 28. a. b.).
Sen A C|\iix 1110 tAb]\A['o]
A. ClioiiiToe ^'ecc mine,
IxonibencliAp buAit) bep,
A ]^^ 51^eni gibe.
-A 5eb-5piAn ^^0]inopiA(«> [a .1. roiUpser, illuminates.]
Hi diet) CM nieic noenn,
A TI1 conic Amgbiu,
A Clioini-oiij nAn-oome.
A. Cboiiii'oiu nAn*ooine,
A -|A1 yi^MAn p]\-iiiAicli,
ConAin]AAib cac I'obA'o,
A]\ IllobA'O 'OOC ^M^HAIt).
'Oo pig^iAt) noinobA|i,
Ob i-|' cii 1110 inii|\e,
'Oo^AAbuf A]i ni'Ai]\e,
5pei"clii DC "DO 5tii"oe.
^ui'oiu lege 'ooib,
lloillAin A]\AU ^lOgbtlf,
CAin-popub cu big-'OAcll
In ^Aig-jAAt) iini\o]\'oi.if.
APPENDIX. 611
APPENDIX No. CXIV. [Lect. XVII., Page 367.] ^^-^5^-
Original of first stanza of the peti]\e Aenguj^A, at January 1 ; Aevgma;
{from the same). '^''"' ^•
He pi ■oaIac1i "ooine, '
UAitjet) in Hi ^AetTiAin ;
LniT) 1:6 ^Aechc ajto ejAAit,
C]\iix 1 CAtlAin-o eiiAi^^.
APPENDIX No. CXV. [Lect. XVIL, Page 368.]
Original of stanza of the ipeh\^e xXengUj^A, at March 17 \_St. ^I'^/l^^.
Patrick'] ; (from the same). Mar. n. '
tAp'AjA 5]iem Aiiie,
-iXfpAi e-)\enn oige,
Pac]iaic, CO niec inite,
llob •oiciii 'oiAi\ c]\oi5e.
APPENDIX No. CXVI. [Lect. XVIL, Page 368.]
Original of stanza of the y^eh\\e Aengu^^A, at April I'd [^^'^ ^^',[''f;^„ .
festival of Bishop UA-jyAc] ; {from the same). Ap. i3(st.
In iM^-epooc UAppAch,
"Oo be]\c, 6 'CO nAnic,
Co]\p C^M^x, in ^vig "PijvbAitc,
La CumAinn tDo Pac]iaic.
APPENDIX No. CXVII. [Lect. XVIIL, Page 373.]
Original of the " Canon of St. Patriclc\ from the "Book o/^he "Canon
Armagh'' {fol. 21. h. h.). trick", from
the Book of
Item quicumque similiter per inclustriam atque injiiriam vel ne- Armagh.
quitiam malum quodqiie opus contra familiam seu pai-ucliiam ejus
perficerit aut prasdicta ejiis insignia dispexerit ad libertatem examinis
ejusdem Airddmachse prssulis rccte judicantis perveniet caussa to-
tius negotionis cseteris aliorum judicibus pra^termissis.
Item quEBCumque causa valde difficilis exorta fuerit atque ignota
cunctis Scotorum gentium judicibus ad cathedram arcliiepiscopi
Hibernensium, id est Patricii atque hujus antestitis examinationem
recte refFerenda.
Si vero in ilia cum suis sapientibus facile sanari non poterit talis
caussa pr£edicta3 negotionis ad sedem apostolicam decrevimus esse
mittendam, id est ad Petri apostoli cathedram auctoritatem Romae
urbis babentem.
Hii sunt qui de lioc decreverunt, id est Auxilius, Patricius, Se-
39 b
612 APPENDIX.
Ap. cxvii. cundiniis, Benignvis. Post vero exitum Patricii sancti alumpni sui
^j^ .ip valde ejusdem libros conscripserunt.
of Saint Pa- r n
trick", from [tEANSLATION.J
the Book of _ . • ti r. t t
Armagii. Moreover, "whosoever m like manner, of malice prepense, and
wrongfully or ■wickedly, shall do any injury to liis family or parish,
or shall treat his aforesaid insignia -with contempt, the case of the
entire matter at issue shall be submitted to the free investigation of
the same prelate of Ardmacha, duly judging thereof, other judges of
other (tribiuials) being passed over.
Moreover, if any case should arise of extreme difficulty and
beyond the knowledge of all the judges of the nations of the Scots,
it is to be duly referred to the chair of the archbishop of the Irish,
that is to say, of Patrick, and the jurisdiction of this bishop (of
Armagh). But if such a case, as aforesaid, of a matter at issue,
cannot be easily disposed of (by him) with his counsellors in that
(investigation), we have decreed that it be sent to the apostolic
seat, that is to say, to the chair of the Apostle Peter, having the
authority of the city of Eome.
These are the persons who decreed concerning tliis matter, -vaz.,
Auxilius, Patrick, Secundinus, and Benignus. But after the death
of Saint Patrick his disciples carefully -wi'ote out his books.
[The last tAvo paragraphs are printed in Part 3 (Imt not correctly)
by Archbishop Ussher (1631), who translates the passage as fol-
lows:— "\ATaensoever any cause that is very difficult, and unknoAvn
luito all the judges of the Scottish nations, shall arise, it is rightly
to be referred to the see of the archbishop of the Irish (to "wit,
Patrick), and to the examination of the prelate thereof. But if
there, by liim and his -wise men, a cause of this nature cannot easily
be made up, we have decreed it shall be sent to the See Apostolic,
that is to say, to the chair of the apostle Peter, which hath the
authority of the city of Eome" — Beligion of the Ancient Irish, cap.
viii. ; Works, vol. iv., p. 330. He cites the original in the note, and
gives it as an extract from Vet. Codex Ecclesioe Armachance.']
APPENDIX No. CXVIII. [Lect. XVIIL, Page 374]
Original of the last sentence of the " Rule of St. Coiiim Citte";
aiii". iyfvom MS., Vol. XVII., Burgiindian Library of Brussels;
see App. No. CX.).
" -AjA tiA bece^v inej^pA, uc *Oominii-|" aic, Hon AppApebrj"
Alice me tiAcuiip".
[This little tract is published, with my translation, by the Irish
Archaeological Society ; in the volume [for 1850] containing Primate
Colton's Visitation, edited by the Rev. Dr. Reeves (p. 109).]
The " Rule
of St. Colum
APPENDIX. G13
APPENDIX No. CXIX. [Lect. XVIII., Page 376.] ^^-cxix
Original of extract from an Ancient Treatise on, or Exposition y^^l^^^^^ ^^
of] the 3Iass (^from the \je<sbA'\\ 111 6]\ 'OtniA 'Ooi5|\e, co»i- the Mass.
monly called the "LeAliAj; t)]\eAc; R.I.A.; fol. 126).
Coni-o 1iepn -|:oca ha 1ii-|\]"e "olejAiv "oa cec c]\ifCAiT)e "oo
cuiiiinnijA'o. Conit) i:o]\]'in yodiA^^m cumuAige]' cec ywA-
tcMg, ocuf cec iToe^jniin "oo geiiA.
■Ua1|\ 1]' C^MAIMIl C0intAnCU1-|Y111 tIA ll11A1'1, COITOei^AC ^Ae-
ceni^, CO ir^ieixepn -ponAijAc, -piAriAigciiA cec p]\en ; UAip ip
iiToi]Ae^']v\ .1. iiToii\e|' CAcliAtACOA, i-OTU\ic]:e]" riAp^Aenu copn-
gne .1. CO i^ejA-o IDe ipn coci'oecl'ic, octiy ipncinptix) Ihca.
1]'e in ye^At) pn CAii\]\n5i]\ce]\ a\\ ]:oc|aaicc yo]^]^^)^ 'oonA
p^\enAil) iA]A nei^e]i5i.
1|"e htiino]A]AO, geit ^^oiAAcbAt) iconeclAif Tpuf coteic iq\ipTi
I'egut) pii, 111 Spi]\uc lloein iio|" AiccnebAiTo, ocu^" no|" com-
'01'onAn'o, ocuf iio]' ne-pcAti-o i:|\i cec -puAl-Aig. Ife mSpi^itic-
fA i-otDlAf A-OAiiA 'oit'i^i -pe^'pii "OA cec i|Ai]"ec1i iptToectAii"
AniAit If Alt teip, ocuf AinAit connic AnAi]Aicin ua-o ; daija i-p
011 Spi]\uc lloein ci-onAiccheii riA *0AnA oi]\e5t)Ai"A -ooneclAif
ici]i iiA -OAinib A]\cenA .i. bAicef, ocuf Ait]M5e, octip piejxipvi
•oeAjAc octii" cjiebbAci.
1p "00 "OAriAib Ai-|\e5"0Ai iii Spi]uicu no'ib in Scinpciiif
'OiA'OA o ninofCAijche]^ cecb nAineottip, ociip oconToix)AncA|i
cec coi]\pi f-Ae^tittA; onA-OAince]i cec pottp ppiiincAb-OA, o
■ponA]\cnAi5che|i cec nin-otob^A. tlAi]\ ip c^iApn Scjnb-
cui|i noib -oiciniicbejA i^i'e ocup in-ottngce on-oectAip, pc-
tAigcbe]; cecbt)ebAi"o octip cec -oechecpAit). Ipmnce po-
gAbup coiiiAipte i:o]\bci ocup ■|:o]\ce'oii'L coniA'OAif "oo cecb
ceiinum pobeicb ifm-oecbAif ; i]X|\ic1ie in-OApbdiAp inx)-
cbetDU -oemnA octip t)iJA'LAc1i o cech ipepAch ipin-oecbAip.
tlAip ipi in Sc]\ipcui]\ "OiA-OA ip niACAip ocup ip iiuime
Allien 'oonAlmlib i]\ei'AchAib nop nin-oicmi^ec ocup nop
nimpAmec; ocup Aitre]i con-OAc meic coja "oo 'Oia cpiA nA
comAi]\be. tlAip cotDAiti-o inx) ecnA co liepne-OAcb -oia iiiacu
liibbbApA in-otennA pomibip, ocup AipepA inbi-o ppipucAb-OAi
oninrhei^ccbAp, ocup 0]:Aibcni5ec "oo 5pef.
Ip pAnn ebe 'oini, -con gibtpin po^Acbu-o iconectAip "oia
conToi-onA*o .i. Co]\p Cpipc, ocup a put ix)bAipt:hep popAtcopib
nA cp^^cAToe. 1n co]ip on po^enAip o llluipe 615 ingme, cen
"oich noige, cenpcAitiuT) nin-oiuuA, cen tAcliAip pepTOA; ocup
po cpodiA-o o lu-OAi-Qib Aini^ipediAib, Ap cnuc ocup iropnAc;
ocup iq\AAcc lA^rcpetjenup a bAp, ocup pui-oep pop "oeip *Oe
AdiAp inllim. hi ngtoip ocup nniniAtJAmtAi, piA-OAingtib
11inie. Ip be in copppn, AiiiAit aca ipin mop-^toip, "oo me-
614
APPENDIX.
Ancient
Treatise on
the Mass.
App. cxix. "Laic riA ppeoin -oo ineii' "Oe .1. -ooii Atc6i|\ noib. ViA^]\ if lie
in co]ipf A fee-ton fATobi]! nA ni]\if ech AuliAf cnAic lAf fee
Aibcfe ociif Aicfige incfoejAit ifUf ifin-OAcliAfOAi nein-
"OAi. Ifhepn fit nA hefef^i ifinmbec<\i-o fticAin -oonA
fifenAib. 1f1ie tmmoffo, if hnnAt) ocuf ifA-obtif ecAf-
clnnciTie -oonA liecfAib-oeclm nAcbcfecic, ociif iDonA cot-
tAi*oib nAC innrf AintcM^ec ciAC]\euic. UlAifj -oim, cfifCAToe
nAC in-ocfAintAijenx) in cofp noemfA inCboinToet>, lAf
cAin-bef Alb, lim-oei^ic octif icfocAif e ; UAif ipfin clnifp-
fA fo^AbAf "oefmifecc nA -oeefci 'oo]\oifce cec n-oeeifc .1.
A ci-onocut fen cen cinAit) -oAfcen-o cliinAt) fit -A-OAim.
If befin nnoffo, oi^e ocuf conitAncnif nA biffe CACAtc-
■OAi, AtnAit fo]ic1iAncAf ifin Scfipciiif , ecc.
Prayer of
St. Aireran
"tlieWise".
Gloss of
tlie word
Oirc.his or
Ail chis.
Prnyers of
Col'ju Ua
Duineclida.
APPENDIX No. CXX. [Lect. XVIII., Pages 378, 379.]
Original of the commencement of the Invocation of God the Son
in the Prayer of St. Aif efAn the Wise; ( from teAbAji
bui-oe UcAin, MS. H. 2. 16., T.C.D., col. 33^).
O TJeuf pAcef oninipocenf 'Oeuf exe]\cicuuni mifefeft
nobif.
A X)e Az\^A^\\ intecbni-nAcbcAij, a *Oe nAftoj Aifcliif t)in,
Aifcbif "Din A 'Oe tutecbuiTiAcbcAig. A Ifu Cfifc. A
ITI1C *Oe bi. A III1C fogenAif fo -oi. A oengem TDe AcbAf .
The petition to the Holy Spirit (same Appendix) begins:-
Aifcbif -oin A "Oe uitecuiiiAccAij. A Spi]\nc lloib.
Spi]\i-ic If iiAifte CAcb Spifiic.
A
APPENDIX No. CXXI. [Lect. XVIII., Page 379.]
Original of explanation of the word Oifcif (or -Aiiicif), in an
ancient Glossary, referring to the Prayer of St. Aif e|\An ;
{from MS. II. 3. lb., T.C.D.,p. 534.).
Oifcif .1. fUfrAcc, Am Alt A-oeif a niifnAi-oci -AififAin in
CcnA. Oif cif ■cm a "Oe -(XcIiaiii nitecuniACCAig.
APPENDIX No. CXXII. [Lect. XVIIL, Pages 379, 380.]
Original of commencements of the first and second ptarts of the
Prayer of Cotgn VI a TDmnecvA; (from the l/CAbAf iDui-oe
UcAin, MS. H. 2. 16., T.C.D.; col. 336).
Aceocb ffic A 1fu Tloib, -oo ceicbpe SuifcetAije f0]Xfib-
f At) "OO ShofcetAi CoiiToecA, et)on niAUA, TTlAifcc, LncAf ,1oin.
APPKNDIX 615
The second prayer begins [citfol. 337]: —
AP. CXXII.
A Ij'VI noeli, A ChA]AA COeni, a llectll inATOirrOA, a 5lUAt1 Piayersof
tAti U\idii-oe ciiinx)Achx)Ai, a \)]\eo ah iha p]\en ocuy, m^ otinechda.
pHin-oe, octif niA bichbecliAt), ocuy iiia biclif udiAineuA-o.
APPENDIX No. CXXIII. [Lect. XVIII., Page 380.]
Original of commencement of an Ancient Litany of the Blessed ^jicient
Vh'gin Mary; (from the \^e^h^]\ 111 6]\ 'OutiA 'Ooij|\e, no lo the ba^ji.
called l/eAbA]\ b]\eAc, ILl.A.,fol. 121.).
A tntnpe mop, a lTltii]\e Af mo "ootiA ITltiipb, a Romo|\ ha
mbAn, A Ili^An ha tiAingeb.
APPENDIX No. CXXIV. [Lect. XVIIL, Page 381.]
Original of commencement of the Litany of ^Aengu-p Ceibe "Oe Litany of
{from the same hooh,fol. 11. a. h.). cem'ii-
U-pi CAecAic cuiictiA "00 AibicbiAib KomAii gAbj^AC .h.
blmete tim tlouAb, tim tlem-penctiATO, um Cho|\nticAn, pen
1e|nim [ecc] Ueo^A mile aucIiaha-o ]\o]"cectAmpAc La 1Tlti-
mAiii y\\^ boen-ceipc urn G]^poc 1bAi]\, -oia cAbA|\c1iACA|A Ain^eb
*Oe in •jrteit) mAi]\ "oo -[Mgrie SAncc IDjai^ic "oo Ipu ida cjAitDiu,
pe]i lepum [ecc.] Up caccaic AiLicbe^^ Aite tocA]\ Ia
liAibAin, buA "oo ]:epAib llomAn, ocup LecA, pe|A lej^um.
fecc] U]\i cAecAic ye\\ 5l^A1■o, pi-n^MAgbAcb cec oen, -co
^oe'cetu, tocA]-i a noibic1ii-|\ inoenpenuit), um AbbAn mAC
hui Co]\mAic. pep lepum [ecc]
[literal translation.]
Three times fifty canoes (full) of Eomaii pilgrims, who took up
in Hi Imele, "with Notal, with Nemhsenchaidh, with Cornutan, per
Jesum [etc.]. The three thousand father confessors who congre-
gated in Mumhain to consider the one question under Bishop Ibair,
by whom to the angel of God was ascribed the great feast which
St. Brigit made for Jesus in her heart, per Jesum [etc.]. Tlie other
three times fifty pilgruiis, Avho went into Scotland (Albain) third
in succession to the men of Rome and Letha, per Jesum
The three times fifty men in holy orders, each of them being a man
of Rule, of the Gaedhil Avho Avent into pilgrimage in one synod with
Abban, the son of Ua Cormaie, per Jesum [etc.].
[The following poem, ascribed to St. Brigid, is the only tract that I have Poem hy
met which could throw any possible light on tlie circumstances of the synod St. Brigid.
held in Munster under Bishop Ibar. The poem is undoubtedly an ancient
one, and must, I am sure, have been in existence in the time of Aenghus. (It
is taken from the MS. Vol. XVII., Burgundian Library, Brussels) : —
616
APPENDIX.
AP. rxxiv.
Poem by
St. Brifjid.
"biMgliicc (ccc.)
llopA'6 rtiAic leni copni-lnix) mop,
UopAT) mAicleiTi Tnuinnce|\ nimVie
AccA lioL x:\\e bice fi-p,
RopA-o iriAiu iem cAiti\ce
Cy\eicme cfVAbATO jLaiii,
UopAX) 1T1A1C Lein tnifCA
GcIa oc ino c|\eib.
llopAT) inAiu Lem -pp iiiiiie,
1in uejli-oAi^ yein.
tlopA-o nuMu tern •oA'bcvN
Annineic "oo A|Aei]\.
KopA'6 niAic ieiii befciMi
"OeiiAcce -00 ■oaiI,
■RopA-o iriAic teni efc-pA
C]\ocAi]\e "oiA ■OAvm.
HopA'6 111A1C bein ■poiclielL.
"Oo bicli inA \vYX-
llopA'o niAiu beni Ij'i.i
\)e6y ■oo beic ip'lT*
llopATD niAic bem iia ceo|\A
triAiiM, rtnA'o A cbii,
■RopAX) niAic belli Tniiniiire]\
ninie •OA cec ■oii.
RopAT) niAiu beni co]\bAiii
Clf Alge "DOII -pbAic,
triAT) c1ie^"f linnet)
po-fVfA cip]\e'6 beiTOAcc niAicli.
RopA'6 inAicb bem.
Brigid (cecinet).
I should like a great lake of ale
Tor the King of the Kings ;
I should like the family of Heaven
To be drinking it through time
eternal.
I should like the viands
Of beUef and pure piety ;
I should like flails
Of penance at my house.
I should like the men of Heaven
In my own house ;
I should like kieves
Of peace to be at their disposal,
I should hke vessels
Of charity for distribution ;
I should like caves
Of mercy for their company.
I should like cheerfulness
To be in their drinking;
I should like Jesus,
Too, to be here (among them).
I should like the three
Marys of illustrious renown;
I should like the people
Of Heaven there from all parts.
I should like that I should be
A rent-payer to the Lord ;
That, should I suffer distress,
He would bestow upon me a good
blessing.
I should like [etc].
APPENDIX No. CXXV. [Lect. XVIII., Page 383.]
Aa.iress of Original of passage in the AjAttArii -<sn va ShuA^ (tJie Address
jveidhi. of the Arch-Poet ^dcAijine to Hei-oe). {From the Book of
Leinster; H. 2. 18., T.C.D.; fol. 148. h. a).
CiA^ai pb ]:iti immAli Uugen.
fi'om the
BdiU
Chuinn,
APPENDIX No. CXXVI [Lect. XVIII., Page 386.]
Original of ttvo passages in the IDaiIc Chuinn {IIS. Egerton 88,
British Museum, fol. 11. &.).
IbtiJ'p -A-pc lejA cec1"iAi]\CAirc Ait)ci ; comnA]\c cau^i con-
bebAC Tnuc|aiiine. —
Co tyAojAi^Ae bont) benirecAjA iui|\, "oo UAibcenn cecVic .i.
Pac^-vaic; CA151 CA]\fnA .1. ecbA^'A; C]Aoinn q\oinA be)\rii]'
bbAcliA -oo "oinn.
APPENDIX. 617
APPENDIX No. CXXVII. [Lect. XVIII., Pages 386, 387.] ap.cxxvu.
Original of passage in the '■'■Tripartite Life^'' of St. Patrick, as to
(ing copy, ^.21; MS., Egerton 93, p. 6, British Museum), ^Taihenn.or
quoted from the \>A\ie Clnnnn, of the word UAitcenn, or '^ci^nenn.
UAitgenn.
UicyAc CAitciiTO, coinic]v\c i\iiAnu\, noipc ce'LtA ceoitci^e
benx)ACA (.i. teo, i.e. hy them), bei"ix)chopAi^\, iti -|:tAic
nnbAclA.
The folloAving explanation of the word Tailginn, or Tailcenn, is
from the opening of the ancient Law compilation, called the Scnchus
Mor, or Great History, in the completion of which St. Patrick took
part along with King Laeghaire and others (vellum M.S., H. 3. 17.,
T.C.D., p. 1), Avhere this prophecy of the Druids is quoted, with an
interlined gloss, as follows, [and see another version in App. No.
CXXXIII., post, p. 624.]
Ui u c]:ai "o c ai hji n n ,^*^
Ua|a intii-|\ nieinginn,
A c]\oinTi c|\oin-cirin,^''^
A cinn coht-cinn,'^''^
A iniAi'A^'^^ in iA]ACA-p [read Aipcmn] Aci^e,
^•oepuic VII he Ainen.
f"' .1. Intucc "OA cuLingfre cac a cinn Ag fLeccum, i.e., the parties to whom
all persons will humble their heads in genviflexion.
C*^ .1. ImbvXclA ci\om»\ iiv\ lokmAib, i.e., their bent staffs in their hands.
o .1. A coi]Mie iniA centiAib, i.e., their coronas (tonsures) upon their heads.
•<*) .1. A iiaIco^x, i.e., their altars.
The connection or relation between the words Tuluigh, to humble,
and Tailcenn or Tailginn, the person or persons (for the last form is
plural) may be seen from the folloAving example, taken from the vel-
lum M.S., H. 3. 18., T.C.D., p. 653 :—
ni mui^ c^xeciiAc cAib5iue]\ ^\e It is not the tempestuous sea that
iiAibnib 1]\ .1. tniilA no cen-inigA'o abates to angry rivers, i.e., that hum-
.1. nocA ciiiAijenn in nniii\ c^\eii- bles, or is pacified ; that is, the power-
conriAc \\\Y iia liAibnib -peixgACA, 110 ful-billowy sea does not humble itself
fucAine. to [either] the angry or placid rivers.
And yet it is difficidt to avoid thinking that there is as much
natural relation between the word Toll-cinn, tonsured-head, and Tail-
cinn, as there is between the latter and Tidaighenn, to humble; and,
indeed, a very curious case in pomt occurs in the very ancient tale
of the Bruighen Da Derga, in the ancient Leabhar na h- Uidhre (fob
63. b.), in the Royal Irish Academy. Ingcel, the pirate chief, in
describing the monarch Conaire Mor's attendants, says : —
AcconriA-pc Aire bo-p]\-6cbAec a^ I saw there a portly young man
beiAib riA im'OAe cecriAe ^o|v bA-p in in front of the same couch in the
cige. Acif niAibe fAi|A. pnnici]^ middle of the house. The disgrace
cAnAc fbebe cac pnnA Af ai' cfMAnA of baldness was upon him. As fair
cent), ***** CAvicinne, as the mountain cotton (cat's tail?)
618
APPENDIX.
cxxvrr.
As to the
word
Tniicenn, or
Tailgenn.
Ancient
account of
the Baili
an Scdil.
|\15 -oiMic 1\15 Cem|\0i6, ctej'AfniiAd is every hair that grows through his
ClioriAipe in pii ; fe]\ c oniric iii6ij\ head. ***** That man is
111 ]:e|\]Mn. Taulchinn^, the royal buffoon of the
King of Tei/iair, juggler to Conair^
Mor [the monarch] ; a man of great
power is tliat man.
It is evident from tliis passage that the name or soubriquet of
Talclienn, or Taul-chinne (which is the same as Tul-cJnnne, au in the
ancient Gaedhilg being the same as u in the modern), was descrip-
tive of baldness, and a term of reproach, baldness being at all times
looked upon as a disgrace ; and I believe it was as a submission to
disgrace or humiliation for the sake of God that the tonsure Avas
first adopted by the Christian priesthood.
APPENDIX No. CXXVIII. [Lect. XVIII., Page 387.]
Original of ancient account of the Dai be aii ScaiI (from the
MS. classed Harl. 5280, in the British Museum, p. 119).
1/AA -poboi CoiTo 1 Cein^AAig lA-p iix)ic "ooriA jAigAib, ArjiAcc
niACAin modi \o\\ ^\i-]AAit ha Uem^iAc, -piA ctincbAib 5-peine,
ocuf A t:\\\ 'o^\uic A]\oen p-p .1. ITlAob, uboc, Dbuicne; ocu-p
A qAi pbx) .1. e-chAin, Co]\b, CefAiAti. "Po-oej AcqAAigeponi
cec -oiA 111 bionpen, -oo Ai]\'o-exin, a]a ha jAb-OAOi]" Pii-p-oe
y:o-\\ e^jMiTO cen aihiujat) -ooinim. In "ou "Oia nx)ecbAix)i^iom
'00 ^YQ]"-, CO CA^\tA1C ctoicb AITO -pOA COpAlb, OClip I'AtcilAI'p
■puipi. Ho gep All oboe -po copAib co cbo-p p'o UemiiAig
iiibi, ocu]" -po bj^ejAib. Ip AiTopin -po lAppACC Conn -oia
"opui-oib CTOA ^uif gep An cboc, cia hAinm, octif CAn t)o
-f\AbAX), OCUf no -pAJAX), OCtip Clt) "JAO CA]AAlbb Ueill^AAIJ.
Ipe-o Tobe^Ac An '0]\ai -ppi Conn, ni i^bon-OAT) co cen-o
CAecAC Laici, octip A q\i. In cAn ]ao cm'oio'o An A]Aiompn,
|\up lAiApACc Conn "oon 'o\\a'\ Ap'pi'oip. 1-p Ann A'obenc An
"opiAi : l^Ab AninAim nA cboice. Ini-p "PoAib a^a cAiA-OAt).
UemAip rijAi p^Aib 1 -poi\]AomA"6. Ui|a UAibbcen AnAi^np^e co
b]\Ac, ocu^Mpi An ci^\pen btip oenAC cbnice cen nbep p-bAicio]'
A Uem^AAij; octip 1a -oejinAC An AonAij, in p-bAiu nACAf
pwijp-i bi-o cvi]\ If An bbiAX)Ainpn. II0 jep ^Ab p-oAc co-j^Aibpe
Annn, ob in -o^aai, ocu-p no iAAi]\n5e|\u ; An tin jAiiAin \\o jef
All cboc ipe"0 bion ^ai^ biA-p "ooc fiob co bpiAc. Tli bA me
not) I'boin'op'e "oeic, ob in "opAi.
AinbACA]A ie]\nin, conACOCAiA, ciaic moi]A iiTnnAciiAi]\c, connA
p-e-oocA^A ci"0 "OO cocAp Ap met) An t)o^ACU t)upnAinecc; conco-
Iaca^a cpediAn in niApcAi^ a]\ a nAintif. 1TloA-p niAipc tDinnn,
ob Conn, t)iAnA iaaiccai a ci|a nAiniuib. 1e]Apn t)obbeci An
mA-|ACAC C|A1 0]ACOpA CUCAl, ociif if cpAit)e t)tifnAnAic in
copcoiA t)e5enAc inAp [in] cofclioiA coipec. 1-p t)o jum ^15
erh, o|v in t)piAi, cibe t)ibpAiciu-p Conn a UenipAij. Awc^x> lAf-
APPENDIX. 619
pn An tii<\]\CAc 'oin "oibjAACCA-o, 0011]" cic cuca, ocuf |.'e]\Ai]" cxxvin.
fAitci y\\'[ Conn, octi|" conjAjxc te-p "oia r\\eh. 'OufcocAjA ia- ^jj^j^jj^,
|uim con-ou^ jaaIai i]'in niAg nAtAint). ConAciicA]\ An ^vi^-iaaic account of
inpn 0CUI" bib 6\\x)<s inA "oopAi^, octip conACArA]\ cec nAtAint) anScZi.
nAnn 1:0 occac -pin'O^itiine, -oeic cjuvigi-o ]:icic a ]:o"o. "Loca^a
lA^aim '^yn^ [cij], conACACA]i An injen mAcoAccAipn roi^ ocu]"
bA^\l\ 0]',-OA yO\\ A liniblAC. 'OAbAC AIjICTO, CO C1|\ctAlb OjA-OA
nnpe, ocu|' p tAn "oo •oe]i5-tin-o ; ej^qiAi oi]i ]:o]\ a u]\; copAii
"oi oji yo]\ A beolAi. ConACACAji An yciX, po-oepn ipn C15 fO]\
A cinn inA ]n5-]nii"oe. Hi pnc a Uem]idic -jAiAm |:e]\ a ine'oe,
nAc A cAOinie; a-^ Aitbe a c|ioca, a]\ in^AncA a x)eu'LtiA.
P]Ai]^5e]\cp-oe -ooib octip Acbe^ic pnti : 11i"oom pcAb-pA em,
octiy nToom ti|ic^\Ac ocnp -oom iii]TOe]\ciip *ouib; u\]\ inbA-p "Oo
■oeocA'OAp, ocnp ip "oo cineb AtDAini 'oaiiiii : ippe mo pbon-OA-o,
Lti^ iTiAC e-'obenx), mic Uije^\nmAi-p. ^y x)6 -oo 'oecbA'ouf
conecmp 'oe'ope pAeg^b "oo ybACAti pen, octip cac pbACAi biAp
A Uem^vAic. Ocuy bA y\ An ingen boi i]'in C15 yoy a cion-o
ybAicuip 6-|\enn co pi\Ac.
t)A p An ingen -oo be]ic An "oiceT) -00 Cont) .1. "OAin-ApnA,
octip co]\c-A]mAi. CecjM qvAijix) pcic pot) An "OAiii-ApnA; occ
cpAip-o ici]\ A rviAim ocii]' cAbAm. 1n cAn buTO An injen
•oon X)Aib At)be]\c p]\iLi: Cia "oa cibepicA-p An Ai]At)eocpA?
'PpifCA]\c An pcAb copo pbuin'op'oe cac pbAic o Cunt) co bpAc.
LocAp A popcAt) An pcAib conA pACAicpecAp An pAC nAC An
cec. ■poppAcbAt) biA Cont) in t)AbAi5, ocnp in c-e]x]\Ai opt)A,
ocnp Ant) Ai|\[-o]ecb. 1p t)epin aua ^ipbing An[ScAib octip
egcpAi, ocnp cAp5]\Ait)e Cnint*.
CiA pop A nt)Aibpit)ip An Aipt)ec]V\, copAn t)ep5-'LAir:? ob 111
ingen. 'OAib tie, pop in ScAb, pop Cont) cet)-CACAc .1. cet)
cAc-pAi b]\i|Yiiip; cAecAc bbiAt»Ain nAmA t)o t)o caic, no t)o
lbt)A. 'Pl|\f1t) CACA .1. CAC ^peg, CAC Cbl, cac ^ICe, CAC
IIIacai, cac Cint)-cip ; pecc cacai llloi^i Line, cac CtiAib^ne;
pecc CACA CbAipme, ecc.
A compAc Am Uib]u\ici
Cec bec-comnA]\c Anuit)e,
1pe 5it)nice]\ ac tibingi
Ha pbiiAg biAp bAp]nnt)e.
"OippAn t)o Conn cet)-CACAC
lAp nApcenet) tipecb-mA^,
5oncAp, lAp cimcebb cech piiif,
IDlA mA1]\C A UtlAC ClTl]1t)ip.
CiA poppA nt)Aibpt)i]i in Ai]\[t)]ecpA cup in tiejig-pbAic [read
bAic], op in in^en. "OAib t)e, op in ScAb. i:o]\ <\pc niAC Cuint).
"Pep cpi ngpecA.
G20
APPENDIX.
CXXVIIl,
Ancient
account of
tlie Baili
an UliM.
ppi-i-o CAt 'pit>iuii|" nuvcAin 1Tltic]AAiine,
1iiu\ coeu]'AX) iiuMivbiti.
\)^^ X)-[\\yAy\ Xio A]\c iiiac Ctnnx)
Cu meic -AitefLA Oltnni.
'OlA'OA|raom -[TICTO cac
A cAoctif "La 1^1 1 LtijAc.
U]ucA btiA'OAin iiAinA
In cAn no "ooc ib'OAA.
[translation].
A duy that Conn was in Temair after the destruction of the kings,
he went up at early [morning] upon the royal rath of Temair^ at the
rising of the sun; and his three druids along with him, namely, Maol,
Bloc, Bhuicne; and his three poets, namely, JEthain, Corh, Cesarn.
The reason that he Avent up there every day -with that number, to
view all the points [of the heavens] was, in order that hill-meu
[fairy-men] should not rest upon Erinn unperceived by him. The
spot that he always frequented, he happened to meet a stone there
under his feet, and he stood upon it. The stone screamed under his
feet so as that it was heard all over Temair, and over Bregh [or
Bregia]. Then Conn asked of his druids what the stone screamed
for, what was its name, and where it came from and where it should
go to, and Avhat broixght it to Temair S^^'^^
What the druid said to Conn Avas, that he Avould not tell till the
end of fifty daj^s and three. AVhen the number had ended. Conn
asked the druid again. It was this the druid said : '■'■Fed is the name
of the stone. It was out of the Island of Foal it was brought. It
was in Temair of the Land of Fal it was set up. In the land of
Tailltin it shall abide for ever ; and it is that land that shall be the
sporting fair- green as long as there shall be sovereignty in Temair;
and the last day of the fair, the sovereign who does not Avitness it,
there shall be hardness in that year. Fal has screamed under thy
feet this day, said the druid, and prophesied ; the number of calls
Avhich the stone has screamed is the number of kings that shall
come of thy seed for ever: It is not I that shall name them for
thee", said the druid.
As they Avere there, after this, they saAv a great mist all roiuid,
so that they kneAV not Avhere they Avent, from the greatness of the
darkness Avhich had come ; and they heard the noise of a horseman
approaching them. " It AA^ould be a great grief to us", said Conn, " if
Ave should be carried into an unknoAvn country". After this the
horseman let fly three throAvs [of a spear] at them, and the last
throAV came with greater velocity than the first throAV. " It is the
wounding of a king, indeed", said the druid, " Avhoever shoots at Conn
in Temair". The horseman then desisted from the shooting, and came
to them, and bade welcome to Conn, and he took them A\ith him to
(258) It will be perceived below that this question is not answered by the druid ; the stone,
howevtr, had been brouglit to Temair by the Titatha Di Danann.
APPENDIX. G21
his house. They went forward then until they entered a beautiful cxxviii.
plain. And they then saw a kingly rath and a golden tree at its .
door ; and they saw a splendid house in it, under a roof-tree of uccoimt of
Findruine; thirty feet was its length. They then went into the anscdii^
house, and they saw a young woman in the house with a diadem of
gold upon her head ; a silver kieve with hoops of gold by her, and it
full of red ale ; a golden can [escni] on its edge ; a golden ciip at its
mouth. They saw the Seal [champion]] himself in the house before
them, in his king's seat. There was never found in Temair a man
of his great size, nor of his comeliness, for the beauty of his form,
the wonderfulness of his face.
He spoke to them and said to them : " I am not a Seal indeed, and
I reveal to thee part of my mystery and of my renown : It is after
death I have come ; and I am of the race of Adam ; Lug, son of
Edlenn, son of Ttghernmas, is my name. What I have come for is,
to reveal to thee the life of thine own sovereignty, and of every
sovereign who shall be in Temair". And the maiden who was in the
house before them was the sovereignty of Erinn for ever.
It was this maiden that gave the two articles to Conn, namely, an
ox-rib and a hog -rib. Twenty-four feet was the length of the ox-
rib ; eight feet between its arch and the ground. When the maiden
came to distribute the drink, she said to them : " Who shall this bowl
be given to ?" The Seal ansAvered, that every sovereign from Conn
down for ever would be named. They went from out of the shadow
of the Seal, and they did not perceive the rath nor the house. The
kieve was left with Conn, and the golden escra, and the bowl. It is
from this have come the " Vision [£aile^ of the Seal, and the ad-
venture and journey of Conn". [There is something irregular here,
as this paragraph ought to be the end of the tale.]
" "Wlio shall this bowl with the red ale be distributed to ?" said the
maiden. " Distribute of it", said the Seal, " to Co7in of the hundred
battles : that is, he will gain an hiuidred battles. Fifty years shall he
spend Avhen he shall die. He Avill fight battles, namely, the battle
of Bregh; the battle of Eli; the battle of Aiche; the battle of
Macha; the battle of Cenn-tire; seven battles in Magh-Line; the
battle of Cuailgne; seven battles in Cldirine, etc.
" In his combat Avith Tipraite,
Though unequal in strength, their advance ;
It is he that shall be Avounded Avhile cleaving
The hosts that shall accompany him.
" Woeful for Conn of the hundred battles.
After having paved Dreeh-Mhagh,
He is killed, after having gone round all the bays,
On Tuesday in Tuath Eemruis".
" Who shall this boAvl with the red ale be distributed to ?" said the
maiden. " Distribute of it", said the Seal, " to Art, the son of Conn.
A man of three shouts".
G22
APPENDIX.
CXXVIII.
Ancient
account of
tlie Baili
an Scdil.
" He shall fight the battle of Fidh-Ros, the morning of Mucriiimhe,
In which shall fall great Avarriors,
It will be woeful to Art the son of Conn,
With the sons of OiliU Oluim.
" Upon Thursday he fights the battle
In which he falls by the sons of Lughaidh.
Thirty years only (shall he reign)
At the time that he shall be slain".
Flann.
APPENDIX No. CXXIX. [Lect. XVIII., Pages 389, 390.]
Reference to Original of staiiztt, referring to the l3Aite ah ScaiI, in the Poem
scdii,^^ on the succession of the Kings of Tara, hij "ptAnn UlAinii^-
TZYBC, from the Book of Leinster; H. 2. 18., T.C.D.; fol. 98,
{'62nd stanza); and original of first line of the same Poem.
ITlA^Ab lAjAflA -|M5A 'oon cfbo^,
e-oco min-^bAn 111 u 5111 et) on,
1xO p^AA-O, CTO C]\UC Albe,
1vo ^x|\ibA'o ifpn ScAb-bAibe. —
II15 Ueiii]\A tDiA ce^^bAiTO cnu. —
Poem by
King Art.
APPENDIX No. CXXX. [Lcct. XVIIL, Page 391.]
Original of first line of the ^^Projyhetic^ Poem ascribed to A]\x:
" the Lonely', son of Conn {from l/eAbAjA nA b-tli-6]Ae,
R.I.A.,folll).
CAin "oo 'OennA 'oen.
APPENDIX No. CXXXI. [Lect. XIX., Page 392.]
asciTbecuo ^'"^'^^'^laZ of the heading and coimnencement of a Prophecy of
St. Patrick, ascribed to pmn IIIac CuniAitb (from a vellum
MS. in T.C.I)., classed H. 3. 17,;>. 835).
Fi7in lUac
Cumhaill.
■puTO llA biMi'cne ceciniu, occ
cAii\cec<xt pAc|\Aic, 111 C<M1 'OO ]\o-
c1u\ii\ 'ooti'o ieic Vo-p A cAinc [111
■LobA|\?] U\|\pi1 CO lieiMITO.
Tli(^> ino cof]'A e^'ce ^recov'o
A)\f''^ mm iie^c •nAi)\cniif,
Aclic''^^ cLoch ■otortiAif p5V^i''i'''''o
l^ecc^**) CATo cAifelbuAi co n^pok-
•OAib^^-'noeb Spi]\<xc<x.
111^*") yuilAHig Mrye c\.'\]\]ou treotAToe
■piAiTO "Oeo-cyvAicecTi.
Aixuf^^-i neAu 111'OAi'De -piM Aingeb 1
■(:j\ecnA|\cu|', 1 ciiAii\'o ci\oni cnnt
cte^\e iiefnAt)Ac1i oc ppoce'pc,^''^
nioi\f'^ ■oAriA.
Co •n-A'obAT)CCAlb [A'obA'OAl'b] CIIITI-
[•oJACcAib, 'oiAtiibA liAinm aLcoij;
X>& upeojA-oAi, ci\en-b]AecAi5.
Finn, the grandson of Baiscn^, fore-
telling of Patrick, when he slipped
off the flag on which he afterwards
came to Erinn :
It is not through a path of crime my
foot has come/"^
For of strength I am not bereft,(W
But a stone rejects a Fenian king/*^)
A flag*^"^ ' which represents a cliaste
man with the dignities of the
Holy Spirit.^'-)
It will not bear God-grieving, fleshy,
Fenian bodies."'-'
A residence j^leasant,*^^) with Angels to
watch in presence [of the rock] in
the heavy circle of plaintive clerical
music, preachiug^'^.' a great^'' work.
With ornamented instrviments, whose
name is, the Altar of the all-direct-
hig, strong-judging God.
APPENDIX.
623
Ci\eipti Anne-pc ne|\c ninmoin ^^>
tlAniA 5IIA, 5|\AT)A15C1'D pnt) ■p|\-
iri'oe neni-p liuAi'o.i, )'0'|y<.\'o i'ui-
'onijA'o, -oiAneT) ^Mj-rinxje nem ;
'oiAni'o fO'pceme'L cAUini, aiii^iL
CO cu|\ ceoAc 1 CAcAip Ciiif cc.
Conui- TA'pcAjx CAilcenti c^en "oo-o
^c^re Jiilf oen A|\ c]\ec^e, conbiA
A cIiLaiih bicViriAi'oe ceii iiia^aa]'
Ciocli Coc|\Ai5e/i) Pac|\aic.
pine.
[ininin JA'o.]
(*) .1. til c)\i coe Ai^ce "ooivAinci]" mo
coif.
.1 . ni ImixcVipA nii\c pb of um.
(•=) .1. ACC If Cbocll fig "ftAtW f1f
■obomAif in cboc.
<'') .1. If CAiT) in CI 'oiAnAfcAf in'ef A
f A in cloic.
(^) .1. 'SfA'OA epfcoif).
(^ .1. ni fVniAinj cuf-pA nA p^^i'ii^
feoilniAf cf AitJic "OiA.
<*) .1. If AfUf nAicc nAinjeb bic ica
ifnAToe pAcfAic In fiAt)-
nAife nA bice.
C") .1. feAnmoif no ccAgAfc.
(') .1. nion ceifc.
('').i. •oiADAib. nminoin .1. AnmAin.
('li. Ainni Aibe -oo pACfAic Coc-
fAije.
[It is quite clear that there are two stones, or rather, a stone and
a rock, referred to in this curious ancient piece ; that is, if we
believe the heading to be correct, either in its first form, or vnih
my presumed correction. One of these was an altar stone, that
upon which either Patrick or the leper came to Erinn ; and the
other the celebrated Rock of Cashel, which to this day is called
Carraig Phatraic, or Patrick's Rock, but which was also anciently
called Leac Phatraic, or Patrick's Flag-stone. It is alluded to in
a popular oath imder that name — •oAf An bic pACf aic aca a cCAifeb :
"By the Leac Phatraic which is in Cashel". See the old tale
of ceipieAih injine siniibb ("the Grumbling of GoU's Daughter"),
a story of Feidhlim Mac Crimhthainn, king of Munster, who died
A.D. 845. The city called Core's City, where the angels Avere to
keep vigil for the coming of Patrick, was the City of Cashel, first
founded by Core Mac Lughach (who was king of ]\Iunster at the
time of Patrick's coming), he having been induced to do so by the
resort of angels to the place, as will be seen in the Note on Edith
Breasail (ante), Appendix III., p. 485.]
Its strength is more preyailing than ^p_ cxxxi.
the strength of the soul's false ene- — '- — '- '
my.^'') The lover of fair truth, the " Prnphecy"
illustrious Heavenly King, who on ascribed to
His throne sitteth; whose kingly F^mn Mac
throne is Heaven, whose footstool
is the Earth. Angels seeking Him
shall be in Core's City.
Until comes the powerful Tailcenn,
who will heal every one who shall
believe; whose children shall be
perpetual as long as Cothraiff/ie's,'^^
Patrick's, Rock shall live. Finis.
[gloss.]
(a' i.e., it is not through a path of crime
I have brought my foot,
(b) i.e., it is not decay of strength that
is on me.
(") i.e., but it is the stone of a Fenian
king which the stone rejects.
('') i.e., he is a chaste person for whom
comes my refusal by the
stone.
(^) i.e., the dignities of a bishop.
C) I.e., it will not bear the bodies of
the fleshy Fianns who grieve
God.
^''> i.e., it is a pleasant residence with
the angels who are watching
for Patrick in presence of
the flag.
*'') i.e., a sermon or instruction.
^') i.e., of great right,
f'') i.e., of the devil. Ninmoin; i.e., a
soul.
C' i.e., another name for Patrick is
Cothraighe.
624 APPENDIX.
APPENDIX No. CXXXII. [Lect. XIX., Page 395]
"Prophecy" Original of stanzas in one of the ^^Ossianic'^ Poems, containing a
poemf'''^'' ''Prophecy' ascribed to pnn HUc CuiiiAiU {MS. H. 1. 11,
^?,?ir T.C.D.,p.in).
11 1 *oo i' All-in e line CiimAit'L,
1mA]i clAijingin An \\\^ co ]\ac,
-Aingit 50 pH *0A A-OIAAX).
O. Inneoi^AT) -otnu i^eAl 50 5^111111,
A phACjiAic CAi-o true CAtp]\Ainii,
AgA]" bA CjAAX) tet)' Cj^AOl'Oe,
5<-\c •oaL aca a ccAi]\n5i^\e.
Sui-oe "oo ]\inn pnin cai^i,
O^" jlinn A5 DeniiAib e-OAi)i,
50 -p]:ACAi'6 neAt 'ou'b acuai-o,
'Oo n'n'ic Ci^Ae ■\\e ViAon-UAi^v
* *****
"Oo |\oi"beA]\c CAOitce cpAOToe,
lie pinn oi]roei]\c AbiiiAine,
UAbAi|\ co]to65 -pot)' "oeAT) y\\-
^]- 11A teig i^inn a nei-|^li]".
V- U^wiA^ pii A CliAoitce c]\Aoix)e,
If ciAn tiAic in CAi]\n5i]\e,
H1e|"C|''Ait) 'OAnAip CA]\ iiuii]\ ineAnn,
A nuibc i:o]\ i^eA^AAit) Cii\ec\nn.
******
Pev\]A "01 A 'OA]\t)c\oin cei*6 a]^a cceAnn,
Otc An iA]n-nAi]\r "o'iac Gi^^eAnn,
111 AC 111n]\chAt)A, An 'OlAbAt "OU^l,
Da pAl!)A]\uA e a]\ nnnpn-o.
APPENDIX No. CXXXIII. [Lect. XIX., Page 897.]
ascrib'Jd''to ' Original of stanza containing the '■'•Prophecy'' attributed to the
the Druid l)ruid of King l^AeJAi]\e; with the ancient Gloss, {from
Laeghairi. the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick; my copy, ^. 21 ; 31 S.
Egerton 93, British Museum, p. 6.) \_See also Appendix
No. CXXVIL, p. 617].
UicyA cAibcent),'^^^
Ua]a itiui]\ niei]\cenn,
A bjiAcc cott-cenx),
A chjAAn'o^''^ c]Aom-c1ientD
A miAf^"^ in Aijiuhitip a ci^i,
"PliepepAC huiti. -Amen, Ainen^
[Gloss:] ("^ .1. p<!kCi\<Mc, i.e., Patrick.
w .1. bACAli 1p niA Lc\ini, i.e., the staff of Jesus in his hand.
("^^ A Alco1I^, i.e., his altar.
APPENDIX. 625
APPENDIX No. CXXXIV. [Lect XIX., Page 399.] cxxxiv.
Original of the first line of the ^''Prophetic' Poem attributed "Prophetic'
to St. CAitUn (MS. 3. 64:, p. 6; Hodges and Smith Col- stcaunyi.
lection, R.I.A.).
'* Q■^]\e oil, oiteii Ain^et.
APPENDIX No. CXXXV. [Lect. XIX., Page 399.]
Original of first sentence of the ^''Prophecy' attributed to tDe^ "Prophecy"
rtlAc "O^ {Harleian MS. 5280, British Museum, p. 62). ^^f/^. "
IS iTiAi|A5 cliAipgeubAi A hAi]Ai|'ne a tuc cini riA ii5<^i"oet,
in TTIAC A trOIAI-O A ACAU All A\\X) tTlAclUM.
APPENDIX No. CXXXVI. [Lect. XIX., Page 400.]
Original of stanza of a '•'■Prophecy' attributed to St. CoitiiTi "Prophecies"
Citte, quoted in the fragment of the Wars of the Danes, fost^coiim
in the ''Booh of Leinster'' {the MS. classed as H. 2. 18, ""^■
T.C.D.,fol.2ll a. a).
1n ioin^e-p fAm IocaIIi,
1T1aic -oo ino-nAX) ^Att ^erici
bit) tlA"Olb AbAT) Al|TOmACA,
iDit) [i:]ot'LAiTinAcc An^rbAcliA.
The following is the original of the first verse of the Poem in
which the stanza occurs, {3fS. H. 1. 10, T.C.D.; p. 157).
Gi-pu |\ioin A t)liAoiciri buAin,
Le 511 c mo ctinc in 1 At)];uAi|\
50 nin-Qipm iA]\]"ot)Ain
A "ocij ):]MA TDeijiet) 'ooriiAin.
'appendix No. CXXXVII. [Lect. XIX., Page 401.]
Original of stanza of TnAOibin 65 tllAC biiUAHDeA-OA, referring
to the last-mentioned "■Prophecy" {Annals of the Four Masters,
A.D. 1599).
'Oo bAi 1 n-OAn 1 ntDioJAib Oibi^,
A Ao-b tluAib, "OO ]iec An yATo
Uocc bA|i -ptviAij 50 biAc in1u\5 'i^'t'^it* ;
-AcUAIt) lApCA-p CAbA1]1 CA1 j.
APPENDIX No. CXXXVIII. [Lect. XIX., Page 406.]
Original of first stanza of a second '■'Prophetic''' Poem attributed
to St. Cobum Ciite {MS. 1. 75, p. 14, Hodges and Smith
Collection, P. I. A.).
Q^yz luoiTi a bbAoicin bAm,
A UAj-Aib An p6|;-c]AAbAT6
40
626 APPENDIX.
cxxxYiii. ^o ^Aomnipnn, |-ac jait -jJ-eAlt
"Prophecies" V'Oy JAC -OaIa le CoIIaII.
attributed
to St. Colum —
CU16.
APPENDIX No. CXXXIX. [Lect. XIX., Page 407.]
Original of first line of a third ^'■Prophetic'' Poem attributed
to St. Colum Ciite {]\1S. 1. 75, p. 19, Hodges and Smith
Collection, P. I. A.).
Ha r]\i Cuinn a]\ i'tiocc aii IIuai-o.
APPENDIX No. CXL. [Lect. XIX., Pages 409, 410.]
Original of first stanza of a fourth ^^Projyhetic' Poem attributed
to St. Colum CiUe {31S. H. 1. 10, p. 161, Library T.C.D.).
UeAmAi]; u|\eA5, ■CeAiiu\i]t Djaca^,
51 "o lionriiAiA tib lion a "jreAiA,
11 1 CI An 50 mbiA 'tiA yAi^AC
5e ACA p Ainu A 1'A]W"6.
Same Appendix and page. Original of the first stanza of St.
Colum Cilles fifth Prophetic Poem, addressed to St. Bearchan
{MS. H. 1. 10, T.C.I)., p. 116).
UiocjTAit) Aimpn A tDlieApcAin,
l-p bo obc beAc beic 111 Gipinn ;
Deit) riA -piAjtA jAnnA,
t)A -pAnriA iiA meic beigmn.
Same Aj^pendix and page. Original of the first stanza of St.
Colum Cilles sixth Prophetic Poem, {MS. 1. 75, p. 27,
Hodges and Smith Collection, R.I.A.).
tllo ceAti 'Duic A ceAccAi]ie
Ulng A]" ceA^Ai-p II15 llime;
O]" -pAm' *6ein ci^i-pe,
1le TDiA bei^Mm a bui-oe.
Same Appe7idix, p. 410. Original of the first line of St. Colum
Cilles Prophetic Poem on the filial disposition of his own
body (MS. 2. 52, p. 414, Hodges and Smith Collection,
R.I.A.).
Uioc]:ai*6 lllAiTOAjA riA m6]\ bong.
APPENDIX. 627
APPENDIX No. CXLI. [Lect. XX., pp. 412, 413, 414, 416.] app. cxli
Original of three stanzas of a Poetical " Prophecy'' ascribed to "f'""?''^]^*'
St. \)e]\CA\^, quoted in the Tract on the " TFars of the Danes'\ st Berchdn.
in the ''Book of Leinster' {the MS. classed as H. 2. 18,, T.C.D.,
fol 217 a. a.).
Uic]:Ait: ^sii^i 'o»^]\ iinii]\ niAtt,
1lleix]:Aic i:o]\ ];e]\AiTO hG]\en'o,
\y\X) tlA-Olb AbAt) yO]^ CAC Cltt,
\)\-o uA-oib x\e\\c \o\\ e-]\iiTO.
Seen nibtiAX)nA -ooib, iii ]:eit)mi:AiTO,
In A|\"o--ni5i 11 A h&iAeAnt),
1ll AbtDAine CACA citti, —
*Oo 5&i"'cib "Oum 'Ouibtinm.
IDiaix) AbAt) iro^un Chibtp "oe,
til co^e^uv -o'lA^Miie^v^e,
CaII pACl-|\ CAII C]\et)A,
Caii Lauiii, acc 5^\tt-bentA.
Same Ajypendix, jy. 413. Original of the first stanza of St.
JBerchans ''Prophetic'' Poem, of which the above quotation
forms stanzas 7, 8, 9 {MS. 3. 59, p. 57, Hodges and Smith
Collection, R.I.A.): —
-Ai|\if bcAj A line bi^ bAiii,
Si^x i::jAiA liA^AttAim l)beA]\CAiii,
Co CApC C]10^" "OAJAX)' beAb b 11111
CojiAc beAiniGAXD "oom bACAibt.
Same Appendix, p. 413. Origbml of the tenth stcmza of the
preceding "Prophetic'^ Poem of St. Berclmn.
"PojAljA-Oe CO CIOCJTAIX) 111AC
ChAb]1A]" A buAII-OACC
5^11 neA]ic 5<^^^ 5° b]iAC b^iA]',
5 A eif A 11*01111 'Oa LcacjIa]".
Same Appendix, p>. 414. Original of the twelfth stanza of the
preceding "Prophetic''' Poem of St. Berchan.
-AbjAA-o noAc i:|ii niAc -Ao-oa,
l^jii CotniAn iiio|i me cAoiiiriA,
til CA ACC 'OAb ini-p o nocc,
50 n-"oec "oo 65, iia tongpoiic.
Same Appendix, p>. 416. Original of the ninety-seventh stanza
of the same "Prophetic'^ Poem of St. Berchan, being the frst
stanza of iJie second part.
AcAljl niAC, 1^" Spi]MJC llAOlil,
40 b
628 APPENDIX.
App. cxLi. IpAT) AiDiAAim yo]\ Aon ;
, „ ^ . „ 1r AniAiiAC cei*o An ceAt,
"Prophecies ' ' ' '
attributed to PaCIIAIC IIIACA, 11111111 ■ceAIIHinAlX).
St. Berehdn. ' ' ' O
APPENDIX No. CXLII. [Lect. XX., Page 417.]
Original of first line of a second ^'"Projjhetic" Poem attributed to
St. l3e|icAii (3IS. 3. 59, Hodges and Smith Collection, R.I. A.;
p. 90).
fnAjicAin CA]1 iTi'eif 'o'Ci^nnii haiiii.
APPENDIX No. CXLIII. [Lect. XX., Page 417 ]
Original of verse quoted from a so-called ^^ Prophecy" of St.
De^icAii by 1;re|i):e'p|'A O'CLe^ng {Annals of the Four Masters,
A.D. 1598).
A ccAc A11 AcA l3ui"6e,
Ay Iai]' ciiic]re ha "OAnAiii,
1aji iToiciu^A-o AttiiniiiieAc,
IDto ^^AOitit) p^i 6 'Clio]\Ai5.
APPENDIX No. CXLIV. [Lect. XX., Page 417.]
Original of first stanza of a ^^ Prophetic'' Poem attributed to
St. \)e]\cA^^ (but believed to have been icritten by Ua-o^
O'TleAccAin, about 1716) {MS. 2. 11, Hodges and Smith
Collection, R.I.A.; p. 10).
UiocfA jiobA-o "oei-p 'oibonn,
IIIa^i -|"A0i1ini 1 n1ni]" Cijiior.r),
Cm^ipof "o^ieAin cum nnoy-olumri
Le jAnb-cuinii Loca Sitionn.
APPENDIX No. CXLV. [Lect. XX., Page 420.]
T^e. Baiu Original of commencement of the l)Ai'Le ITlhotint: (MS. H. 2.
At;be|iiiii ]w\) A ■LAigniu.
Til x)o clmit) cuittnn c1iAi'obi]i
CoiinecATo bA^ c]\ic1ia ^-ein,
'Oo pc]:AC coiXAi]\ "oo cliein.
"Pencil Aitce^i bib, "oo-p pb iDiiib,
■pe^i^Ab niAicb rriAG IllAibe'ouin,
"Oo i-'Aecb ACAib ua cAem Cuiiro,
1 CAcb AbiriAine AX)buiiiX).
APPENDIX.
629
Aex) Alhsr\ coriA cViAcliAib app. cxly.
U15 t)0 -OlgAll A AcVlAjA ; The Baili
"PAicebcluv^A -putTo Ia h-Aexi meiTo, Mhoung.
\y biAit) i:Aen 1 pt) Cluiitterro.
APPENDIX No CXLVI. [Lect. XX., Page 422.]
Oriqinal of first stanza containing the so-called ^'■Prophecy'' <^/ attr'if'tTt
Se-oiiA {MS. H. 1. 15, T.C.D.; p. 961). &t.sedna.
'6^A\\\ |Mom A SVieA'onA,
SceAtA X)ei|AeA"6 "ooiiiAin,
CionnA-]^ biAi" An bine ;
TIac boiH5 p|\e A mbeACA.
APPENDIX No. CXLVII. [Lect. XX., Page 423.]
Original of first line of Poem by 'OoiimAbb 111 ac tjpuAi'oeA'OA
{circa 1570), referring to the so-called '■'■Prophecy'''' attributed
Sex)nA {MS. 1. 57, Hodges and Smith Collection, P.I. A.;
p. I).
CiA Af 1'me CAi]\c A]A c|\ic tieibb.
APPENDIX No. CXLVIII. [Lect. XX., Page 423.]
Original of first ivords of so-called '•^Prophecy" attributed ^0 "Prophecy"
tllAebcAlilbACCA {MS. H. 1. 10, T.C.D.; p. 167). loMael-
^ 1 . «, 1 ^ . -I • tamhlachta.
AoA\\\ A mnAoibcAmLAccA.
APPENDIX No. CXLIX. [Lect. XX., Page 423.]
Original of passage from the Life of St. A-OAinnAn, {M.S. Vol. ^^^^^^^^]°^^
XI. 4190-4200, Burgundian Library, Brussels). namtAdam-
bA -00 fAin-'OAnAib A'OAmnAin p]\ocepc octif fro^AcecAb.
Ho p]AioccA"6 iA]\Ain ipn mbbiA'OAin "oeijenAc a bediAit),
conue]\cA'o yocbAToi inion -peib n-Com p "oo yei\Aib 6]\enn
ocup AbbAn. no cACAijex) occbAech AnAicni*6 50 CobniAn
C]\UACAn Ai^be .1. AncA-juv boi 1 ConnAccAib, ocup no Aif-
neToe-o in c-occbAec mo^i "oo ingAncAib "oo ChobniAn ; ocu]"
A]'be]ic n^iff : 1n cAi|\n5e|Aex) ADAmnAn i:ocai"oi "oY^I^-ai^
C]\enn ocu]" AbbAn imon "peib n-Goin p? U6, ob CobniAii.
bi-o p-\\ tDono, ob in"OoccbAec, i]^! in ^ocAitJi, A-OAinnAn "oo
cecc 'Dociim mine imon "Peib n-Coin p.
APPENDIX No. CL. [Lect. XX., Page 424.]
Original of the " Vision' of St. A-OAinnAn {from thr LeA^Aji J^'gY^f""
tT16]i 'OunA "OoijiAe, novj called LeAbAH D]\eAc; R.I.A., Adamnan.
fol. 129. b. b.).
tJipo quAe ui-oic A"OAmnAnii^' iii]i Spiiucii SAncro pbenii]'
boo epc Anjebni" X)oniini "Oixic bAec ue]\bA eiup ibbum
630
APPENDIX.
The "Vision'
of Siiiiit
Adamnan,
Waq UAe tii]iif hibe]\riiA infotAe mAtroArA 'Oomini ciaavii'-
j^iA-oiencibuf . tiAe pegibu]" ec p^uncipibtii' <:|ui non t)i]Ai5tinc
unicAceni ec "oibigvinc in [?] ini<|UicAuem eu -lAApinAin. tlAe
•ooccopbui" •c^tn non 'oocenc tinicAcem ec conpenpnnc unicA-
cibui" inipe]Apecco]Auni. tUve iiie^nc^Aicibti]^ ec peccACOjAibu-p
cjui pictic poennin ec pcipnbuin conc]AemAbiincti]\ a bu]\A
i^nACA in Anno bipexcili ec embote^'mi ec in pine cipcubi
ec in "oecobbAcione loliAnip '0Auci|XAe. In pexcA pepiA
liAec pbAjA conuenic in itbo Anno nip •oeuocA poemcenciA
p]\ohibue]\ic lie TlinuencAe pecepunc.
Of the
disea'~e3
called the
BuUlhe
Choanaill
and Crom
Clwnnaill.
APPENDIX No. CLI. [Lect. XX., Page 425.]
Of the l3ui-6e ChonnAibt, and the Cponi ChonnAiti.
The character and cause, or material, of this fearful pestilence,
the Crom Chonnaill, has been at all times a difficulty to our old an-
nalists, and to such of our Avriters as have given the subject their
consideration. But as it has been no part of my plan in the course
of these lectvires to go out of my way to discuss opinions which did
not bear adversely on historical truth, I shall on this subject content
myself with simply recording the most curious and j^recise reference
to this pestilence which has hitherto appeared, except through my-
self. The mere fact I communicated some years ago to Mr.
W. R. Wilde, and he has published it in the " Report on Tables of
Deaths", of the Census of Ireland for 1851, page 416.
Among the numerous ancient and important Gaedhelic historical
tracts known as the Lives of the Saints of Erinn, there is a Life of
St. MacCreiche, the founder and patron of the interesting ruined
chiu'ch of cm MicCreiche, near the town of Inistimon, in my native
county of Clare. Like many of its class, it is a very curious docu-
ment, and one of great importance in the investigation of the
genealogies and topography not only of the north-western seaboard
of Clare and the Arrann Islands, but of the counties of Kerry and
Tipperary, and of much of the southern portion of Connacht.
MacCreiche was a native of the present barony of Corcomroe, in
Clare, and paternally of the same race as the O'Conors and
O'Lochlainns of that country ; but his mother Avas a native of
Kerry. He Avas the contemporary and friend of St. Ailbhe of Ivdiuch.
[Emly], and the foster-father and tutor of St. Manchin, the founder
of Cill Manchin, (now called St. Munchin's), in the city of Limerick.
When the Crom Chonnaill pestilence was raging, about the year
544, the liife tells us in this short passage that,
1p Annpn cAn^ACAp ceccA o ChiAp^iAi^e Ap cent) TDlieic
Cpeice, CO ntDecbi^At) "oo "oion^mAib pbAiji "oiob, Ap bA 'oiob
A TTiACAip; ocnp bA hi An pl-Aig ifin .i. An Cbpoin ChonnAibt,
APPENDIX. 631
]\o bAi Ag "|:o]A'b-Aip ]:o]i]AA hi 1Tliii^ t1tc\'6. 'Cei'o ITIac C]\eice app. cli.
<MiiAc A]\ bvMX), ocuy ]\o bArA]\ C'u\]\]u\i5e mie Vii llluij iltA'6 q^ ^^^
A]\ A cmn. Gijigic uite ]\oirhe, octif cui]\ic popcAOin ^ai tee (diseases
Vl"r- S^^^^M^ ITIaC CjAeiCe AJ^A CA]ipAC, OCU^p X)0 JAb ]"01]"- Jitudhe
celA ocu]" tinriAije impA, ocup -oo ]\oine p^Aocepc bjAeicjAe 'Oe anTcrom
•ooib ; ocui' "oo r]\oipcpec uite .1. HIac Cueice ociip CiA-jipAi^e chonaui.
in o)"6ce pin, ocup -00 ponA-o u\m Aippmn "ooib A]\AbApAch.
1p Annpin cAn;5ArA]\ cpi meic Cvnicmne .1. C]\1 meic b]\v\cAp
riiACA]\ nilieic Cpeice po bAi coip acc 11aic ITluige. A^ cecc
Anoip "ooib, puce An Chponi ChonnAitb oppA, ocup "oo cuic-
peACAp be, Accpiup b]\ACAp. UiJA]\CAi'b TTIac Cpeice a pmn-
pAToeAC AnAipx)e acc pAiccpm a bpAicpec rriApb. tViop ciAn
tjoib Ann conACAUAp pAignen cenet) "00 tlini cuca, octip
ctucix) Ap in Cptiim ChonnAitb, 50 n-oejinA tnin ocup tuAic
X)1 A]\ bebAib An cptuAij. SteccAix) uite, ^]^&]' An pipe pin, -oo
inhAC C]ieice. Coni-6 "oe pin aca 'Pe]\c Ctoinne Cuitcmne,
ocup UA C]\uime ConnAitt Ap III015 lltA-o.
[translation.]
It was then came messengers from Ciarraighe [Kenymen] for
Mac Creiche, requesting him to go to ward oiF the plague from them,
because his mother Avas of them. And this phigue was the Cro7ii
Chonnaill, which was attacking them in Magh (IladhS-^'^^ MacCreiche
went with them, and all the Cicwraighe were in Magh Ulaclh to
meet him. They all arose and bade him a truly hearty welcome.
MacCreiche vfas received out of his chariot. He recited the Gospel
and prayers around them, and he preached the Avord of God unto
them, and they all fasted, — that is MacCreiche and the Ciarraighe, —
that night ; and there Avas Office and ISIass performed for them on
the next day. It \va^ then that the three sons of Cuilcinn came —
that is, the three sons of the brother of MacCreiche^ s mother, Avho
Avere to the east at Raith MiiigheS^^"^ At their coming from eastwards
the Crom Chonnaill oA^ertook them, and they fell by it, the three
brothers. MacCreiche raised his Finnfaiclhech^'^'^^'' on high at seeing
his kinsmen dead. They Avere not long there afterAvards until they
saAV a fiery bolt from Heaven coming toAvards them, and it fell on
the Ci'om Chonnaill, so that it reduced it to dust and ashes in the
presence of the people. And it is therefore that the mound [or
grave] of the sons of Cuilcinn and of the Cruim Chonnaill is upon
Magh Uladh.
That the Crom Chonnaill Avas a living animal, or at least believed
(259) Magh Cladh, i.e., tlie jilain of the Ultonians. It received this name from the circum-
stauce of the Men of Ulster having encamped on it at the time of the murder by them of Curoi
MacDairi, liing of West Munster, and the destruction of liis court, tlie famous Calhair C'onroi,
whicli stood on the mountain above this plain, to the west of Tralee.
(260) Raith Muighe. — This I believe was Raith Afuighe Tuaisceirt, or northern Rathmoy,
now Rattoo, seven miles west of Listowel, on the road from Tralee to Ballybunnian.
(261) Finnfaidhech, i.e., " the Fair Sounding". This was the name of one of St. Patrick's
most sacred and celebrated bells ; but the name appears to have been also given by some of
his disciples and successors to their own favourite bells, as in the present case.
632
APPENDIX.
Arp. CLT. to have been sucii, would appear clear enough from the passage
just quoted ; but farther on in this curious Life, where some of the
acts of the saint are summed up in verse, the fact is stated still
more clearly, as may be seen in the following stanzas : —
Of tlie
diseases
called the
Bnidhe
Chonaill
and Crom
Chonaill.
\)A iA]Afin no cecliAing
In I'ec focLA -pubAc,
triAc Choice A]\ n^riAc-blA,
50 rnAciAA 1111015 UiAt).
"b^ TiAnnpn •oo iMJne,
1n "ppc, -pAT) in ctiAic
tnA]\DAif An cli]\oni chonnAibl,
bAi A5 bjAontJA-o An cpbuAij.
It was afterwards he went, —
The famous, pleasant Jewel! —
Mac Creich^, our constant theme, —
To his maternal kindred in Magh
Uladh.
It was there he performed
The miracle before the people ;
He kills the Crom Chonnaill,
Which was destroying the hosts.
It may be further stated that the Gaedhelic word Crom, or Crinrij
signifies literally a maggot ; while the word Connall signifies lite-
rally the yellow stubble of corn. This word differs from Conall, a
man's name, only in its being spelled with double n, while the proper
name has but a single n. It is a remarkable fact that the name
of the celebrated idol of the ancient pagan Gaedhil was Crom
Cruach, which would signify literally, the " Bloody Maggot" ; whilst
another idol, or imaginary deity, in the western parts of Connacht,
was called Crom Dubh, or the " Black Maggot", Avhose name is still
connected with the first Sunday of August in Munster and Connacht.
The Buidhe Chonnaill, or "^stubble yellow", would appear to be the
name of a particular disease of the jaundice kind, but not produced
or accompanied by the presence of any animal like a maggot or fly.
APPENDIX No. CLII. [Lect. XX., Page 426.]
ta^'hescuac Original of passage in the "Le^bAp mop "OuriA 'Ooijpe/oZ. 111.
aFanait. b.h. {in the R.I. A., commonly called the LeAbAp tDpeAc),
concerning the " ScuAp a "PAriAic".
1f AtiAim-pip -oini, 'pblAin'o CbinATO ncc 111 Tlocb TlArriAcb,
ocuf in ScuAp ApAriAit), ociif in SAi^nen cennci^e. CtiAcb
Cpuicipe, inAC Sniip-ouib, mic Srtu\it, pij riA cpi 1loff , a Si"o
iDAne. 'Oobtui'o CtiAcb lApum -oo cochup inline DuTob a
Sto Ap pemin. D01 lAppm btiA'OAin bAn oc 'peintn a cpuici
fpiA Si-o Amuij, ocup ni pocc nibu"o neppA cu tDoTob, a]\
mec A cuiuacca; ocup ni coemriACAip ni con mgenpAit); acc
po pepbAin coppemAiT) in caIaiti poi, ccnit) X)e aca in tocb a
mutlAch in cptebe .1. bocb b)et Se"0. LocVi t)eb Set) 'oo
pATDA ypip -I-
CoepAbApboech, mjen ecAit AnbuAil a Si-oAib a cpicb
ConnAcc; ocup bA bm^en cumACCAcb, itcpocViAcb hi. Upi
cAe^Aic mjen impe, ocup ce^np in bAnncpocc pn cecpe
mbtiA-OAin ipeccAib cpi caccaic en ibc]iocbAcb, ocup inA
n-ooinib in bliAT)Ain ele. 1]- AiniAix) bimoppo, bicip in en-
tAicbpin, CO plAbpAt) AipgAic ecAp cec -oa nen ■01b. Oen en
eruppvi, Ailte -oo enAib m -ooniuin, co nuiince •oep^-oip iiriA
APPENDIX, 633
bjAA^Aic. Uni CAecAic i^iAbpAt), Ayy co tuibAtt 6i|\ yo\\ cuto app. ct.ii.
cec i'tAb]\Ait). In yAC bA bentAiuh iac nombici]^ iron Loch ^^jj^^jj
CHOCCA CtlAch, COtlTOeAt) Acbei\C1f CAc1i : ^f ITTTOAI yeX) to the Scuaji
VAineAmAit Ai\ beobvi LocbA Chocca; coni-o 'oepn AcbeiiAiji
LocVi iDeb Set) y\\iy-
"Loch \)ei '0]\AC01^, c|va, "oo jia-oa ^.-^i^ .1. -oiaaicc cenncije
■ptiAi^A tntiimme Uhe|Arioc i^\icbc b]iACAiii, con'oepe^\c fupi^A,
SAiicciif ].nMA A con i^^och l3eb Sec. Ocii-p ip in '0]i<mcc
pn z^cyA in y'eib e-oin .1. -pjAiA 'oe-|\ex) "oomAin, in AimpjA
phbAiiTo ChinATO. ConAX) "oifin, ocvif' conix) e-pci -jrAj^A-p in
SAijnen cenncige mAjibA-p ceojiA cec]iAimA -peji 'oomAin, eciji
TiinAi, octi-p iTiAC, ocuf injin, ocu-p inx)ibe connice TniJiiAcon-|ien
I'AijA. Conix) "oe Jauaji Loch l3eb "OiiAccon f)iif, no, "oe.
CbiAcb C]Aiiici-|\i TDin .1. "DA c1i]\tiic no biui-p Ai^e moen^ecc
OCA -peinnin-i, com-o Ai-|ie pn Acbe]\An Cjiouca CbiAcb ociJ|"
StlAb C-(\0CCA.
1-p -oo -peninAi|A in cfAi^nen cennci^e beo|", AtriAib ]io ca-
cbAin triobvng SAncciij', 1 cAi^inp-pe nA 'Pebe Coin, nc
tDixic: —
A "Oe mAiji [A *Oe TnAi|i],
ConAjAbAint) mo "oi epAiU*^ (^^.i.ic^e, [request.]
tTVAninim bA hAingbm e|iAin,
riiiTicAi]i "0111 neb At) ^ebAin.
Ill -jreib Com cic-pA c|ie-p[%
Si^irep" Gi^in-o AnAiii-oe^y, [AniAjitse-pp]
"OiuMcc bonn bo-ppc]:e|Y cAch |ionicc,
Cen coTTiAinx), cen i^AccAjibAic.
'Opem "otib •oo-p.cA b]Ai|"e]Y biiucb,
AcbebAC pii b|iiAchA|i-c|iuc1i,
1]Men "oo cex)Aib nAniA,
'Ooneocli tDib "oo e]inAbA.
O "Oun CepmnA co S]uiib b|iAin,
Sin|:eiy con tlHiiji Uo^jien f ai|i ;
'OjiAicc bonn bApiAcb bAn x)o cein,
t1i|^ iruicpe Acc triAt) cecjiAincAin.
IllAI-pg "OO IIIC^^A, triAIII^ "GO nA1|1,
tTlAi|i5 nA |:ocbichen in pbAig,
1n niAi|AC CA]i|iA-pcA-p in ye^1
If fe-p]i A focbibb "OO cein.
tlecb Acpec fcebA x)e,
"Oon phbokicb ajaa |:uineAbA,
CUIC bAcbl e^ipAIJ 1A]1 CAipc,
Ctnc bbiA"onA -pen 'ouinebA.
UicpA Aim pip iAp\mocA,
1 mbi bliAt3Ain bipecA,
634
APPENDIX.
A pp. CLII.
Authoiity as
to tlie Scuap
a Fanait.
A\r\ -pon Ain, niAi]^^ "oo nAi|\,
'OumebAX) jetAin tiiincAi]A.
A "Oe niAi|A, ecc
Note on the
Scuap a
Fanait in
the Feliri
Aengusa.
APPENDIX No. CLIII. [Lect. XX., Page 429.]
Original of note on the ScuAp a "Paiiaiu in the "petiiAe Aenju-i'A,
preserved in the same Book (^ue'^b<s.]\ ^W6\\ 'OunA *Ooi5]\e,
noic called the t/eA'bA-|\ iD^eAc, HI.A.), at the end of August,
fol 37. h.
^\- iiToi^Ait niAnbuliA Goin tDAiipcAif *oii"ii, C1C inScuAp A
'Paiumu "oo e|\5'LAnA'o C]\enn i:]\ia "oeiMWO -ooiiumti, AniAit )\o-
chAii\|An5i]\ -c\i]\ei\Ati ineciiAi, ocu]' Cottnn Citte .i. hicei]\cir»
cpAnTO-i-vu-o ipAiTO cic|"Ai inScuAp A^AriAic, uc *oixic Cotum
Citte .1. AiTiAit geitc x)A eAcli hico]\Aic bit) bi te]\i ^tAn^rui'
Gi]ie. ^i]\e-pAn "oixic 'oenScobA .i. *oi choi-|imcecb beci rn-
oentijY coeb -p^ucAeb. In ire-p "pA^ui" Apncij mA]\Aite ni-ptii^-
beA nech ApAchmt) iinbecbAi-o ipinci^ bijiA^A. Octip m puigbe
iA]\uni nech unbecbAit) ipinci^ Api]\A5A, bit) bi t)eme inpin
pA^ll^MllScUAp aPaHAIC. IllA^Alt t»1X1C. Upi tAA OCUp CeopA
Ait)che pop btiAt»Aiii be]" inptA^pA in 6ipinn. IncAn bu]'
teip ecbAp pop tocb 1lnt)pAi5e, ot)0]uip inppoinci^e ipAnt>
CAeuc inScop A'PAnAic. IllAipc eppAij imoppo, lApCAi^^c tpe
tAich pecbrniAine bicicpA inScop int)i5Ait cepcA Coin, uc
t)ixic ITloting, ocpii5|\At) nA peite Coin: —
lliyeit Com ric]:A rpepp,
SiiiireiY e-ipint) AnAi]it)e]Y,
'0]\Aic tont) toiix|'ei" CAcb ponicc,
Cen choiTiAint) cen pACApbAic.
APPENDIX No. CLIV. [Lect. XX., Page 432.]
Giraidus ^ Original of tico jjassages froju Giraldus Camhrensis, concerning
pretendeT^ pretended ^''Prophecies'''' of political events.
" Prophecy" .
by St. Cuium [The Title of Cambrensis' Avork is Expvgnatio Hibernim, sive
''* ■ Historia Vaticinalis Silvestris Girakli Cambrensis ; and the following
extracts are taken from the edition of that piece published by
Camden in his " Anglica, Normannica, Hibernica, Cambrica, a
veteribus scripta", etc., Francofurti ; ISIDCIII,, p. 755. The passage
from Cambrensis, liber ii., cap. 16 (p. 794, 1. 41), is as follows : —
" Tunc impletu est, vt dicitur illud Hibernici Columbfe vaticiniu;
qui bellu istud longe prfEcinens, tanta in eo futura, inquit, ciuiu
strage, vt hostes ad genua eorunde fuso cruore natarent. Pr« glisis
namq ; mollicie, dum ad ima penetraret humana ponderositas, terras
lubricaj sanguis profluus superficiem tenens, genua cruraque de
APPENDIX. 635
facili pertingebat. Scribit etiam idem vates, vt ferttir, quendam -ipp. cliv.
paiipero & meudicvi, & quasi de aliis terris fugace, cum parua manu
Dunam venturum ; & citra maioris autoritatem vrbem obtenturu. cambiensis'
Bella quoq; plurima, variosq; reru euentus : qua; omnia de Joamie pretended _
de Curcy siuit manifeste completa. Ipse vero Joan, librii liunc ^'y st. ^Coiwn
proplieticu Hibernice scriptum tanqua operum suoru speculii p ''''"^•
manib. dicitur habuisse. Legitur quoq ; in eode lib. Juuene
quendam cum armata manu Guaterfordije muros violenter irruptu-
rum, & cum magna ciuium strage urbem obtenturum. Eiuidem
quoq; per Guesefordiam transiturum, & demum absq; difficultate
Dubliniam intraturum. Qua3 omnia de Comite Richardo costat esse
completa. Vrbem quoq; Limericensem, ab Angiorum gente bis
deserendam, & tertio retinendam Sanctus ille testatur. Sed deserta
quidem iam bis videtur, Primo, vt dictu est, a Reymtuido : se-
cundo a Pliilippo, sup. c. 18. de Breusa : qid cum ad vrbem sibi
datam, aqua tamen interlabente veniret : citra conatus omnes, &
insultus eandem reuertendo deseruit : sicut plenius siio loco dicetur.
Vnde juxta idem vaticinium : vrbs tertio petita, erit retinenda, vel
potius longe post sub Hammone de Valoignes Justitiario fraudu-
lenter destructa, & per Meylerivim restaurata recuperataque".
The passage from the same book, cap. xxxiii. (p. 806, 1. 57), is
as follows : —
" Cum enim quatuor Hibernici prophetas habere dicantur : Mo-
lingum, Braccanum, Patricium, & Columkyllum (quorum etiam
apud illos libri adhuc extant Hibernice scripti) de hac expugnatione
loquentes omnes testantur eam crebris conflictibus longoque certa-
niine multa in posterum tempora multis ca^dibus fadaturam. Sed
vix parum ante diem iudicii, pleuam Angiorum populo victoriam
compromittunt ; Insulamq ; Hibernicam de mari vsque ad mare ex
toto subactam, et incastellatam. Et quanquam Angiorum populum
antea pluries bellici discriminis in Insula vices experiendo turbari
cotingat, & debilitari (sicut Braccani testimonio, per quenda Regem
de desertis Patricii montibus vfturum, & nocte Dominica castrum
quodda in nemorosis Ophelania; partib^ irrupturum ; Omnes fere
Anglici ab Hibernia turbabuutur) eorundem tame assertione, Ori-
entaUa Insular maritima continue semper obtinebit".
APPENDIX No. CLV. [Lect. XX., Page 434.]
Original of stanza of a pretended ^^Prophecif quoted by ySzr " Prophecy"
George Carew in 1602 (Careio 3IS., 607, p. 149 ; Lambeth s°rG.'carew,
Library, London). ^" ^^*^^-
Uic]:ex) "oo CAApc ah CliAjuitiAi^
50 mux) hAi]\eAC lib AiToencAOi,
"but) hioni-oA glop AlbupAi^
"Oa ]XAOileAt) coil" riA ITIiacIaoi
636 APPENDIX.
AFP. cLvi. APPENDIX No. CLVI. [Lect. XXL, Page 453.J
tvjfcAoftA-ir ^f ^^^ accounts of the celebrated King of Ulster, ConcobAjA
MacSessa. ITIaC TleffA.
Conchobhar was popularly called Conchohhar Mac Nessa, from liis
mother Nessa, daughter of an Ulster chief named Echaidh Sal-
bhuidhe, the wife of another Ulster chief named Fachtna. Nessa
was left a widow in the prime of youth and beauty, at a time at
which Fergus Mac Roigh was king of the province, and when Conor
was seven years old. Fergus fell in love with the widow, and
proposed marriage to her, with a request to name her doAvry. The
widow consented on condition that the sovereignty of the province
should be resigned to her son, Conchohhar, for one year ; in order, as
she said, that his children might be called the children of a king.
Fergus took counsel with his people, and they advised him to agree
to the condition, feeling that the youth would be but too glad to get
rid of the cares of government long before the year was expired.
In this, however, they were mistaken ; for when his mother found
herself in a position of wealth and inflvience, she supplied the boy
and his tutors, who, of course, were his counsellors, with all the
money, goods, and other wealth that she could lay hold on, to be
distributed secretly among the most important and influential chiefs
of the province. She also advised and enabled him to keep up a style
of splendour and hospitality such as none of his predecessors ever
attempted before him ; so that his court soon became the resort and
residence of all that was brave, dignified, scientific, and learned in
his kingdom. The poets extolled him in verse ; the druids pro-
phesied his future fame and renown ; the ladies loved him for his
beauty ; and the chiefs, the warriors, and the youthful military
aspirants of the province, looked up to him as the very soul of
munificence and chivalry; so that when his year of office was
expired, the Ultonians refused to allow him to hand the kingdom
back to Fergus, alleging among other reasons, that Fergus appeared
willing at any time to barter it and themselves for the sake of any
woman who took his fancy. Fergus did not submit tamely to this
breach of covenant; he raised a war against Conchobhar, Avhich was
carried on for a long time with vigour, biit he was ultimately de-
feated and forced to an involuntary submission. Conchohhar married
Medhbh, (or Meave,) daughter of the monarch Eochaidh Feidlech, but
she soon eloped from him, and her father gave her to another man,
and made her queen of Connacht. This was a disastrous circum-
stance for Conchobhar, as it laid the foundation of a constant warfare
between the two provinces. Conchobhar's court at Emania became
the central or head quarters of the knights of the Royal Branch (not
Red Branch, as they are erroneously called) ; and more or less in
connection with the exploits of this famous order his name holds a
distinguished place in many of the great Historic Tales, both as a
king and as a knight ; — in the Death of the Sons of Uisnech; the Tain
APPENDIX. 637
Bo Chuailgne ; the Battle of Ros na Righ; the Mesca Uladh, or app. clvi.
Intoxication of the Ultonians (during which they made a sudden in-
cursion into Munster, and destroyed the ancient palace of Teamhair conchobhar
Luachra, near Abbeyfeale, in Kerry) ; the Seirglighe Chonchulainn; ^ac Nessa.
the Tochmarc Emire; the Fledh Bricrinn; the Ceasnaoidhean Uladh,
etc., etc.
The entry of the Death of Conchobhar in the Annals of Tighernach,
(according to Dr. O'Couor), is, at a,d. 33, as follows : —
33. ConcobAjA ITIc tlei^ obnc cui fucce^^i'ic ptiuf eiuf
CumAi'C]\ATO [? Cum^x^AAit)], <.]w ]\e^nAuic An 6AinAin Anni|"
1111.
In the MS. of Tigheniach, in T.C.D., however, (H. 1. 18, fol.
IIG. b.), the passage is as follows. (Indeed Dr. O'Conor is not to
be depended on as to the version in the MS. quoted by him.) It
is at A.D. 48 :
Conco'bA^ 111AC neiYA obic qtn [a.d. 48] Conchobhar Mac Nessa
■piccefi^u -pinii' fuu]' jiAipie, <\vl^ obit, cuisuccessit filius suus Glaisn^,
^ejriAUic Annif ix. qui regnavit annis ix.
The following is the accotmt of the Death of Conchobhar Mac
Nessa given in the Historic Tale called the AToe-o clionco'bAi-p, or
Tragic Fate of Conchobhar, preserved in the Book of Leinster
(H. 2. 18., T.C.D. ; foL 79. a. b.) :—
t)Ai me-pcA m6\\ ■\(o\\ titco jreccnAiTO iiie-iHAin TTlAchA.
'Oocii]Ai'OA^ "oini, iiTnnAjAbAjA monA ocuf com|\AmA ecti]\|Ao
.1. eci^A ChoiiAbb [Ce]triAch] ocu-j' CoincutAinn, ocu]" t.oe-
5Aii\e [btiA-oAch]. UucAi-o -OAi-ni^A, AjA ConAbL, inchiiTO ITlei^-
;5e5]\A'o co[iOAcittiU]\ ocu nAComnAin. Ida be|" •o'lltcAib
inx)inbAi'opn cac cti]AAi'o no mA]\bt3Aif A]\ ^AtAib oenpp no
jACA Aninchmt) A]"]'Acent)Aib ocu]' comme^xcA Aet Ai-pcib
con'oenAt) tiAC|\oice c^AUA-oe 'o'lb. Ocuj' incAn nobici|" inim-
mA|AbAi5 nocom]\AmAib, T^obenci-p "ooib combin-p innAtAmAib.
triAit A ChonchobAiii, a]a ConAbb, nAcon-oe-nnAc oic nAconi-
■pAtn ecu i^oninnAi^A a]\ ^AbAib 6inp]\, nTOAccuAbngi coin]iAin
^iiTi]'A. 1]"p]\6n A]\ ConcliobA^A. 'Oojaacax) iA|\Ani, i:on|"in
■ponux) ]:o^\Ambi-o "oo 51^6]^ in-oincin"o. Luit) cac Aieci A]\nA-
i)A-pAc 'oiAc'Lucni. 'Ootbvii'o "OAnA, Cec niAC THacac "oocuai|\c
ecc-pA bA Ubco. bei^x A]'-pAn"o-pAiTi ^Aoboi in b6-|Ain"o in Cec.
1]"e*o 'oobbui'op'oe 'OA^ApATOci nA bCinnA, ocu]" c^u beAccint)
bei]" "DO tltcAib, incAn bACAi\ Via on in ice co cbticui "oo incbint)
'me]"5e5^\A, i-jyet) Acbe]\c in'oonmic p\iA]\Aibe. Rocbtum-
e"OA]A Cec Anipn. CcATop-oe inincint) AttAim intDAbAnAi
ocu|' be|M"o iei]"; o]iopci]A Cec ^\ob6i icAj^n^epe "oo ITleiy-
^eg^AA A"oi5AibiApnA ecAib. Cac cac octi]^ cac i|^5A[ib] nobit)
■oo CVionnAcco p\i Ubco nobe^Aet) Cec innincmt) inA c|ii)y
•oti^' in cecAiACAT* ecc nAmjiA 'o'iltcAib ■ooinA|\bAt) '01.
638 APPENDIX.
App. cLvi. "Pecc AtTO "oni, ■Dotttiit)-|"eom inci Cec |'A1]i co cue caiiai inbo
Z. A "peiiAib 1loi]']\ 'OonA|\iu\i"o imA-nmo]\ACT: IIIato iha-oiato;
Coiich^har 'Oo]\1ACCACA]\ X»AnA, ConHACCAl "OOlToteiC Alte '01Ate]YA]\-
MacNeisa. ^^^^ I'eoiii. "PecAip CAC eciip]\o. 'OoIUh'o ConchobAiA -pein
ipn CAC. Coni-o ArTO]'iii gAtJACA]! mriA ConriAcc 'oo Clion-
chobA]\ cuit)ecc •j:o]\'Leich 'oo'oefcin A"oetbA "ooib. "Pobic
ni|\Abi i:o]ACAbniAin ■oetbx)uini AmAit "oetb Conc1iobAi]i .1.
ece|\ t\\\\t ocuf "oeitb ocu-p "oecetc; ecepmec ocu]" c6|\e
ocuf ctic]\tiininAe; ece]\ ^lopc ociif yotc ocuf gibe; ece^t
^Aif ocu]' aLaij ocu]" e]\bAb]AA; ece]A ei\]\ni'o ocu-j" Ane ocu-p
ecopc; ece^A A]un ocup iniiTiA"o ocup o]ro"OAn ; ecepi JtiAi-p
ocuf gAi-pcet) ocu-p ceneb. tli^ibo boccAc C]ia inci Concbo-
bA|\. A coiiiA]\bi inio]\]AO, inCbeic -[lo jAbpAC iia mnA Aibpf
"oo CbonchobA]!.
"LuiT) iA]u\m -po-|\bec A6inu]\ "oia "oepcin •oonAimiAib. 'Oob-
buTO Cec imo|\po combui ece]\ nAniriA nniTie'oon. nopirit)-
becAp Cec mcbiiTo tne]'5e'0]\A ipncAbAibb, ocu]' nop-ceibc
coni-ocAiibA imnuibbAC Conch obAi^i, combACA]\ a"oa cp\iAn
innAcinx) ocup cocopcAipipeoni, ipA cent) coca^\1,a -ppi bA^i.
pocbeiw-OAC IIIaix) cuci coni-o ]\uc]'ac o Cbec.
Xo\\ h\\i\ AcA tDAii\e TDA IDacc ipAn-o 'oonocbAi]A ConcbobA]!.
-AcA A bigeAUt) bAibe 1 copcliAip, ocu]' co]\ce -p^uAcent) ocu|"
COjACe ■p]MACOppA.
inA1X)l'0 C]AA p-O^A CoririACCA CO SC1A1"0 Al|TO HA Coii. 'Oo
be|\CA]A llbATO i'Ai]A "oopToip CO Ac\\ 'OAi]\e "OA Daoc.
tTlo b]\icbpe App, a]\ Cor)cbobA]\, "oo bep n'lje ntlbAt)
"ooneoc noiiibe]\A connici mocec. llocbejipA, a]\ Cennbe]A-
]AAi"oe, A]\A pbbA p-o"oein
'Oo beippToe boniAin imme ocup nombeip popAinuin co
A|\"ot)ACA'o Stebe "puAic. ITIatoto Acpi"oe ipnjittu ; couit)-
•oepin ACA, llige Cirrobep^vAi-oe p-op UbATO .1. in]u popAmum
bee iiTobAi. ConocbAT) cpA, imDebAio on cpAc coA^AAibe
•OApeif in -[ug. Co]\Amii'o p-op tibco iA^\]^m.
'Oobe]\Ap cpA, AbiAij coConchobA-p .1. pn^en. 1ppepi"oe
no -pmnAt) "oon-oiAi-o no cbeige-o "ooncij inUn nobit) m^A-
bu|A pncij, ocup cecjAbAp nobix) Ant). 111aic, op^n^en,
tdACAtcAiA incbboc Apt)ocint) biAcmA]\b p-ocecoip; niAmcuc-
CAH App imoppvo, nocicpAint), ocui" bit)Acip t)uic. IpAiyo
t)un, A]\ tlbcAit), int)Aci-p obt)Ap Aec-pom. lloiccAt) lApAin a
cent), ocup i\opuA5et) copuAc 6ip, Ap bAcuinmA t)Ac p'uibc
ConcbobAip ocup t)AC mnoip.
Ocui" Apbepc inbiAi^ ppi ConcbobA]\ combecb ipomcin .1.
ApnAcipAt) Ape]\5 t)6, ocuf UAuigpet) p-oiAec, ocup uAecpAiget)
niuAi CO AupecA, ocup UApecet).
tloboi t)AnA, ipmcuncAbAipc pn cein -pobobeo .1. uii.
APPENDIX. 639
tiibtiA-oiiA, ociii' ni]\boen5nAnu\it), acc AAiiMpinn iiinAfuix)i app. clvi.
riAmmA .1. nAcociiAlA Cuirc "oo ciiocax) •oo1ux)AiT)ib. UAnic
1 . . Of King
AITOp'Oe C|MC mO|-V ■pOjll'riA'OUU, OCU]' -jAOC^AICllAlg nem OCU]' Conchobhar
CAtAiTi tAinec mgniiiiA "OAiAonA-o aito .1. 1ini C^m^^c itiac *0e ^^'"^■^^*"
t)i -00 cixochAT) cencmAix).
CjieACfo, A]\ ConcliobAjA -jtima "o^auto, cia obc m6]A "oo
5iic1ie]-v ipnx)lAciu^v\ in-oiu ? I1' i:i]\ on em, A|^ iiTo^wn, [1]-ti
C|M^"c niAC 'Oe aca aja bA^m^AX) Anoi^^ a^ Ui-OAi^ib/^®'^^]
1|" m6|\ in^nhii^'in, a]\ ConchobA]i. Inpep^'in -oaiia, Ajtin-o^Aui,
inoeriATOci 1^056111 octii" jw^emi'iu .1. m .uin. CaIahto e-nAi]\,
cencopinutTO bbiA-OAin.
l-pAiTopn noc^\eici ConcbobAn; ocuf iiyepn in"OAi\A|:e^x
Hoc]Aeci X)0 'OiA in hC];^!^) ]\iACiACCAin c]\eicini e .1. IlloiiAnt)
in ■^e\\ Aite.
TTIaic c]aa, a]a ConcbobA]\: IDa liAp^AAint) nAiDAit cua^tohi^,
nA|A nA55 AciiiTibeoi]\ ij^^ncc c^\ua"o-cu]\a"o ciccip cicci-p^''"^ nio-
beoib concictAi-p ciaua^ mon TniteT), TnAi'om nicA iTiiiAit3 nnn-
f^boi^ -pejAbAi^Atec, 'po]TOni^e"o i'oe]A-cobAi|A. "La C^Ai-pc con^e-
nAHTO. 5^^111 bAec bA^iubenTi i-ojAbecAin tAncomtDet) tAnixeb
cecboinci]\ cjAOCAt) yS-^ bAmoo coipp a]ai AjronAC A"OAni]\Ai.
Uunicicce in^nini icinot cAi]\ipeni ci\e6in UApAb icoim-oet)
coimcecc conjnAin CAin be La'Dia "oit^A-OAC "oiAcobAi];.
CAin po]Alun"o p6be]AAin"o. CAin comtnn'o ciAOcpn-o C^npc
AnneiTic1iui]i, nipui^ic ce ceppAicip coi]ip c]aia"o. CiA|\bo a]a
Cjiii^c cAit) CI11TIACCAC C1A "oij "oun nA"0|\ocem \\ko "ou^t *oei\-
coince 1^11 n o]\CAi\ inAfMnen, monA iniA"o nA^o^Aig lAOAccmAii
•|ionc]\Ait)i, cixocAX) C-nipc inAcococbAimnnp, bAliAppu nA-obem-
ini-p iA|\nA]\t)]AAC ecomnA]AC. tlAi'At pi lAOcep cpoicc]\tiAi'o
AjA-ooine -oi^mAi^; •oiA]\Aich ^A^AinD^^e bAp, Accn pl-Aic po]A-
beccAint) pocib necA, nAbtini nemcbuin necc pemiceii^et) ; "oo-
feowinit) Tnoc]\i'oe cbuAp inAironAc ngubA, Ap itiu'Oia in"opcib
nA-opi^ poAcc, copppopcAcc pucviiTichAbpon bAip, conAcbnip
A]A omun •ooiTi'otii -oivuib, cen tDutemAin "oi^Aib.
1pAnt) x)0]Mn5ni ConcbobA]\ in pecopicpe X)iA]Aoinip Dac]\ac
•oniJi TDel^An^ib 'ooClionchobAp C]\i]'u X)oc]\oca'o, "oiaiaaiaii-
^Ai^ ConchobA^, ciaca Ai|\"oe ingAnuACApo, ecc.
11 o -OAnA, combA"oe ^bcup in Conftii "oo 'oecAi'o oOccAum
"ooctinjit) incbipA co 5<'^e'oe'LAib noinni]'ex) x)o ChonchobAp
Cpipc -ooch^iocA-o.
[tr.\kslation.]
The Ultonians were greatly intoxicated on one occasion in
Emhain IJhacha. There arose indeed great contentions and [com-
parison of] trophies between them, that is, between Conall Cernach,
and Cuchulainn, and Laeghaire Buadhach. "Let Mesgedhrds brain
(262) [Keating.] (263) Cicdf . [This is a mistaken repetition of the same word.]
640
APPENDIX.
Of King
Conchobhar
Mac Nessa.
be brought to me", said Conall, " that I may talk to the competing
warriors". It was a custom with the Ultonians at that time, every
champion they killed in single combat, to take their brains out of
their heads, and mix lime with them until they were formed into
hard balls. And whenever they Avere in contention, or at [compa-
rison of] trophies, these were brought to them until they had them
in their hands. " Good, O Conchobhar \ said ConaU, " the warriors of
the trophy-comparison have not performed a deed like this in single
combat ; they are not competent to compare trophies with me". " It
is true, indeed", said Conchobhar. The brain was then put upon the
shelf, where it was always kept. Every one went his own way the
next day to his sport. Cet, the son of Ifagach, now went upon an
adventurous visit into Ulster. This Cet was the most dangerous pest
in Erinn. The time that he passed over the green of Emhain, and
having three half heads with him of the Ultonians, was at a time that
the fools (of Emhain) were at their play with the brain of Mesgedhra,
as one fool said to the other. Cet heard this. He snatched the brain
out of the hand of one of them, and took it away with him ; for Cet
knew that it Avas prophesied for Mesgedhra to avenge himself after
his death. Every battle and every combat which the Connachtmen
fought against Ulster, Cet used to carry the brain in his girdle to see
if he could succeed in killing some illustrious (personage) of the
Ultonians with it.
Cet went eastwards and took a Tain of cows from the Fera
Ross. The Ulstermen followed him in pursuit. The Connacht-
men, on the other hand, went to save him. A battle was fought
between them. Conchobhar himself went into the battle. And it was
then the women of Connacht prayed Conchobhar to come to their side
that they might see his shape. For there was not upon earth the shape
of a person like the shape of Conchobhar ; namely, in form, and face,
and countenance ; in size, and symmetry, and proportion ; in eyes,
and hair, and Avhiteness ; in wisdom, and prudence, and eloquence ;
in costume, and nobleness, and mien ; in arms, and amplitude, and
dignity ; in accomplishment, and valour, and family descent. The
man Conchobhar was faultless. It was by the advice of Cet now the
women preferred their request to Conchobhar.
Conchobhar then drew aside alone, so that the women might view
him. Cet had previously taken his place among the women in the
middle. Cet adjusted Mesgedhra's brain in his sling, and he threw it
so that it entered Conor's skull, and that its two -thirds entered his
head, a^d it remained in his head, so that he fell with his head to the
earth. The Ulstermen rushed forward and carried him off from Cet.
On the brink of the ford of Daire da Bhaeth it Avas that Conchobhar
fell. His bed is there Avhere he fell, and a rock at his head and a
rock at his feet.
The Connachtmen were then routed to Sciaidh aird na Con. The
Ulstermen were driven eastwards again to the ford of Daire da
Bhaeth.
APPENDIX. 641
" Let me be carried out of this", said Conchohar; " I will give tlie app. clvi
sovereignty of Ulster to the person who shall take me to my oAvn
house". " I will take thee", said Cetmberraidhe, his own servant. Conckobar
He put a cord around him and he carried him on his back to Ard ^^"^^ ^^^"'''
Achadh, of Sliahh Fuaid. His heart broke within the servant, and
that is the cause of [the saying of] '■^Cennherraidhe''s Sovei-eignty
over Ulster", i.e., the king upon his back for half the day. The
battle Avas sustained, however, from the one hour of the day to the
same hour of the next day after the king, after which the Ultonians
overthrown.
In the meantime his physician was brought to Conchohar, namely,
Fingen. He it was that could know by the fume that arose from a
house the number that was ill in the house, and every disease that
prevailed in the house. " Good", said Fingen, " if the stone be taken
out of thy head, thou shalt be dead at once ; if it is not taken
out of it, however, I would cure thee, but it would be a blemish
upon thee". " The blemish", said the Ultonians, " is better for us
than his death". His head was then healed, and it was stitched
Avith thread of gold, l^ecause the colour of Conchohar''s hair was the
same as the colour of the gold.
• And the doctor said to Conchohar that he should be cautious, that
is, that he should not allow his anger to come upon him, and that
he should not go upon a horse, and that he should not have violent
connection with a Avoman, and that he should not run.
He continued then in that doubtful state as long as he lived,
namely, seven years, and Avas incapable of action, but to remain
sitting only, that is, until he heard that Christ Avas crucified by the
JcAvs. There came at that time a great convulsion over creation,
and the Heavens and the Earth Avere shaken by the enormity of the
deed Avdiich Avas there perpetrated, namely, Jesus Christ, the Son of
the living God, to be crucified Avithout crime.
" What is this ?" said Conchohar to his druid. " What great evil
is it which is perpetrated on this day ?" " It is true, indeed", said the
druid [Christ the Son of God is crucified this day by the Jews].'^-''*'
" That is a great deed", said Conchohar. " That man, noAv", said
the druid, " it Avas in the same night he Avas born that you Avere
born, that is, in the eighth of the calends of January, though the
year Avas not the same".
It Avas then that Conchohar believed ; and he Avas one of the tAvo
men that believed in God in Erinn before the coming of the Faith ;
that is, Morann Avas the other man.
" Good, noAv", said Conchohar ; " it is a pity that he [Christ] did not
appeal to a valiant high-king, Avhich Avould bring me in the shape of a
hardy champion, my lips quiA'ering, until the great valour of a soldier
Avas heard dealing a breach of battle betAveen tAvo hosts ; bitter the
slaughter by Avhich there Avould be propitiated free relief. With Christ
shoiild my assistance be. A Avild shout has sprung at large : a full
(264) [Keating.]
41
642 APPENDIX.
App. cLvi. Lord, a, full loss, is lamented ; the crucifixion of a King, the greatest
body, who was an illustrious, admirable King. I would complain of
the deed to the faithful host of noble feats, whose vigilant, beautiful
aid, shoidd be with the mercifvil God to relieve Him. Beautifid the
overthrowing which I ivould give. Beautiful the combat which 1
would wage for Christ who is being defiled. I would not rest though
my body of clay had been tormented by them. Why for Christ,
the chaste, the powerful, what is the reason for us that we do not
express words of deep tear-lamentation ? He who is slain in Armenia ;
a greater than the dignity of any righteous king is being tormented.
The crucifixion of Christ if Ave should befriend, it were better that
we should not be accounted an unrighteous high king. High the
King who suffers a hard crucifixion for the sake of ungrateful men ;
for His safety I would go to death ; but a king shall not go to a guilty
death, in order that it should not be that which defiles purity that
should take precedence of Him. It crushes my heart to hear the voice
of wailing for my God ; the arm which does not come to reach with
true relief to arrest the sorrow of death — because I am told that it is
dangerous for me to ride in chariots — without avenging the Creator".
The time that Concliohar made this Rhetoric was, when Bacrach, a
Lemster druid, told Concliohar that Christ was crucified ; wheu
Conchobar asked him : " Wliat wonderful signs ?" etc.
Or, indeed, that it was Altus, the [Roman] Consul, who came
from Octavius to demand the tribute from the Gaedhils, that told
Concliohar that Christ was crucified.
The great antiquity of the original of this tale may be inferred
from the concluding paragraph of this very old version of it, in
which the still more remote version, which ascribes to Bacracli the
Druid the explanation to King Concliohar of the wonderful pheno-
mena of the day of the Crucifixion, is referred to, whilst the latter
writer (himself not later than the middle of the twelfth century at
least) hints what appears to him to be a more reasonable and pro-
bable source of information. The Book of Leinster, from which this
tract is copied, is a MS. of the middle, a portion of it of the earlier
part, of the twelfth century ; and the writer of the tale in its present
form would appear to have copied it out with impatience, when he
leaves unwritten the result of King Conchobar^s frenzied address,
namely, his death. I do not recollect having seen any ancient
original detailed account of this tragical event beyond what is told
here ; but the learned Dr. Geofi:ry Keating, in his History of Erinn,
gives a modified, and less accurate, but fxiller version of the tale
from some ancient authority no longer known to us, and concludes
in the following words : —
THA^fin 'oo ■peAcc ■mbLiAt)iiA, In that state did he remain seven
ju-p An Aoine 'nA]\ c]aoca'd C|\io]'c, years, until the Friday in which
•oo |ven\ t)t\oin5e -pe feAncuf; Aju]' Christ was crucified, according to
m<i,]\ ■DO contiAit\c ciAocto-o neAiii- some historians; and when he saw
APPENDIX.
643
no "bluvc^xAc, ■ojXAOi •DO Lokigmb x>o
bi 'tiA yocAip, c^xeAt) ■da ccAimj ah
tiiAlAipc tieiiijiiACAc pii ipo\\ HA
■omLib. loj'A C]\io]~c ItlAc 'Oe, a]\ v\n
■0]\A01, ACA AJA bAiniJA-O A1101]' aXJ
llfOAIjlb. r-|\UA15 pi1, A]A COIICU-
■bA|\, •DA tnbeiiin]'i riA iACAi]\ -oo
iiiui]\piiii A]\Aibe cimciobb mo \^'^o■£
•DA bAi^ujA-o. Ajuj' XjOmc pn cug
i\ cboit)eAiii AtriAc, Aju-j' ceit) f-'A
•Doii\e coibbe -oo bi lAiiti |\ir, ^v\\
gAb AgA jeAlAjXATi), AJUj" AJA DI1A111,
Ajuf A]-e-6 A -oubAiixc, -OA tiibeiu
AiiieA]'5 nA nlvTOAi jeAc, ju^vAb epn
■Oiob X)0 bcAJAAT) OJ\]\A, : AgUT A]\
meAX) riA "OAfAccA -00 jaIj e, -oo
Utig An meAib ^\f a ceAnn 50 ccai-
1115 cuTo -OA inciiin 'iia "oiaij, aju^'
niA]\fin 50 b^niAii\ biif. CoiLbbA-
m^Ai je A ■bVe]^|\A1b lloi^" 50i|\ceAi\
■0011 limine coibte pn.
the unusual change of tlie creation, ^pp^ cLvr.
and the eclipse of the sun, and the
moon at its full, he asked of Bucrach, of King
a Leinster Druid, who was along Conchobar
with him, what was it that brought ^«« ■'^«''^<'-
that unusual change upon the pla-
nets of Heaven and Earth. "Jesus
Christ the Son of God", said the
Druid, " who is now being crucified
by the Jews", " That is a pity", said
Conor; "were I in His presence, I
would kill those who were around
my King at putting Him to death".
And with that he brought out his
sword, and rushed at a woody grove
which was convenient to him, and
began to cut and fell it ; and what he
said was, that if he were among the
Jews, that that was the usage he
would give them ; and, from the ex-
cessiveness of the fury which seized
upon him, the lump started out of his
head, and some of his brain came
after it ; and in that way he died.
The Wood of Ldmltraighe, in Feara
Rois, is the name by which that
shrubby wood is called.
So far Keating ; and as it is of some interest to throAV this story of
King Conchobar s death as far bad?; on authority as we can, I may
here quote a distich, with its gloss, from a poem on the manner of
death and place of sepulture of a great many of the champions of
Erinn at and about the time of Conchobar. This poem was written
by Cinaeth Cllartagain, whose death is recorded in the Annals of
the Four Masters at the year 973 ; the poem consists of thirty-eight
stanzas, beginning : —
•piAnnA bACA|\ m eniAin. Warriors who were in Emain.
Of the fourth stanza of this poem, the following are the first two
lines, and gloss : —
iVcbAc triAc Tle^fA in ^Mj
Ki coeb 'Leic]\ec bAmjAAigi.
[.i.t)iA t\o i^elAi-o Concob<i|\ pn
'LAtn|\Ai5e i^^ Ann buit) in-
climn me-p5e'6]\A &y a cmn,
ocui' A incinn ]:ein po-j'c.
Mac Nessa the King died
By the side of Leitir Lamhraiyh^.
[i.e., as Conchobar was cutting
down the Wood of Lamh-
raighe, it was then Mesgedh-
rd's brain started from his
head, and his own brain
afterwards.
There is a copy of this poem in the Book of Leinster, fol. 16, but
■without the interlined gloss ; the only other copy of it that 1 am
acquainted with in Ireland is one, with a gloss, in my own possession,
made by myself from a vellum MS. of the fifteenth century, lately
in the possession of Mr. William Monk Mason of London.
41 B
644 APPENDIX.
^^^•<^^^^^- APPENDIX No. CLVII. [Note to Preface, Page x.]
Mss. at st.^ Statement relative to the Irish 3ISS. of the College of St. Isi-
Romr'*' do7'e, at Rome, drawn up for the information of their Lord-
skips the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland, and laid
before them by the Senate of the Catholic University of
Ireland, in 1859.
[The following Memorandum was drawn iip by me on the occasion of an inquiry, terminated
by a lengthened Report by a Committee of the Senate, on the Condition and Circumstances
of the Catholic University of Ireland, in July, 1859. It was prepared in consequence of a
recommendation in that Report, that measures should, if possible, be taken to secure to the
University " copies, at least, of the valuable Irish Manuscripts of St. Isidore and the Bar-
berini Library, at Rome". As the contents of this Memorandum are so closely connected
with the subject of the present volume, it has been thought right to reprint it here.]
July 30, 1859.
The following is a brief notice of the collection of Irish manuscripts illustra-
tive of Ecclesiastical History, now in the College of St. Isidore's at Eome. I
have introduced a short account of a collection of somewhat similar history
and character, and originally made by the same hands, now in the Burgundian
Library at Brussels ; and I have dwelt on the liberality of the King of the Bel-
gians in allowing these precious documents to be transmitted to Ireland for the
purpose of being copied, in the hope that such an example may lead to a similar
liberality on the part of the authorities in Rome, in respect to the invaluable
collections now in the Eternal City. The history of these collections leads us
necessarily to say a few words on the foundation of the Irish College at
Louvain.
Flakhri O'Maelchonair^, better known to English writers as Florence
Conroy, was a native of Galway, and a Franciscan friar. He was well known
on the continent for his defence of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception,
and became the cherished friend of King Philip the Third of Spain. In 1610
he was elevated to the archiepiscopal see of Tuam, his native province, and he
was the chief promoter, if not the originator, of the project of an Irish college
on the continent, in which he contemplated a double purpose. The first, to
afford an asylum to such of the Irish ecclesiastics as thought it more conducive
to the interests of rehgion at home to preserve their lives for the preparation
and supply of a future priesthood to their native land, than to embrace, as
many of them did, the crown of martyrdom, which was at that terrible period
so liberally bestowed by then- fell enemies of English race and creed. The
second purpose, — which, indeed, is implied in the first, — was to afibrd to the
ardent, imconquerable youth of Ireland the means of general mental cultivation
and preparation for the sacred ministry, from which they were completely cut
off at home.
Full success crowned our archbishop's efforts, and in the year 1616, the first
stone of the Irish College was laid at Louvain, under the patronage of St.
Anthony of Padua, by Archduke Albert, governor of the Spanish Netherlands,
and his princess, the Infanta Isabella, sister of King Phihp the Third, the
APPENDIX. 645
cost of its erection being liberally supplied from the coffers of this Catholic ^pp. clvii.
sovereign.
Among the first members of the Theological Faculty of the Irish College at Mss''a/st'*
Louvain was Aedh 2Iac an B/mird, better known as Hugh Ward, a native of Isidoie's,
Doncgall, and a Franciscan friar. He was first Professor of Divinity, and °'^^'
ultimately Guardian or Rector of the College. He was soon after joined by
Father John Colgan and Father Michael O'Clery.
These three noble Irish Franciscans soon began to devise means to rescue
from the chances of threatened oblivion the perishing records and evidences of,
at least, the Ecclesiastical History of their native country. They estabUshed
an Irish Press in St. Anthony's College. Michael O'Clery was sent back into
Ireland to collect, purchase, or transcribe manuscripts ; the expenses of his
mission being provided by Father "Ward. Father Michael O'Clery, than whom
no more competent person for such an undertaking could be found, appears to
have arrived in Ireland in 162G. He immediately set to woi'k collecting,
chiefly by transcription, all kinds of ecclesiastical documents, but more especi-
ally those important historical tracts, the Lives of the Irish Saints. He visited
the Franciscan Monasteries of Dublin, Drogheda, Multifarnham, Wexford,
Cashcl, Clonmel, Quin, Bundroose, etc., etc., and various private Ubrarics,
collecting and transcribing from all. And having made his collection in a pro-
miscuous manner, he then retired to his own monastery of Donegall, while he
was engaged in the compilation of the Annals of the Four Masters, and where,
among his early friends and relatives, the illustrious fathers of that famous
monastery, he appears to have re-copied and arranged all the materials of
ecclesiastical history which he had collected.
Father Ward died in 1635, and the prosecution of the contemplated work
devolved upon Father Colgan. At what time Father Michael O'Clery reached
him with his precious stores, I am not able to say ; but he was in Louvain in
1642, when he published his glossary. Father Colgan's Trias Thaumaturgus,
containing all the lives of our three great patrons, St. Patrick, St. Bridget,
and St. Colum Cille, and the Acta Sanctorum, extending only to the saints of
the months of January, February, March, appeared in 1645. Michael O'Clery
died at Louvain in 1643 ; and whether it was from the loss of his indispensable
assistance, or some other cause, Colgan, though he hved to 1658, did not pub-
lish any more of the work, nor was it ever after taken up.
The materials collected by Michael O'Clery, as well as any that may have
been obtained thi-ough other channels, remained at Louvain after his and
Father Colgan's death, and down, it is presumed, to the French Revolution, at
which time they appear to have been dispersed, and in such a manner that all
knowledge of then- existence was for a long time lost. But it would appear
from what has been since learned, that this great collection became subdivided
into two principal parts, one of Avhich found its way to Brussels, and the other
to Rome.
The late Dean Lyons, of Belmullet, having occasion to go to Rome in the
year 1842, had, previous to his leaving Dublin, an interview with some of our
antiquarian celebrities, and at their suggestion he undertook to examme the
archives of the Eternal City in search of Irish books and manuscripts, with a
promise that he would send home from time to time pencil tracings of the titles,
646 APPENDIX.
APP.CLvii. chapters, etc., of any manuscripts which he might happen to discover. He
~ 7" was liimseK a good Irish scholar. All the searches that Dr. Lyons could make
MSS. at St. were unproductive until he visited the College of St. Isidore, in which, to his
Kom^ '^' iufiuite satisfaction, he found twenty volumes of Irish manuscripts, some of
them of the greatest interest and value to the ancient civil and ecclesiastical
Iiistory of Ireland, and all of them of more or less importance to the same sub-
ject. Upon making this discovery. Dr. Lyons at once set to work, and, after
a short time, sent OA^er two letters in succession, with most important enclosures,
being, in fact, tracings in pencil of wonderful accuracy from all the chief heads
of subjects in the entire collection. These tracings were passed over with ink
by me, and at the suggestion of the Rev. Dr. Todd, they were pasted into a
book specially made for the purpose, and then, with the consent of Dr. Lyons,
placed in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, where they remain in safety
and in high esteem, and accessible to all persons biterested in Irish history.
On the return of Dr. Lyons to Ireland, in 1843, the friends of Irish literature
in Dublin consiilted him on the possibility of getting possession of these valu-
able remauas by purchase or loan, with the view of placing the originals or
accurate copies of them in the Royal Irish Academy, where they would be
accessible to all who may choose to consult them. I was asked to make up a
short catalogue of their contents from the tracings sent over, which enabled
me to identify all the pieces, and also to furnish a rough estimate of their
value. This I did, and I valued them at £400, that is, on an average of twenty
pounds per volume. Dr. Todd imdertook to raise this sum by subscription,
and my catalogue was sent down to Dean Lyons, who transmitted it, with the
offer of the money, to Rome ; but before we could have an answer back. Dr.
Lyons died, the Repeal Association ceased to exist, the pubUc sentiment which
it had raised subsided, the famine set in, and if any answer came to Dr. Lyons'
letters, Ave have never heard of it.
The next account we had of these 5ISS. Avas the publication, without my
privity or consent in any way asked or obtained, of my Catalogue, by the Rev.
J. Donovan (in the third volume, p. 977, of his A?icient and Modern Rome), in
1843. I may here state that a consideration of the heads of subjects and
chapters of the MSS. in question, leaves no doubt on my mind as to their having
formed part of the original LouA'ain collection of Father Michael O'Clery.
Shortly after the discovery of the collection at St. Isidore's, I had the plea-
sure of making the acquaintance of Mr. Laurence Waldron, the present M.P.
for the county of Tipperary, to Avhom I mentioned the discovery. Mr. Waldron
was accustomed to make an annual tour on the Continent, and I requested him,
when next he went there, to look out for Irish INISS. in such Ubraries as he might
happen to visit m his travels, and more particularly Brussels, Liege, Lisle,
Ostend, and the other cities of Belgium, This gentleman was good enough to
receive instructions from me as to the way in which he could identify manu-
scripts of importance. In the summer following he sent me from Brussels a
large quantity of tracings from several manuscripts. These tracings, made
with great care and accuracy, enabled me at once to identify Michael O'Clery's
(to me) well-known handwriting, and the noble collection of the Lives of the
Irish Saints and other ecclesiastical documents, which he had made in Ireland
for Fathers Ward and Colgan between the years 1626 and 1635. I imme-
APPENDIX. 647
diately communicated this information to the Rev. Dr. Todd, of Trinity app. cLVir.
College, who at once started for Brussels, and found that I was quite correct ^
in my identification of these MSS. The collection was next visited by the jj"s ^t St.
llev. Dr. Graves, of Trinity College, and next by Mr. Samuel Bindon, of the Isidore's,
county of Clare, M-ho made a most acciu-ate and valuable catalogue of the whole
collection.
It was about this time that I discovered in the library of Trinity College,
Dublin, a large and valuable fragment of the history of the wars of the Danes
in Ireland ; and on the discovery of the Brussels collection, it Avas found to
contain a full copy of this most important tract, made by Michael O'Clery in
the convent of Multifarnham in 1626. Under these circumstances. Dr. Todd
visited Brussels again, taking with him my copy of the fragment in Trinity
College, Dublin, into which he inserted from the O'Clery copy all that was
wanting to it. At this time Dr. Todd had the good fortune to obtain an inter-
A'iew with the King of the Belgians, to whom he explained the nature of his
visit to the Burgundian Library, expressing his regret at the difficulties which
the distance from Ireland placed in the way of making these valuable records
available for the purposes of Irish History. Some time subsequently, in May,
1849, and incidentally to my examination before a Committee of the House of
Commons, the importance of these MSS. was fully made known, and through
my instrumentality an effort was set on foot to ol>tain a loan of them from the
Burgundian Library. With most commendable liberality his Majesty at once
consented to permit any one or more of the manuscripts to be sent over to this
country through the Belgian Ambassador in London aad the Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland; and, accordingly, in 1849, two volumes came over, containing the
Martyrologies of Aengus the Culdee, of Tallaght, of Marianus Gorman, and
that of Donegall compiled by the Four Masters. Of these I made accurate
and laboured copies for Dr. Todd's private library and at his private expense,
no pubhc body here being willing at the time to undertake the cost of such a
work. On returning these books to Brussels we next obtained two other
important books,— the Danish wars and a volume of Religious and Historical
Poems. Of the former I made a copy for the Library of Trinity College. In
1 850 we had the remaining volumes of the collection sent over for the pur-
poses of the Brehon Law Commission ; but although O'Clery's magnificent
collection of the Uves of our saints was among them, there were no parties here
who could be found willing to defray the expense of copying them. I, however,
at my own expense had copies taken of the lives of SS. Adamnan, Moling,
Berach, MacCreiche, Crannatan, CeaUach, Colinan Ela, a.nd Mac ho emdg of
Leith Mdr.
We have, in the instance of the Irish MSS. in the Burgundian Library and
the collection at St. Isidore's, examples of the manner in which the materials
of our ecclesiastical history are scattered all over the continent. The writings
of Dr. Lanigan, and aU others of a similar kind, are mere digests of Irish
ecclesiastical history, omitting all the more important historical and social
details which give consistency, and, I may say, unimpeachable authenticity,
to those remarkable documents.
Amongst other reasons which would make it desirable for us to possess at
least authentic copies of these valuable documents, I may state that, as a
648 APPENDIX.
APP. cLvii. Catholic Trofessor of Irish History and Archeology, I feel myself greatly
embarrassed in my connection with the Catholic University. I have been
MSS^'^at st'^ preiiaring and delivering courses of Lectures in this institution on the Antiqui-
isidoie's, ties and early civil History of Ireland, drawn altogether from ancient existing
manuscripts, of which, for this purpose, we have a tolerably large store remain-
ing ; but I have been deterred from entering upon any lengthened course of
Lectures on the still more important subject of our Christian History, solely
because the original authorities are so widely scattered and impossible of access.
If it were possible, and I believe that, with the aid of your Lordships' influ-
ence, it would be readily so, to bring together in Dublin, even for a short time,
the collection at St. Isidore's, and that of the Burgundian Library, Brussels,
copies of these works could be made, which, with the materials that could be
procured by transcription by a competent person in k month or six weeks in
Oxford and London ; and then, indeed, would the materials for Lectures on the
ancient Catholic History of Ireland, as well as for the general history of this
country, be abundant, authoritative, and unanswerable. Indeed I would look
upon the collection and concentration, in the Library of the Cathohc Univer-
sity, of those scattered fragments of our national history, as supplying nearly
as great a desideratum as the University itself. — EUGENE O'CURRY,
Professor of Irish Archfeology.
[end of the appendix.^
649
EXPLANATION OF THE FAC-SIMILES.
[The Fac-Similes which follow are arranged in the Chronological Order of
the dates, or supposed dates, of the MSS., or handwriting, represented. They
will be found to be distinguished by the letters of the alphabet — (A.), (B,),
etc. — for convenience of reference to the following Explanations.]
(A.) MS. in the " 'OomnAc ^ijaji-o"; [R.I.A.]. {temp. Saint [a.]
Patrick; circa a.d. 430).
— " eli . . [ ] gG • • [ ] • • l^i g6 Jacob Jac . . hi genui . .
[ ] Omnes ergo generationes ab Abracbam usque ad
David gene»erationes xiiii, et a David usque ad Transmigra-
tionem Babil[oww] generationes xiiii., et a iY2in^[migratione\
Babil . . ni . .usque ad \Christuin'\ generationes" [xiiii.], etc.
[See as to this MS. (the '■'• Domhnach Airgid^) the text at Lect. XV., page
321-2 ; and particularly the description of it from Dr. Petrie, at p. 324; and
see Appendbc, No. XCVI., p. 598.]
The MS. preserved in this celebrated shrine was supposed to have been
miraculously presented to Saint Patrick ; it may at least be said with cer-
tainty that this very MS. was in the possession of the Saint, on account of
which it was always regarded as one of his Eelics. It consisted of a copy of
the Four Gospels. The present fragment is one of the two leaves referred to
by Dr. Petrie (see p. 324). It is part of the first chapter of the Gospel of St.
Matthew, of which the 15th, 16th, and 17th verses are as follows in the Vulgate,
It will be seen that the translations are not identical ; as, for example, the
17th verse, in the MS. begins '• Omnes ergo'", instead of " Omnes itaque": —
"15. Eliud autem genuit Eleazar. Eleazar autem genuit Mathan. Mathan
autem genuit Jacob.
" 16. Jacob autem genuit Joseph virum Maria;, de qua natus est Jesus,
qui vocatur Christus.
" 17. Omnes itaque generationes ab Abraham usque ad David, generationes
quatuordecim : et a David usque ad Transmigrationem Babylonis, generationes
quatuordecim : et a Transmigratione Babylonis usque ad Christum, gene-
rationes quatuordecim".
(B.) MS. in the Cacac. (6^A Century; MS. attributed to Saint [B]
Colum Cille).
" Devis in nomine tuo salvum me fac, et in virtute tua judica
me. Deus exaudi orationem meam : auribus percipe verba oris
mei. Quoniam alieni insurrexerunt adversum me, et fortes
qusesierunt animam meam" : [etc.]
650 EXPLANATION OF THE f AC-SIMILES.
[See as to this MS., (the " Cathack''), the text at Lect. XV., pp. 321 and 327,
et seq.]
The MS. consists of a fragment of a copy of the Psalms of David, believed
to have been hurriedly written by Saint Colum Cille himself. It is in ad-
mirable preservation. The passage represented in the fac-simile exactly
agrees with the Vulgate ; Ps. ltii. ; vv. 3, 4, and part of 5.
[CO (C.) " Book of Kells" [T.C.D.]. (ikh Century; MS. attributed
to Saint Colum Cille) ; f'ol. 46 a.
" Nolite the?isaurizate vobis tliesauros in terra: ubi er go
\cerugo\ et tinea demolitur; et ubi fures efFocliunt, et furantur.
" Thewsaurizate autem vobis tliensauros in caslo, ubi neque
erugo \_oerugo] neque tenea demolitur, et ubi fures non eifodiunt,
[etc.]
[See text, at Lect. I., i). 28.
The passage represented in fac-simile agrees with the 19th and 20th verses
of the VI. chap, of St. Matthew, in the Vulgate. The peculiarities are indi-
cated by Italics.
[D] (D.) " Book of Durrow", [T.C.D.]. (Qth Century; MS. attri-
buted to Saint Colum Cille); fol. 107 b.
" De die autem illo et [yel] bora nemo scit, neque angeli in
c£elo, neque Filius, nisi Pater.
" Videte, Aagilate, et orate; nescitis enim quando tempus sit"
[See Text, at Lect. I., p. 23.
The passage in fac-simile agrees with the 32nd and 33rd verses of the xiii.
chap, of St. Mark, in the Vulgate.
[The reference in the margin (see Fac-simile), — (" mr. civ. VI. mt. cclx".)
— means that the same thing told in the text occurs in Mark, cap. civ., and
in Matt. cclx. The VI. is a reference to the (Eusebian) Table.
[I'he numbers in the margin are those called the Eusebian numbers. They
are a reference to the ancient tabular harmony of tlie Gospels. These Tables
are: 1° tlie passages which occur in one Gospel only ; 2° tlie passages that
occur in two; 3° the passages that occur in three; 4° tlie passages that
occur in all the four Gospels. The Tables mider the head No. 2°. are: (1.)
Matt, and Mark; (2.) Matt, and Luke; (3.) Matt, and John; (4) Mark and
Luke; (5) Mark and John ; (6.) Luke and John. Those under head 3° (1.)
Math , Mark, and Luke; (2.) Matli., Mark, and John ; (3.) Math., Luke, and
John ; and (4) Mark, Luke, and John.
[I am indebted for this note to the Rev. Dr. Todd, S.F.T.C.D,]
[E] (E.) Memorandum in the " Book of Dlutow", [T.C.D.]. (Qth
Century).
^ Tni|'e]\e]\e 'Ooinine nAeniAni »|« . . . ^ pli 11ecb. . . . ^
[No account of this Naemhan (a name of which Naemani is the Latin form
in the Gen Case) has been discovered. There is a Naomhan, the grandson of
Dnbh, mentioned in the Martyrology of Donegall, at Sept. 13, but no further
reference to him has been found. Nor has any name been yet foimd of which
Neth. could be the first part.]
EXPLANATION OF THE FAC-SIMILES. 051
(F.) Meniorancliim in the " Book of Durrow", [T.CD.].* {C)th [k.]
century), fol. 244, b.
" U]\ifaciAe". (tristitias).
[See Text, at Lect. I. p. 23.
An example of the Irish running hand of the time. The word is written
in the original handwriting of the scribe, in the margin, as a gloss or expla-
nation. It is placed opposite a line (in an Explanation of the Proper Names
in the Gospel of St. John), in which these words occur :
cHAconiat)is iie50ciAuio AnjusciAe.
(G.) "Book of Dimma:\ [T. C. D.]. {circa a.d. 620), fol. 2.b,a. [g.]
" Et cum invenerltis renuntlate milii ut ego et veniens adorem
cum, qui cum audiissent regem abierunt", [etc.]
[See Text, at Lect. I. p. 23, and XV. p. 335.
From the end of the 8th and commencement of the 9th verse of St. Matth.,
cap. II.
(H.) Same Book, (circa a.d. 620); fol. a.b. [h.]
[There are several different styles of handwriting in this curious volume,
though all belong to the same age, if not actually to the same hand. This
diminutive copy of the Lord's Prayer has been selected for fac-simile, not
only as a good specimen of one of these styles, but to furnish a good iioint of
comparison witli the equally remarkable specimen from the Evangelistarium
of Saint Mollnq, [see Specimen (N.),] which belongs to a later period of the
same (vii.) century. The slight differences in the reading from the version
in the Vulgate (Matth. vi. 9.) are marked in Italics ;
" Pater noster qui es in cselis sanctificetur nomen tuura, adveniat regnum tu-
um, fiat voluntas tua sicut in caelo et in terra, panem nostrum quotidianum da
nobis hodie, et demitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos demlsiimus debitoribus
nostris, et ne patkais nos induciin temptationera, sed libera nos a nialo".
(I.) Same Book, (chra a.d. 620); fol. 52, b. [i.j
" Deus qui facturam tuam pio semper donares afectu, inclina
aurem tuam suplicantibus nobis tibi ad famulum tuum nunc
adA^ersitate valitudinis corporis laborantem, placituri respice,
visita cum in salutare tuo et cselestis gratiae ad medicamentum :
Per Dominum".
[This passage is from the Prayers for the Visitation of the Sick.
The writing, in this specimen of the Book, is of the finest hand of the
period. The contraction at the end, for " Per Dominum", is one of the
carhest forms.]
(J.) Memorandum in same Book {circa a.d. 620) ; fol. 15, lower [JJ
margin.
652 EXPLANATION OF THE f AC-SIMILES.
[•J] "Pinic. Onoic "oo 'Oimniu ]\o'0]X)\ib p]\o 'Oeo ec bene-
■oiccione.
[translation.]
" Finit. A prayer for Dimmu who wrote [this] for God ; and a benediction".
[At the end of the Gospel of St. Mcatt.]
[K.] (K.) Same Book {ciixa a.d. 620) ; last fol., at the end.
Siinc Aiiuein ec aIia nuitcA cjUAe i:ecic ^e\\x <]tiAe -pt
•pcpbAncu^\ p[e^^ pTi5u]'LA nee ip-puni Apbic]AO]\ nitiriDUin
IDOj'pe CApe]Ae eo]" <\\.n pcpibetToi -ptinc bbnop.
pmic Amen. tDnnniA niAC IIacIii. (Ji
Sunt autem et alia multa quae fecit lesu quae si scribantiir p[er singu]la nee
ipsum arbitror mundum posse capere eos qui scribendi sunt libros.
^Finit Amen. Dimma mac Nathi. lijt
[The verse in Gaedhilic, at the end of the specimen (perhaps the oldest
piece of pure Gaedliilic writing in existence), is as follows : —
Si]nm -oom bibluA^ mo -|v\echi)\,
A benmAm Abe cen *oic1nbb,
Cm neimnicnecbc nAC|\A'o
Ocuf Ac^AAb in-o -|\ichich.
[translation.]
I beseech for me, as the price of my labour,
(In the follo^ving chapters without mistake),
That I be not venomously criticized ;
And the residence of the Heavens.
[End of the Gospel of St. John, and of the book.
[The Si in the first word of the first line of this verse is conjectural, on
account of the decayed state of the original letters ; but as the other three
letters, -rim, are quite legible, and as the whole verse is a prayer for reward,
and a deprecation against severe criticism, I have chosen (or rather guessed)
these two letters, to make up this well-known and ancient form of " I beseech".
Similar reasons decided me in supplying n in the negative cin, at the beginning
of the third line. It is a curious fact in regard to this most ancient Irish text,
that the midistinguished crowding of words in the lines to be found in later
MSS. (and to which the modern school of philologists seem to attach so much
importance), is absent here, except in the words hiLUiAg (hiL-buAg) in the
first line. The four lines are, however, written in two.
[L.] (L.) Same Book, {circa a.d. 620).
" Initium Evangelii Jesii Cliristi filii Dei sicut scriptum
[est] in Essaia profeta. Ecce [ego] mit[t]o angelmn meum ante
faciem tuam qui preparabit viam tuam ante te. Vox clamantis
in deserto, Parate viam Domini, rectas facite semitas [ejus]".
[The first three verses of the first chapter of tlie Gospel of St. Mark.]
EXPLANATION OF THE FAC-SIMILES. 653
(M.) Evangelistariuiu of Saint Moling, [T.C.D.] {circa a.d. 690). [>r ]
" De Jolianne.
" Hie est Johannes Evangelista unus de xii. discipulis Dei,
qui virgo electus a Deo est: quern de nuptiis nolentem nubere
vocavit Deus, cui virginitatis in hoc duplex testimonium in
EvangeHo datur, quod et pra^ceptis delectus a Deo dicitur, et
huic matrem suam iens ad crucem commendavit Deus ut vir-
ginem virgo servaret".
[See Text at Lect. I. p. 23, and at Lee. XV. p. 335-6.
This is St. Jerome's Argument to the Gospel of St John.
(N.) Same Book, {circa a.d. 690). [n.]
[The preceding example from this very ancient Book is written in a careless
running hand. The present is a much more careful piece of penmanship. It
has been selected partly on that account, and partly also as affording an
interesting point of comparison with the version of the Lord's Prayer already
given from the (supposed) somewhat earlier " Book of Jjimma" [see (uite, Speci-
men (H.)]. The slight differences between this version and that of the Vulgate
(Matth., VI. 9) are here also marked by Italics:
"Pater noster qui es in caslis sanctiiicetur nomen tuam, adveniat regnum
tuum, fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caslo et in terra, panem nostrum supersub-
stajitiahin da nobis hodie et /emitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos remitte-
mus debitoribus nostris, et ne patiaris 7ios iuduci in temptationem, sed libera
nos a male".
(O.) " Book of Armagh", [T.C.D.]. (a.d. 724), fol. 18. b, a. [o.j
[See the passage in APP. No. CIV., p. 607.]
(P.) Same Book. (a.d. 724), fol. 21 b, b. [P]
[See the passage in APP. No. CXVIL, p. 611.]
(Q.) "Liber Hymnorum" [E. 4. 2., T.C.D.], {circa a.d. 900). m
[See the passage in APP. No. CIII., p. 606.]
(R.) Entry in the "Book of Armagh", made temjy. Bria7i Bo- [R-1
roimhe (a.d. 1002) ; fol. 16. b, b.
"SAnccu"!" P<\q\i[ci]i.i-p lerif aX) coetutn mAn-OAiiic cecum
j-^-puccuiTi tAbojAi^^-pui cAtn bApcifciAtn [?] cAm cAupA-pum <\wox)
eternoipiriApuni -oepepetTouin eppe ApopcobicAe upbi <]ue
Scocice noinmAcup A\xoxi ITlAchA. Sic pepe]\i m bibbio-
chicip Scoco]\um. Cjo pcpippi to epc CAtuup pepennip
G54 EXPLANATION OF THE FAC-SOIILES.
Ill coii-|"peccu t)]AiAni impe]\Aco|U|' Scoco]^l1m, eu que pcnipp
pnijuic pjio oninibu]' )\e5ibii]' 1lK\ce]\iAe".
" Sanctus Patri[ci]us iens ad coelum mandavit totum fructuni laboris sui tam
baptistta/H [?] tam causarum quod elemo(si/!«rum deferenduni esse apostolicae
urbi que Scotice nominatur Ardd Macha. Sic reperi in bibliotbicis Scotorura.
Ego scripsi id est Calvus Perennis in conspectu Briani imperatoris Scotorum,
et que scripsi finiyuit pro omnibus regibus Maceriae".
[" Saiiit Patrick, going up to Heaven, commanded that all the fruit of his
labour, as well of baptisms as of causes and of alms, should be carried to the
Apostolic City, which is called Scotice [i.e. in the Gaedhelic] Ardd Macha. So
I have found it in the book-collections of the Scots [/. e., the Gaedhil], I
have written [this], that is [I] Calvus Perennis [/(7. -'Bald for ever", /. e.,
Mael-suthubi] in the sight [under the eyes] of Brian, Emperor of the Scots,
and what I have written he determined for all the kings of MACERiiE [i.e.,
Cashel, or Munster"].
[The word " Macerice'\ in this remarkable entry, had long been a subject
of doubt among those to whom the Book of Armagh was known. But it was
certainly intended by the writer as a literal Latin translation of the Gaedhilic
word " C'aisear\ — " a stone fort", — the name of the chief city of Munster. The
certainty that this is so, for the first time occurred to me a few years ago, (I
think in 1852), one day that Dr. John O'Donovan and IMr. MacCosli, I think,
both Professors of the Queen's College, Belfast, were inspecting this passage
in the Book of Armagli, then deposited in the Royal Irish Academy, Dawson
Street. Whilst discussing between them the possible meaning of the word
" Macerim", I asked them to define the ordinary meanhig of the word in Eng-
lish. They answered of course, " a stone wall" ; whereupon I at once said that
it must mean Cashel, because Caiseal is the Gaedhilic for a Stone Fort, or
wall ; an exjilanation to which Dr. O'Donovan agreed at once, and with satis-
faction at the discovery.
The entry was in fact made as a solemn determination by the Ard-Righ
(Chief-ffing, " Imperator", Emperor) of the Gaedhil (Scots), of the supre-
macy of the Primatial seat of Armagh over the Arcliiepiscopal capital of
Cashel, over which Brian, as Iving of JNIunster, was the immediate monarch.
The word "Jimguil" in the passage is also a diflBculty. The ff has been also
read a t. It is indistinct, and in fact looks likes a c with a dot above and a
dot below. If so, these dots would represent the scribe's mark of an erasm-e,
and the letter is to be passed over. The word will then stand "■ Jiniv'u".']
[s.] (S.) "teAbA]\ WA h-t1i-6]\e [R.I.A.]. (circa a.d. 1100); fol. 45.
" UAin bo cuAibn^e inpo pp.
" UApcomtAr) ptoige-o .ni6]\ La ConriAccu .i. Ia li-Aitibt
ocvip tA 1Tleix)b, ociip liediA 1niAi"oib copriAr]\ichoicec aiLi.
Ocup poice ceccA 6 Aititb co uii. mACti UlAgAcli .i. co
liAititl, CO AnttiAn, co tlloccopb, co Cec, co 6n, octi]^
bApcAbt, ocup 'Ooce .XXX. cec La cActiAe; ocup co CopmAC
Con-obongAp niAc CoricobAip coda cjubcecAib boi po]\ coni3 •
met) tA ConiiAchcA. UecAic uibe iA]\um conibACAp 1ii
CpuAcliiiAib a\i
[translation.]
" Tdin Bo Cuai/r/ntf here below.
"A great host was assembled by the Connacians, that is, by Ailill and by
Medhhh ; and messages went from them to the otlier tiiree provinces. And
EXPLANATION OF THE FAC-SIMILES. G55
messages were sent from Ailill to tlie seven sons of Alagaclt, that is, to AU'dl,
to Anhian, to Moccorb, to Ce(, to -En, and Bascall, and Doch^, thirty hundred
with each man of them ; and to Connac Conlo)i(/a.s, the son of Conchuhhar,
with his three iiundred, who were upon free quarters with the Conuacians.
They all came then, until they were in Cruuchain Ai".
[The commencement of the fragment of this celebrated Historic Tale refer-
red to in the text (Lect. IX. ; p. 185).]
(T.) "Book of Leinster" [H. 2. 18., T.C.D.l (circa a.d. 1130), H']
fol. 10. b., a.
[See the passage in APP. No. XXXVIII. p. 526].
(U.) Same Book {circa a.d. 1130). fol, 25, a, 1 a. [f]
[See the passage in APP. No. III. p. 482.
(V.) MS. in T.C.D. [H. 2. 15.] ; (ad. 1300). fol. 13. b. [v]
'Oe iro-otAib cineoitcuAici.
niuiMtc\in5 biieulieiiiiu\cliu^ poiipne ha-
Viii'oiii, ^^A'o pMSu^ii AneuAiisc^ii^'o.
.1. nococvinn^ec bueicemriACCA x)opei]\ in-ophenecAij" |.'0]\
pne nA]:o"6Ae-n .i. iAe]\e c|M|a. t1oecA-|\]XA]\A"o ita pne ocny
iiA|-tJiX)]\e ]:iM ylAicb.
[translation.]
" Of the classification of the tribes of a territory.
"HE IS NOT COMPETENT TO THE JUDGESHIP OF A TRIBE
NOR OF .4 FUIDBIR, WHO DOES NOT IvNOW [the law of] THEIR
SEPARATION".
" That is, he is not competent for judgeship according to the Fenechas, upon
a tribe, nor upon a semi-slave. [That is, one who is so during the time of three
successive masters], or the separation of the tribe, or the semi- slave from a
lord".
[The Fuidhir was a person, Avho, if he only crossed the boundary line into
the next territory, without stock or means of any kind, and took stocked land
from the chief of that territory, was looked upon, after having remained so
(or his cliildren), during the lives of three succeeding lords, as half enslaved.
During this time he or his cliildren might depart, but take nothing away witli
them. Should he or they come under a fourth lord, without opposition from
themselves, or claim from their original tribe chief, they could never be free
to depart again.
This curious tract (one of those called Brehon Laws) treats of the various
grades into which a tribe was divided, their relative positions and reciprocal
responsibilities to each other and to their chief, as well as the duties and lia-
bilities of the latter to the people. The MS. belongs to the 14th century.
(W.) Entry in 'LeAbA]A riA b-t1i'6]\e, (fol. 35, a. b ), by Sijiaato [w.]
0'Cui]Aiiin ; [R.I.A.J. (a.d. 1345).
[See passage in APP. No. LXXX. p. 570 (the first paragraph).
656 EXPLANATION OF THE FAC-SIMILES.
t'^ ] (X.) " Book of Balljmote", [R.I.A.]. (a.d. 1391) ; fol. 12, a.b.
" CiA 'om ciACA ]A05Aib GiMiin Ai^ro-p^Aij cAtmAn.
" l-poA"© Ache\\z iebA]A 'Ohoiiia Siioacca comAt) iDAtibA
Ainm nAcecm^eine i\05Ab e-|Amn •jAiAiroi'Lin'o, octi-p jomAX)
UA1U1 nobeic t^AiibA yo]\ 6|Mnii. Uiai caocaic oj "oo-oecAi-o
ocu]" qMA]\ i:eA^\. t/AJ|\A inc^eA]" fOA^i, i^^epn cec niA]Ab
GjAenn Annpn octi^^ i^niAt) Ainmm^ceA^A A\\x) 'LA5]\Ann
CeAC]AACAC btlA'DAII (llobA) 1\1 AtTOlbllTO "OobA-QA^V ipiTOnilTO^I
pn. 'Oo]"|''Aini5 iA]\oin jaIa]; cone|\boibci'OA^A tube AriAen-
• -peAccinoin.
[translation.]
" Who now was the first that found Erin, the first [person] of earth.
" It is what the Book of Dromsneachta says, that Bunba was the name of the
woman who found Erin before the Deluge, and that it was from her the name
Banba is upon Erin. Three times fifty virgins, and three men. Laghra was
one of the three ; he was tlie first dead person of Erinn then ; and it is fr(jm
him Ard Laghrann is named. Forty years [or days] before the Deluge the}'
were in this island. There came then a distemper, and they all died in one
week".
[And see passage in APP. No. IX. (p. 497)].
[Y.] (Y.) Same Book (a.d. 1391), foL 142 b. b.
[See passage in APP. No. XXVI. (p. 510).]
[z.] (Z.) Same Book (a.d. 1391), fol. 189 b.
[See passage in APP. No. XXIII. (p. 513).]
[aa.] (AA.) "leAbA^A btii-6e becAin", [H. 2. 16., T.C.D.] {circa x.d.
1390), col 338, b.
[See passage in APP. No. CXX., (p. 614).]
[The passage in the App. copied in the fac-simile is the 3rd paragraph of the
1st Invocation. The fac-simile goes on to include also the 4th paragraph,
which is as follows : —
A pjum^eni 1TUii]\e oije. A lllic 'OAbi'o. A Tllic ^b]\Aim.
A Uboi]'!^ nA nvnbe. A popcent) in 'OoniAin.
[translation.]
" Thou first-bom of Mary the Virgin. Thou son of David. Tliou son of
Abraham. Thou Chief of aU. Thou End of the World".
[BB.] (BB.) Same Book {circa a.d. 1390), col. 896.
[See passage in APP. No. VII., (p. 496).]
[The passage in the App. is copied from the version in the Book of Bally-
mote. The following (which very shghtly differs from it) is that from the
"Yellow Book of Lecain", in the Fac-Simile: —
"Oo lAi^neAt) "om gnnn riA-oAtii^AA bA Co^uuac AiTopn .i.
EXPLANATION OF THE FAC-SIMILES. 057
SAtc<M]\ Co)\niAic "00 cinot, a]\[-)v]o nnoitic pn ociii^ •j'eAn-
duv'OA yeA]\ iie-]\enn 1111 'phinco.n iriAc tiiboc]\A, ocu]"ini phicAt
pie AiTOfin,co]\o fCjAibAi-o coimgne'OA ocui' c]\Aeb<i coibinnif a.
[translation.]
" There was now au admirable deed performed by Corniac there ; namely, to
compile the Saltair of Cormac ; for he compiled that, and the historians of the
men of Erinn [with him], including Fintan the son of Bockra, and Fkltal the
poet, there ; and they wrote the synchronisms and the genealogical branches".
(CC.) "teAli)A]\ 1116]^ TDuriA 'Ooi5i\e"; (called " LeAbAjx [CC]
bueAc"); [R.I.A.]. {circa a.d. 1400), fol. 28. a. b.
[See passage in APP. No. CXIII. (p. GIO).]
(DD.) Same Book {circa a.d. 1400), fol. 2S, a. b. [i>r».]
[See passage in APP. No. CXII. (p. 609).]
(EE.) Same Book {circa a.d. 1400), fol. ?>'2, b. [ee.]
[See passage in APP. No. CXV. (p. Gil).]
(FF.) MS.inR.I.A. [H.and S.,3.67] ; (aVca a.d.1400), fol.3,a.a. [ff.]
[See passage in APP. No. I. (p. 461).]
[The Fac-Simile contains the following sentence before the passage given
in the Appendix, which is to be read in continuation of these words : —
peliTiAc .1. niAC A biAX), 110 A huA-o .1. A1. "pete .i. ecp, no
ecep', inx)e "oiciruii iribi-oecc .i. ecp.
[translation.]
" Felmac, that is the son of his lad, or his Uad, that is [of his] A! [poetry
or science]. Fele, that is, poetry, or a poet, hide dicitur Fllldecht, that is, ecsi
[poetry"].
[This is an analysis of the word Felmac. Fel [or FkiQ is the same as Feih',
hospitaUty, but is appUed here to the teacher who so hospitably dispenses his
knowledge of the science to his mac, " son", or pupil ; and hence the pupil is
called Fel-mac, that is, the Son of hospitable science.]
(GG.) MS. in R.I.A. {circa lUh Century). [gg.]
[The diagram contains the following words :—
n^ h^ilvo|\ennAi5 a]\ wa iToo|\cii5At) 1. The high stars, on being darkened
orcAiLe 11A cAini.Mi. by the shadow of the earth.
Speit\ riA 5iAeine. 2. The sun's sphere.
Spein iM 5|\eine. 3. The sun's sphere.
ScAile n<i cAtni,xii ac ■oojacujatd n^ 4. The shadow of the earth darkening
T^ece. the moon.
Speii\ iM riA]\-o|\eiitiAc tTOAi [n]5en. 5. The sphere of the fixed stars.
Sob. 6. The Smi.
CetAi\e, [ceiA|\A.] 7. The Earth.]
42
658 KXPLANATION OF THE FAC-SIMILES.
[OG.] " Si Aiiceni i^ot mino^\i^' eyec caitoicaici-j^ eccece]iA. 'Oa-
niAt) tiigA CAiiToi^ecc tiA 5^\eine ha ha cAtniA-n, jac uile
111 "ooi'vitAinj, "ooce-OAici A-ovib^AAiiiA]! ocuy cuiite teo, "oo
ceigemA-oAi^' Ann, oi]\ "oo beic i^cAite nA uAiinAn a ]^i]\ ipA-p
octi-|" A]\ teem on caIaiii aiiiac co I'pei^A nA nAi^TOiAin-OAC,
ocuf "00 "ooiAcocAt) ye An cuto but) mo acu ; ocu-p "oo cege-
rhet) ecbippi" -oonA pbAneoAib An jac en mi, ocup 'oo beic
ectip]'ip An ]\e a]\ bun "ne pet) nA Iiai-oji, itia]\ A-oei^v tllApet),
on AC pACAmA]\ Am Alb po pi Am, ocup o nAc cuAbAniAp, ocup o
nAC puApAmAp p5pibuA, ip ecm nAc tnjA cAnToijecc nA
gpeine nA CAin-oi-oecc iia cAbmAn ; ocnp ip pobbnpipm pijtiip
po cip An pAe"opo A'oei]\im.
[translation.]
" Si autem sol minoris eset caiiditatis", etc If the magnitude of the sun were
smaller than the magnitude of the earth, every thing unsustainable, unpermis-
sible, we have said, and more along with them, they should fall in it ; for the
shadow of the earth -would be continually growing and leaping from the earth
out to the si^here of the high stars, and it would darken the greater part of
them ; and an eclipse would happen to the planets in every month ; and the
eclipse of the moon would hold during the night, as he says. Well then, as
we have never seen the like of this, and as we have not heard, and as we
have not found it written, it must be that the magnitude of the sun is not
smaller than the magnitude of the earth ; and what I say is manifest from this
figure down here".
[This remarkable Astronomical Ti-act does not appear to have been yet
investigated by scientific sciiolars. A specimen has therefore been selected
such as to show one of the many diagrams with which it is illustrated. It is
a beautiful vellum MS., of eight leaves, in the finest style of handwriting.]
[HH.] (HH.) MS. in Trill. Coll. Dub. [H. 2. 7.1 (circa a.d. 1400), fol.
196, a.
[This volume consists of a collection of Genealogical and general Historical
Tracts and Poems. It is known by the name of the Book of Hi/ Maine, be-
cause the chief portion of it is devoted to Tracts and Poems concerning that
district of Connacht, and the History of the O'Kellys and O'Maddens, its
Princes, — of which the most important pieces were published by the Irish
Archaeological Society, in 1843. The passage selected for fac-simile, as a spe-
cimen of the MS., is from another portion of the volume. It is as follows : —
SeoAti O "OubAjAin •oa lAini in [translation.]
•ouAn -po. " Seoan 0 Dubhagain that made
tliis poem.
■pl-obAlt) cubllA CbAnn A 11 eibb, " Sweet trees are the Clanna Neill,
tnsbnpc 11 ApAb x)'An ipmein " ^at^t ^''^■^^'^''''''' °^ *^^ *''^"
ppeniA pinemilA pipi " Roots of the true vme,
l^eAliinA nA hAip-opigl. "The bulb-roots of the High-King-
[(a) Herb-garden ; in the original text, ■L«5bu]\c ; put by transposition for
tulj-gunc ; from Unb, an herb or plant, and ^o]\j:, a garden or field.]
EXPLANATION OF TUE FAC-SIMILKS. 659
(II.) " Book of Lecain [R I A.] (a.d. 1416), fol. 19, a. a. [<i.]
[See passage in APP. No. XXXII. (p 522).]
(JJ.) Same Book (a.d. 1416), fol. 77, b. b. [JJ]
[See passage in APP. No. X. (p. 497)].
(KK.) Same Book (a.d. 1416), fol. 155, a. a. [s^k.]
[See passage in APP. No. 1. Cp. 4G2).]
The Fac-Simile contains a sentence more at the beginning than the pai=sage
prmted in the App., as follows : (after which tlie passage in the App. is to be
read in continiiation) :
1n con-oetg bAj^m l,Aicneoi]i i]" ecA]\5Ai]\i lAj'in iribt). . . .
[translation.]
" The Degree of Comparison, with the Latinist, is the Distinction [or Sepa-
ration] with the File. . . .
[The word Condelg is the ordinary Irish for what tlie Latinists call the Three
Degrees of Comparison ; while the Philosopher or Poet's word for it is Etar-
gairi, which liowever has Seven Degrees or distinctions. The Tract from which
thi* passage is taken is an ancient Treatise on Grammar, comparing that of
Gaedliilic with the Latin ; and this passage is part of a lengthened explanation
of the diiferent systems of Comparison in the two languages.]
(LL.) " Liber Flavus Fergusioiatm" (a.d. 1434). [ll.]
[See passage in APP. No. XL. (p. 529J).]
(MM.) " Book of Acaiir [E. 3. 5. T.C.D.] (circa a.d. 1450), [mm]
fob 21, a.
[See passage in APP. No. XXVII. (p. 511).]
The Initial Letter has been omitted in the MS. It should be i. It was,
perhaps, left in blank to be filled up by a scribe specially skilled in ornamental
letters, or this work was postponed till the copyist had concluded the more
ordinary part of his labours,
(NN.) "Book of Fernioy", (a.d. 1467). [nn.j
[See passage in APP. No. XVIII. (p. 503.)]
(00.) MS. in Pv.I.A. [43. 6.] (a.d. 1463). too]
ISi^e-o 1^' ■Cwy "oo'n Uije^^riA .i. i^ecc inbtiAt)nA, ocu]' c^m
yicic, [octt-p ceic-pe cev ocuy mite]. 5- ^^ l/ici-p *OoriinAi5,
ocuj' A bocc in 11uinii]\ Oi]a. tliltiAin TUac An t^eJA cjtn
ix]\ib]^ic, tibeiAA mojAce pe-pibic
GGO EXPLANATION OF THE FACSIMILES.
[00.] [translation.]
" The age of the Lord is, i.e., seven years, and three score [and four hun-
dred, and one thousand]. G is the iJominical Letter, and 8 is the Golden
Number. Wihiam Mac-an-Legha qui scripsit, libera morte peribit".
[This MS. consists of a collection which includes a copy of the FeJir^
Aem/usa, some Law Tracts, etc. This entry occurs in fol. 11, b.b., and appears
to be in the same hand as the preceding part of the volume. It seems to have
been Avritten in at the time of the death of the scribe Mac-an-Legha.
Mac-an-Leglm (a name which may now be Enghshed Mac Kenlay, and is
now sometimes Mac Alea,) was a professional scribe, and was the writer of a
Medical Tract, in Irish, now preserved in the Library of the King's Inns, Hen-
rietta Street, in which the date of the MS. occurs as 14G3. The name Mac
an Leglia means literally " Son of the Physician".]
[PP.] (PP.) Entry in " leAbA^^ nA h-Ui-oiie", [R.I.A.] ; (a.d. 1470).
[See passage in APP. No. LXXX. p. 570 ; ("the second paragrapli).
[QQ-] (QQ.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dub. [H. 1. 8.]. (15//i Century); fol. 1 ,
col. 1.
[See passage in APP. No. XXXII. (p. 517).]
[KR-3 (RR.) Same MS. {Ibtli Century), fol. 1, col. 4.
[See passage in APP. No. XXXII. (p. 518).]
tss-] (SS.) " Book of Lismore". (15^A Century.)
[See original in APP. No. XCIV. (p. 594).]
[TT] (XT.) Memorandum in " \ueA\iA\\ 1116^1 'OunA'Ooigne" ; [R.I.A.]
{Ibtli Cent., or circa a.d. 1500).
[See passage in APP. No. XIX (p 504).]
[uu] (UU.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dub. [H. 3. 18.]. (a.d. 1509), fol. 47, a.
[See passage in APP. No. IL (p. 472),]
n-v] (VV.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dub. [H. 1. 8.] .(16^/i Century), fol.114,
b.b.
[See passage in APP. No. XLIL (p. 533).]
[WW.] (WW.) MS. in Trin. Coll Dub. [H. 3. 17]. {\m, a?id 16th, Cen-
tury), col. 765.
rSeo passage in APP. No. XXY. (p. 508).J
EXPLANATION OF THE FAC-SIMILES. 661
(XX.) MS in Trill. Coll. Dub. [H. 1. 19]. (a.d. 1580) (at a.d. [xx]
1256)
[See passage in APP. No. LIII. (p. 530.]
(YY.) Hanclwiiting of Micliael O'Clery ; (vellum) ; [in tlie (Au- [vv.]
tograph) MS. of Ann. IV. Mag.; R.I.A., fol. 1.]
[See passage in APP. No. LXVII. (p. 543).]
(ZZ.) Signature of Michael O'Cleiy ; [same MS., fol. 2.] t^z]
[See passage in APP. No. LXVII. (p. 544).]
(AAA.) Handwriting of Cucogry (Ciicoi^ciMce) O'Clery, (vel- [aaa.j
Imn) ; [same MS., fol. 550.]
[See passage in APP. No. LXVIII. (p. 544).]
(BBB.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dub. [H. 1. 18]. {circa a.d 1600); [hcb.]
(fol. 113; or, in old ink, 140).
[See passage in APP. No. XXXII. p. (519).]
(CCC.) Handwriting of 'OuIjaIcac niAC 'Pii\bip5, [H. 1. 18., [ccc]
T.C.D.]. (a.d. 1650), fol. 234 a.
[See passage in APP. No. LXIV. p. 542.]
(DDD.) Handwriting of Cucogry (Cucoi5C]\ice) and Micliael [ddd.]
O'Clerj^ [Paper MS., (Autograph) copy of Ann. IV.
Mag. ; R.I A., vol. 1, p. 80.]
Aoi-p CjAioi'c, 1316.
Ao^•\^' Cpioi'c, mite, c]\ic1ie"o, <\'oec1i, <x ye.
StuAi^eAT) mo-p "oo cionot La pe-oliiTiTo Ua Concoli)Ai-|A im
mhAc peo]\Aii', ocii-p im 5^iAttAili) lA]AchAi^A ChonnAchc.
IxAnjACA^A 50 UochA]\ mlionA Coinx)eA'6A. UAinig 1ltiAit)]ii
mAC CAUAit til ChoncolbAi^i, Hi ChonnAchc inA ha^aix) "0011
teic oite. II0 iri^eA-o ioinAi]\eA5 eAC0]i]iA, juji |io liieAlJAit)
|."0]i 1xuat6i\i. II0 inAjilDAX) e bvi'O'oein, ociii" "Oiaihtiaiu ^^^bt
illAC 'OiA]iiiiArA, cijeA^iiiA tnbuije l/Ui^i^, ocuj- Co]\inAC 1TIac
CeceA]inAi5 ci^eAixnA CbiA]i]iAi5e, co I'ochAi'oe ebe.
nioiifboijeA-o ■00 cionob Ia 'Peibini o cConcob)Ai]\, be tlKvc
G()2 EXPLANATION OF THE FAC-SIMILES.
[DOD] 'peo|AAi|', ocuf te 5<^^^<^i^ lA]',tAip ChonnAcc. Uocc "ooib
50 UocAjx IlloiiA ComiieAt)A. 11iu\t6]ai tUv CcncobAi]! 1xi
ChoniiAciic x)o "oul iiia iiajato Vion a i^ocpAicce. 1oinAi]\ecc
•00 co]A eAcco]\]AA. l3]MfeA*6 i:o]a Uuato^m ; e -pein 'oo mAi\t)A-6,
octi-p HA niAicep ete 'oon 'ou'L pn .1. 'OiA|AriiAic '^aXA. IIIac
'OiAjimAtrA njeApiiA llloi^e tuiiicc, Co]\bmAC IIIac CeiccA-p-
riAij, cAoi-peAc CiA^i^AAige, ocu]" -pocAToe cite "o'tiAii^lib a
gliAtt-occtAC, ocu]" A muiiiui]\e i^Ain^AeA-OAiji.
[translation.]
"Age of Christ, 1316.
" Age of Clirist, one thousand three hundred ten and six.
"A great host was assembled hj FeidhUmidh O'Conor, togetlier with Mac
Feorais (Birmingham), and with the English of West Connacht. They
came to the Causeway of 3Ioin Coindeadha. Ruaidhrl, the son of Calhal
O'Conor, king of Connacht, came against them on the other side. A battle
was fought between them, and Ruaidhrl was defeated. He was killed himself,
and Diarmait Gall Mac Dermot, Lord of Magh Luirg, and Cormac Mac
Cethearnaigh, Chief of Ciarraighe (in Connacht), and many others.
" A great host was assembled by Feilim O'Conor, by Mac Feorais, and by the
English of West Connacht. They came to the Causeway of AFoin Coin-
neadha. Ruaidhrl O'Conor, king of Connacht, went against them with all his
followers. A battle was fought between them. Ruaidhrl was defeated ; he was
killed himself and these other nobles, on that occasion; wSiXaoXy , Diarmait Gall
Mac Dermot, Lord of Mugh Lnlrg, Corbmac Mac Celthearnaigh, Chief of
Ciarraighe; and many more of the gentlemen of his Gallowglasses, and of his
own particular people".
[The two first Unes (dates) and the second paragraph, — all in a larger and
wider hand in the original, — are in the handwriting of Michael O'Clery. In
the space left by him in the MS. the first paragr. in the facsimile (SluAigeAT)
moi\, etc.) is written in by Cucoigchrice (or Cucogry). It will be found to
be the same entry (though in different language, and perhaps taken from some
different authority), probably inserted by mistake. This repetition is accord-
ingly omitted in Dr. O'Donovan's edition of the Annals, whicli is printed from
this autograph copy.]
[EEE.] (EEE.) Handwriting of ConAii\e O'Cleiy; [Paper MS. (Auto-
grapli) copy of Ann. IV. Mag.; R.I.A.].
>Aoi-p C]\^of^c, 1433.
Aoty Cpo-pc, nule, cecpe cet), c^uocacc, a c^ai.
CoccA'6 mop eici]\ cenet cConAitt a^U]' Go^Ain. Ua
'OoiTiriAi'Li, IliAtl ^AjAb mAC Uoin|TOeAtb<Mg An ponA conA
f-oc]\Ai'oe "oo ■out ipn *Ouil!)cpAn -oo conjnAiii Ia 1VJac
I1it)ibin. 11a tleilt, .1. Go^An, "oo -otit i^tuAJ ino]\ ibleniriAin
111 'OomnAibt, AJtii" ITI1C lli-otin. UAinic x)nA 111ac *Ooin-
riAibt nA hAtbAn co ccoblAc m6]\ hi ccoiii-OAib lli lleifL "oo
congnAiii Iai^.
[translation.]
" Age of Christ, 1433.
" Age of Christ, one thousand four hundred tliirty and three.
"A great war [broke out] between the Cinel-Conaill and tlie [Cinel-]
EXPLANATION OF THE FAC-SIMILES. G63
Eoghain. O'Donnell, [that is] NiaJl Garhh, the son of Turlogh an Fhiona,
marched with his forces into Duibhthrian [DuflTerin] to assist Mac UkllnUn
[JMacQuillin]. O'Xeill, that is, Eoghan, set out v.itli a great army in pm'suit
of O'Donnell and MacUidhUin. MacDonnell of Albain [Scotland] arrived at
the same time with a large fleet, and went to where O'Neill was, to aid him".
(FFF.) Handwriting of John O'Donovan, LL.D., M.R.I.A. [pff-]
(18G1.)
"Oo JAb "RuAToi^i 0'ConcobAi]i ■|\i5e ContiAcc A511]' t:i]\m6in
Gi]\eAnn, -oo bjAig jii^v ^lAtt \\\ Oi^\giAtt, \\\ llli-oe, A^uf ]\i
l)]\ei]:ne "66; a^u-j' 5<M]\mceA]\ ]n d]\eAnn uite x>e Yaii
Cj^eAtichu]"; ^i-oeA-o ni ]\Aibe Ann acc ]\i 50 biriieA-pAbjiA, TnA|A
AUA ]\i A ]\Ai'be ni6]\An -o'uAi^^tib e-i]AeAnn aj cti]A in a a^ai-o.
[translation,]
" Ruaidhri 0' Cotichobhaif assumed the sovereignty of Connacht, and the
greater part of Erinu, since that the king of Oirghiull, and the king of Mklhe,
and the king of Breifne submitted to him ; and he is called king of all Erinn
in the histories ; however, he was a disputed king, that is, a king who was
opposed by a great many of the nobles of Erinn".
[From Dr. Geoffry Keting's Hist, of Ireland, at a.d. 11G6.
(GGG.) Handwriting (small) of Eucrene O'Curry, M.R.I.A. Cggg.]
(1848).
CAin in 'OoninAi^ Annj^o.
1S 6*6 in]^o ■|:o]\ii]' diAnA in "oomnAij "ooi' ]:iic ConAlb iriAc
Coebimnne "oiclniAit) "oia Aitic-|u "oo lloini, Aguf' 1\o -pciub a
Iaiii i:ein a]' in eibiixit \\o yc]\ib Iaiii 'oei:o]Anim a pAtDnAip
ye\\ mine, aju]^ ]\o tAt) 1:0)1 Atcoi]i pecAi]i -dp-pcAit i-p in
Roim.
[translation.]
" The Law of Sunday here.
" Here is the true knowledge of the Law of Sunday which Conall, son of
CoelmidM, brought [home], who went on his pilgrimage to Kome; and which
his own hand wrote from the Epistle which the hand of God wrote in Heaven,
in the presence of the men of Heaven, and cast upon the altar of Peter, the
Apostle, in Rome.]
[Erom the MS. H. 2. 16., T.C.D., (the YeUow Book of Lecain,) col. 217.]
(HHH.) Handwriting (laraje) of Eugene O'Curry, IM.R.I A. [hhii.]
(1848).
Aengu-p A liAenAcli nime,
I'un'o ACA A bechc ^a ti^e,
^Y A jninx) -oo cIiuai-o a]i coaI
1)' m Aine co nAem neAin.
QQ4: EXPLANATION OF THE FAC-SIMILES.
[''HH.] 1S A CiuAin ei-onedi ^o aIc,
111 CtuAni Gix)necli iao A-oiiAchr,
hi CtuAin Ci-oiiech ^\.A]\ c]Ao-pp,
]\o teg A -I'Alnni a]\ ciio]y.
[translation.]
•' Aengus in the Assembly of Heaven,
Here are his tomb and his bed ;
It is from this lie went to death,
In the Friday, to holy Heaven.
" It was at Cluain Eicllinech he was educated,
It was in Cluain Eidhnech he w^is interred ;
In Cluain Eidhnech of many crosses
He first read his Psakus".
[From Leabhar Mdr Duna DoighM, (R.I.A.) fol. 43, b. b.]
(A.) MS. in tlie "Domhnach AirgicF', [R.I.A.]. (temp. St. Patrick ; circa a.d. 480.)
cci>cU)T?fictivmi tisq* ocf dam 4
i^ev GJ^ clones xvii C^ciclajqicl
iilSqi^totrRaTiSmiy^ct^OTTe t>ai)i2
V^., J I » '^v^
}
K^^
(E.) MS. in the " CaCiach". (6th Century, MS. attributed to St. Coium C>"Ke'.)
'TP <3r.* lT>tTircciTijexw<uwtyTOcLrne-
V^vroTrtocm otJU er^T ir»firrwr>^epwrTt'sxt>tjrerwrtTrTTrrj
<5: -p^TctersziticoefT aotxtmc^xm rno-TTwn e«m
t/3
v^-+
o
\^]C
1
\t S
<r
?i
■1-
S S.
p I
I !
d^
4-
' H.) ■' book CI iJimma", fT.C D.]. (circa a.d. 6l'0.)
(I.) " Book of Dimma", [TCD.]. (circa a.d. 620 )
(J.) Memoranclum in " Book of Dimma", [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 620 )
(K.) " Book of Dimma", [T.C.D.]. (circA a.d. 620.)
i?r
h
(L.) "B»ok of Bimmt", [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 620.)
'fetter -pC|\ipcum-=-
(M.) Erangellstariam ofSt. i^e/inst, [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 690.)
^
yc^Y YiCWi^ ^i^hl- tiPi'Hmr^rtffiffH^itii
(H.) EvangellsUrlnm of St. Moling. [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 690.)
b
l
,rs
fe 5^
3
t*%
5^1.
mlliftrfs
^1
V
I
Pi
If]
•tVo
o ^"^ ?r ^ _^ 'S. XT, ^
^ t H ^ ^ 'S >^ ^^r "^
^ ^ ^ . ? S V^ ?~JF ^
i
M
(R.) Entry in " Book of Armagh", [T.C.D.]. (m»de temp. Brian Boroimhi, a.p. lOOJ.)
nut r^oTvf^ a^r^n^^i
rS.) ■' leabhar na h-Uidhri", [R.I. A.], (circa a.».1190.)
&7i3?.coc6r,co^.7hi7*Ciltt.7D6ce--^
^t<ic<KiXii:.'jCoco}^t^v\of^ ir)c
(T.) " Book of Leinster", [H. 2. 18. ; T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. U30.)
(U.) " Book of Leinster", [H. 2. 18. ; T.C.D.]. (circa ad. 1130.)
h
*OttWW<^^-"H-l«5^.r ij .
,/r<
^otn^l^ eqp:^ til e<?5rtr4^/W5^tni(m*^t)
(V.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dub!., [H. 2. ir,.] (a.d. 1300.)
C(tfl<ft3.
dfewpnl'
TWxnwn.TKK)
^t,^#
I
tf^f.
1 «-i l&r? fi£'
10
(Z.) " Book of Ballymote", [R.I.A.]. (a.d. 1391.)
s
Tins' life ^c fto6e<fn \iceDD tncwttcutr^
fi^coipfwi tfi^c^ittcle ocrtficottoac? :kd^
^^•1 05t4n tn o^uKtD tn<iciaiii tiD<lt;Ki
ix^ c3K^»|c.^7KJDC05tiB<t ccffxaxormxto
aiH \3^rKticc6 leffiTiopa^t^^
TiO)xdtm) twcTio^ooiJftiio 0^
xi A \ . ^/eyioxiTbiio sew ^ttitnytd ^>cutr_
OTKttI ^tKfc tiQ- cfnti ^ oooitem
rfpicotTalt
<AA ) " Yellow Book of Lecain" [II. 2, IG ; T.C D.]. (circa a D. 1390.)
(BB.) " Yellow Book of I>cai>r\ [II. 2, 16 ; T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 1390.)
(t;C ) " leahhar Mor Thina Doighre". (called " Leabhar Breac"), fR.I.A.]. (circa A.D. 1400.)
[t^ . 4^1 ^em ^ffe ^ Tnerr
TmtrwrhtDDOTne.
12
k" ~ ^ d f y
^
too-s 5-
n
t
bill's v^
I
13
(GG.) MS. in Roy. Ii-. Acad. (Astronom : Tract ; cirea a.d. 1400.)
(HH.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 2. 7.] (circa a.d. 1400.)
14
(U.) ■■ Book ot Lecain". [R.I.A.]. (a.i>. 14-16.)
xoc
(JJ.) '■ Book of J.ecain", [R.I.A.]. (a.d. 1416.J
n'geTDet-i4yut4t^co
(KK.) " Book of Lecain\ [R.I.A.]. (x.J>. 1416 )
rpTr 5D^Trp<itnf*4m
(LL.) " Liter Flavus Ffcrgusiorum". (a.d. 1434.)
\
15.
(MM.) " Book of Acaiir, [E. 3. 5. ; T.C.ri.]. (circa ad. U50 )
(NN.) " Book of Fermoy". (a.d. 1462.)
(00.) MS. in Roy. Ir. Acad. [43. 6.] (a.d. J4«7)
.^ ^ti Mir tDTTt fT*i 4hoy Jtvhn oxf\ .
(PP.) Entry h\ Lealftarna h-Uifihri,\R.l. A.. i. (a.d. 1470)
^5{)fipt|4rtlttrro6"ccr^^if 4t|tedB^
(QQ.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 1. 8.]. (loth Centur>'.>
f ocp\irrzui
16.
r^
I 1
u
-I f
1
.2.5 f'
(YV.) MS. in Trin. Coll. DuW. [H. 1. 8. J. (ICth Century.)
17
OjcA/ ^oji wiji yjler 1^lf 1^ '1'YO ^f
ywxiXfKC^ ^n(vcAym^ xy^m^v^-jvSiii,
.^. >4So teto*vtt^-^T2il^ ^4cfiec tn4k5
-f24it?t^4^*jsn4p>t5ft44fo^^t045f^
-^-rr|£i?i4'gtw4Y
I
16.
•Mill
m
^
fi
Ml
o o
'f
o
13.
I
t f ^^ '^ ^ I
20
^f If 1^ a
.-r
s
•J -sr V- g-rv 2: £ V-
■H^'
20
ITF **tC r-!n ri- JT'-^^^
a
-^'v^
f
21.
I
22.
(CCC.) Handwriting of Duald Mac Firbis, [H. 1. 18. ; T.C.D.J. U.d. 1660.)
23.
If
V.
4
!
r
i
24
25.
•vo
1-
26.
-^ t-^ 4 J ^ U
P ^ ?r^ VS r^ 4r
-V- ^ ▼-"" r.,^f^-r^ *-
-St^
665
INDEX.
Aaron and the priests, 369
Abban,sono{UaCor7naic,3S'2lA'pp.C>lG
Abraham, and the Patriarchs, 368
Absolution ; Canon on, 372
Academy, Museum of the Koyal Irish,
321
Acaill, the Hill of Screen, 29, 47, 230,
264.— the Siege of [App. 589 n.—
Book of, 47, 49, [App. 511, 512
Acoll, or AicelJ, daughter of Cairpri-
Niadh, 49, [App. 514, 515
Accomplishments of ladies in ancient
Erinn, 279
Achadli, Ard-, 100 [App. 641,
Achadh CowfliVe (Achonry), 101
Achadh (field) [App. 495
Achadh Leithderg (in Farney), 69, 72
Acres, lands measured by, 396
"Acta Sanctorum Hiberniie", Col-
gan's, 143 [see Colgan.]
Adamnan, Saint, 342. — grandson of
Atinni [App. 608. — Extract from
Life of, 423, [App. 629, (and see
647.)— Vision of, 424, [App. 629.—
His Life of St. Cohan CUle, 342,
350, 407, 408
Adam's Race, 388
Address to the Eeader, prefixed to
O'Clery's Re'nn Rwghraidhe, 165,
[App. 551.
Adhair, Macjh, 401
Adehn, William Fitz- [App. 603
Adhna, son of Uiihir, chief Poet of
Conor Mac Nessa, 45, 218, 383.
Adonis; Diannaid O'Duibhne, the
Fenian [App. 467
Adventures, Of the ; (Echtrai). [His-
toric Tales, No. 10], 283
Ae=rAo, 177.
Aedan, the Poet, 217.
Aedh=Aodh, 177.
Aedhagan ; {Flann Mac), 151
Aedh Allan, Monarch ; 130, 420
Aedha, Mac ; {Sitric, son of), 331
Aedhan Mac Gabhrain, K. of Scot-
land, (a.d. 570), 414, 417, [App.
589 n.
Aedh Bennan [App. 590 n.
Aedh Cliabhghlas {Aedh, the gray-
bodied), 401
Aedh; C'olman Mm; son of, 414.
Aedh Dubh O'Donnell, 407
Aedh Engach, (" the Valiant"), 419
Aedh, K. of Tirconnell, (1237), 401
Aedh Mac Ainmirg; 50, 218. — Mon-
arch, (A.D. 694), 232.— killed (a.d,
594), [App, 583 n. — Domlinall, son
of, 333
Aedh Mac Neill, 364, [App. 610
Aedh Mem, 420.
Aedh Oirdmdhe, (Monarch, a.d. 793-
• 817), 363, — and the Enchanted
Goblets [App. 532
Aedh Ruadh ; Tale of the Adventure
of Macha, daughter of, 283
Aedh Ruadh; (O'Donnell), 22, 70, 396.
406, 407, 417.— Life of, 22,— Aedh
Ruadh, son of Badurn, 70
Aedh, the son of Colgu, 420
Aengoba, or Oengaba,{a.t}ieT oi Aengus,
363 [App. 610
Aengus, son of the Daghda, 45, 478 n.
— Gabuadech, 48; [and see Oengus]
Aenghus Ua Flainn, 399
Aengus oi Brugh naBoinM; The Four
Kisses of, [App, 478
Aengus Cede De, Mac Aeii- Ghobhann,
12, 17, 26, 53, 76, 163;— his Pedi-
gree, 363, [App. QlO.—Felire of,
351, 363, [App. 611 et seq.— Invo-
cation in Felire', 365, [App. 610
Pedigi-ees by, 353, 359, 363.— Li-
tany of, 289, 294 ;— on the Festival
of St. John the Baptist, 429;—
Scdtair na Rann, of; 21, 360.
Aengus Mor, K. of Scotland, 55
Aengus 0^ Domhnallain, 334
Aengus OUmucadh, death of; poem
on, 241
Aengus, son of Natfraech [App. 586 n.
Aengus' s tribe, 50
Aengus Tirech, 209, 213
Afiiliation, St. Patrick's law of, 225
Agad^agat, 177
Agallamh an da Shuadh, "Prophecy"
in the, 383. — Passage in [App. 616
Agallamh na Seanoi-ach, 307 [App.
694
AgrariaLex, the, of the Gaedhils, lOn.
Aherlow [Eaiharlagh'], 211
Ai^Aoi, 177.
Aich^, Battle of [App. 621
43
6QQ
INDEX.
Aicher O'Troighthigli, 346
Aicilf, 47, 49 [App. 511, 512 (and
see AcailT)
Aicm€, Triuchadh an-; (in Kerry), 448
AiDEADHA ; or OiTTE, (" Tragedies",
—Historic Tales, No. 6), 273
Aidhn^, (JJi Hachrach of), 125
Aiqlmech, Cuan Snamha (Carling-
ford), 287
Aiffle, Cruachan ; (Cruach Patraic)
423 [App. G29
Ailb, the plain of, 63
Ailbhe, daughter of Cormac Mac
Airt; 194. — poem by, [App. 466,
476. — Tale of the Courtship of, by
Finn Mac CumhaiN, 283
Ailbhe, Magh ; Battle of (a.d. 903),
420, [App. 467
Ailbhe, St. ; of lumlich (Emly), 374 —
Ills Pilgrimage, 382
Ailbhine, (now Delvin), Ford on the,
282
Aileach, 133. — Destroyed by Muir-
cheartach O'Brien, 400, 405.— Eoof
of, made of oak from Cratloe, 401.
— the stone-builders of, 222
Aikll [see also AiliU\ Finn ; Flidais,
wife of, [App. 585 n.
Aikll (father of Seancha), 218
Ailell (see Oilioll) Molt, 88-9 [App.
484, &c.
Ailell (see Oilioll) Olum, 44, &c.
Ailell, son oi Eoghan ; Elopement of
the wife of [App, 590
Ailenn [see also Ailimf\; Palace of,
367, [App. 492
Aileran the Wise, 350, 378, etc. (see
Aireran^
Ailfinn [Elphin], 175
Ailgenan ; the O'Mearas from, 210
Ailiac (qu. Ailinn ?), 222
Ailian, Solomon's builder, 222
Ailill [see also AileW] ; Ugair^, son of
(K. of Leinster), 421
Ailill Ain^, son o{ Laeghair€ Lorc,252
Ailill Flann Beg, B51
Ailill, (Prince of Leinster), and
Meadbh ; marriage of, 282
Ailinn (" Ailiac") ; Casruba, stone-
builder of, 22^2
Ailinn, the Rath of; Cricil, builder
of, 222
Ailinn, the royal palace of Leinster,
222, 367 [App. 492
Ailinn, daughter of Fergus [App.
465, 472
Airgetmar, 70 [App. 527
Ai7ie(Cnoc),3l6, [App. 486
Aingen, (Tain Be, or Bo) ; Tale of the,
283. [App. 586 n., 587 n., 589 n.
Aingliin (Tnis), 112
Aingidy, 0'; 211
Ainle', (one of the Sons of Uisnech),275
Ainmire, sonof Cellar, 363 [App. 610
Aimnire {Aedh Mac), 50, 191, 218,
232, 588.— Domlinall, son of, 333
" Air an da Fearmuighe", 198
Aireran " the Wise" of Tamldacht,
Saint, 379
Aireran, (or Airenan), the Wise, [of
Clonard], (Saint) ; 350, 378 [App.
608, 614
^' Air^ Echta'", ihe, 48.
Airemh ; Eochaidh, 54
Airchinnech (" Erenach"), 290, 344,
— a lay Airchinnech, 408
Airchis, or Oirchis, (the word) ; 379
[App. 615
Airqhiall (Oriel): Aedh O'Caellaidhe',
Bishop of, 361
AiRGNE (" Slaughters"), [" Historic
Tales", No. 4], 252, 260
Airmedh, son of Diancccht, physician,
221, 250
Airteach [App. 547
Airthir (Coil I), 102
Aitheack Tuatha, 194, 230, 262, 453
[App. 590 n.— Tale of the Revolt
of the, 262
AiTHiDHE, of the ; (" Historic Tales"
of Elopements), 294
Aithirne Ailghesach Q^ Aithirtie the
Importunate"), 218, 265-8,— his
poem to Neidhe', 383 [App. 616
Aithirne', Tale of the Death of, 319
Alacluaith, the (of Britain), 88
Alan's (Archbishop) Register ; re-
ferred to [App. 603, 604
Albain (Scotland), 194 [App. 616.—
Dathi invoked as King of, 285
Albanach 0' Troighthigh, (Domhnall),
346
Alban's, Saint; crozier of St. Patrick
at the monastery of [App. 603 n.
Alexander the Great ; Life of, 25, 353.
— SjTichronism of [App. 521
Alexandria, the Bishops of, 369
Ale ; vessels of fermenting, 309, 311 ;
— vat of red, 388, — can (escra) of,
[App. 621
Allan ; Aedh, (Monarch, a.d. 730), 420
Allen, Archbishop [see Alan]; 603,604
Allen (Almhain), 191,313, 316
Almhain (Allen, Co. Kildare); 191,
313, 316.— i^/H« of, 395.— Hill of
Allen [App. 480 n Battle of, 191,
389, 420
Almhaine, Bruighean bheaqna h-; 313
Alphabets ; Tables of (B. of Bally-
mote), [App. 470
INDEX.
667
Alpine gold, 310
Alpine Slountains ; plunderers from
the [App. 585 n.
Alps ; King Dathi's Expedition to,
and death by lightning near, the,
281, 288
A/t na h-EiIti, 102
.1/^ Tiqhe Milk. Cuirin, 102
.4/?o(V(altar), St. Patrit^k's; [App.624
Altus,a Romanconsnl, 277. [App.6J:2
" Altus" of Colum Cille, the, 77 n..
352, 406
Altars; " Cromlechs'" never [App.
598.— ("table at the east end"), 397
Altars at Rath Archaill ; Druids, 284
Altar Stone, floating; of St Patrick,
393
Ambrose, St. ; referred to by Aen-
gus, 368
Amen, amen, 397
Amergin Gluingeal, 45, 217, 448
Amergin Mac Amah/atdh, 53
Amhlaihh (Awley), 403, 414 (219)
Amhalgaidh, Ibh- ; Clann Fii'bis his-
torians, 219.— L^t-, 125.— r/;-, 126
Amhalgaidh, K. of Connacht, 330
Amhra (Elegy) of Colum Cille, 29,
177, 218, 406
Amlaff, the sons of, 403
Amrois{Tuath),2,SQ
Anann, the Paps of, 309
Anhuail, Etal ; Caerabar Boeth,
daughter of, 426
Andromeda, parallel story to that
of, 280
Anglo-Normans, 225. — invasion of,
414. — power of (after a.d. 1172),
234
Aiimchara, 76, (" soul's friend"), 333
Annadh 0'2Iidreadhaigh, 100
Annagh, parish of (Kerry), 448
Annalists subsequent to Tighernach ;
of the, 74
Annally, Co. Longford; OTerrall's
country, 219
Annals, the Ancient, 52. — As ma-
terials of History, 119. — the future
History must be founded on the,
445. — the Latin annals (of Multi-
fernan, Grace, etc.), 52. — of Boyle
(so called), 52, 81, 105 [App. 539.—
of Clonmacnoise, 52,130. — ofClyn,
52.— of Connacht, 104, 113, 114
[App. 539. — ofDonegall; or of the
Four Masters, 52, 140, 145.— of
Grace, 52. — of Inis Mac Nerinn
(in Loch Ce), wrongly called of
Kilronan, 52, 93, 97, 114 [App. 541.
—of Innisfallen, 52, 75, 79. —of
Kilronan, 52, 93, 97, (113), 114
[App. 540.— of Loch C^, 93, 95,
[App. 534.— of Multifernan, 52.—
of the O'Duigenans of Kilronan
(called Annals of Connacht), 113,
114.— of Pembridge, 52.— Of Tigh-
ernach, 52, 62, 74, 90 [App. 517.
—of Ulster, 23, 52, 83 [App. 517
Annhian Mac Aegan, 141
.4w/-o///, the, 241, 243
Anster, Dr. ; translation of Fenian
Poem by, 306
Anthony (St.), and the Monks, 369
Antichrist, 398, 414, 419, 433.
Antioch, the Bishops of, 309
Antiquarian inquiry, neglect of, 1, 2
"Antiquarian" nonsense about pagan
worship [App. 586 n.
Antiquity of our genealogies; credi-
bility of the, 205
Antwerp ; Irish MSS. written at, 356
Aodh=Aedh, 177
Aoi, (Poet of TuathaDe Danann), 217
Aoi; Magh- [App. 564
Aongus Anternmach, physician, 221
Aos dcina ; poets, 220
Apocryphal character of the " Pro-
phecies", 410
Apostles, the Hill of the {Cnoc na n-
Aspal), 361
Apple-tree in Crec/Ai's house, 311
Apple-tree over Ailinn's grave; Ta-
blets of the, [App. 465, 466
Ara, the O'Briens of, 236
Arabian Nights, the, (Lane), 296, 297
Arainn Island, St. Colman of, 293
Arann Islands, 417. — "Arann of the
Saints". [App. 605. — Topography
of, [App. 630
Archaill, Rath, 284
Archaeology, Cliristian, 321
Ardachadh{AxCi2ig\\), 100 [App.641,
Ardan, 275
Ard=^art, 177
Ard Brestine', 268
Ard-choill, (Co. Clare), 176
Ardee, named from Firdiadh, 39
Ard-Finain (Co.Tipperary), 76 ; — St.
Finan of, 340
Ard Laghrann, 656
Ardlemnachta ; (Ard Leamhnachta,
New Milk HiU), 450 ;— Battle of
[App. 589 n.
Ardmore, St. Declan of, 340
Ardnurchar {Bail€-ath-an- Urchuir),
276 [App. 693
Ard-Patrick, Co. Limerick, 308
Ard-Righ, 218
Ardsallas (Co. Clare), 236
Ard Ui Liiinin, 170
Argain Chuirpri Cinn-Cait for Saer-
45 b
668
INDEX.
clannaibh h-Erenn ; Story of the,
262. — Argain Dinn Righ, the, 257
Argonautic Expedition ; Story of, 25.
Argat Ross, 449 ; — Liighdidh's grave
in, [App. 479
Arm of Saint Lachiain; Shrine of the,
337
Armagh, desecration of, 408. — Ca-
tliedral, etc., burned, (1178 ;) [App.
602 n. — (See Primacy of Ardma-
cha), 399, 400. — Intruding prelate,
NkiU, or Nigellus ; [App. 602. —
Book of; 21, — Macutenius' notes in,
397 Canon in, 373. — Sketch of
St. Patrick's life in Book of, 347
the (original) Book of, 21. — the
Culle/adh of, 335,— Entry in, 653.
" Armenians" ; " the large size of
the guileless" ; 224 [App. 580
Armorica, [App. 502
Arms, etc., in Museum of Royal Irish
Academy, 38 n.
Arms of the Firbolgs and TuathaDe
Danann, 245
Army, Finii's defensive ; 315.
Arond, stone-builder of Jerusalem,222
Art ; Ancient Irish, 38 n.
Art Aenfhir, "the Lonely", son of
Conn, 42, 43, 96, 386.— "Prophecy"
ascribed to, 391. — poem of [App.
G22
Art Corb, 48
Asal, 44
Asail ; Slight, the, 453
Ascaill ; Glais in [App. 489, 490
Ashburnham, Lord, 25, &c.
Ash (Mountain-),Court ; the, {Bridg-
hean Chaerthainn'), 313
Aspal, Choc na n-, 55 ; Abbot of, 361
Assembly in Munster under Bishop
Ibair [App. 616
Astronomical Tract, ancient, 657-658
Athair chaigh chuimsigh nimhe, 163
Athairn^ {av AitMrn^),i\\Q poet, 176,-
189, 218, 268, 383, etc. [App. 616
Ath-an-Imok (Ford of the Sods), 282
Athdiath of Ireland ; the, 88
Ath CUath ; DuhhUnn-, 146, 269
Ath Cumair, (near MuUingar), 33
Ath Truim (see Haile Atha Truim')
[App. 604, 605
Athens, 222
Ath Flrdiaidh, (Ardee), 39
Atlantic, Expedition of the Sons of
Ua Corra into the, 289 ; — peniten-
tial pilgrimage into the, 292
" Atlantis, the" ; Story published in,
36 n.
Athlone, named from story in the
Tain Bo Chuailgti^, 40
Ath Luain, (Athlone), 40
Ath Mdr, 40
Ath na Beithighe, 102
Ath Seanaiqh (Bally shannon, Co.
Kildare), 420
Ath Uinche (theFord of Uinche'),B03
Atinni, grandfather of St. Adamnan,
[App. 608
" Attacots" (Aifheach Tuathd), 194,
230.— Tale of the Revolt of the, 262
AurchaiUe ; Drom, 382
Ausaille; Cill, (Killossy), 344, 421
Authority, early references to the
Historic Tales as, 241
Authorities upon our early History,
441, 443, 445-6
Auxihus, 373 [App. 612
Awley (Amhlaibh), 414
Bachall (see Sciath Bhachall), 331 ;
(and see [App. 602).
Bachall Isu, the, 104, 330, 338 [App.
539, 600, 624
Bacorbladhra, (the first teacher), 217
Bactrians and Parthians of common
descent with the Gaedhil (from
Magog, son of Japhet;, 205
Baculus pastoralis [App. 602 n. (and
see Bachall /.s«)
" Baculus Jliesu" [App. 600 et seg.
Badamar, court of K. Fiacha Midi-
leathan, 305
Badger Wood (Ros Broc), 302
Badley, Philip, 94 [App. 634
Badurn, 70 [App. 527
Buedan, K. of Ulster [App. 592 n.
Bacrach, the Druid of Conor Mac
Nessa, 277, [App. 642-3
Baeth (seeDcnrtfdd Bhaeth) [App.642
Baghach, Brat ; (Flag of Battles),
401, 402
Bail^, (=hamlet), 40
Bad(fan Scdil, the; 385,419, [App.618
Bailean Mhoinin,MQ [App. 607
Baile-aiha-an- Urchair, (Ardnurchar,
Co. Westmeath), 276 [App. 593
Bade Atha CUath, 88, 146, 269
Bade Atha Trtdm [App. 604, 605
Bade Bhricin (" Extasy of Bricui"),
418
Bad^ Chidnn, the, 385, 419. [App.617
Bade' Codlefoghair, 166, 170,
Bade' Mac Bimin; Tale of, [App.
464 et seq., 472
BadeMhoUng, 420, [App. 628
Bcdle Mdr Ui Fhloinn [App. 548
Bade Ui Chleirigh, 22
Bail€ Ui Mhaoilchonaire, 21
Bailldearg {Eochaidh), 210
Bainche, or Bainchne, son of Dobru,
Rath-builder of Emania, 222
INDEX.
669
Bairnech hill, near Killarney, 305
Baiscni, 304. — Fint), the Grandson of,
392 [App. G22
Baitkh), St. ; 18.— Story of [App. 532
Balla (Co. Mayo) ; St. Mochua of, 340
Ballaa;hmoon, Co. Kildare [App. 487
Ball Dearg O'DonneU, 406
Balhngarry, Co. Limerick ; Disert
Aengusa near, 364
Ballintogher (near Tullamoro), 449
Balls of Gold, 426
Ballyboghall Church, (near Swords,
Co. Dublin) [App. 603
Ballyconnell ; Toomregau, near
{Tuuiiii Drecain), 418
Ballymacmanus Island {Senait in
Loch Erne), 84, 85
Ballymote, Book of, 188, &c.
Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny QRakh
Beothaigh, near), 449
Ballysadare, County Sligo; (Traigh
Eothaile, near), 246
Ballyshannon (Co. Kildare), (Ath
SeanaigK), 420
Ballyshannon, (Co. Sligo) ; Eas
Ruaidh on the Erne, near, 284
Bulor " of the stiff blows", 247.—" of
the Evil Eye", 249
Baku; son of Buanlamh, builder of
Bath Breise, 222, [App. 577.
Baltinglass {Bealach Conglals), 232 ;
[App. 586 n. — Dunbolg, near [Api>.
588 n.— Tale of the €ave of, 283
Bana, (the River) ; [App. 489, 490
Banhha; 13, 413.— Erinn, 219, 656
Banshees, (see Bean Sidhe) ; 36 n.
[App. 504.— S/«, the [App. 599
Ban, Sliabh- (in Connacht) ; the three
Rosses of, 426
Bangor (Co. Down) ; [see Bennchuir^,
257, 374
Bann,Mouth. of the, (^Tuagh Inbhet-) ;
[App. 475
Banquets (Feasa) ; Tales of, 294
Baoi^=boi, 11 '6
Baoit/nn, St.; Poem of St. Colum
Cille, to, 400, 406 [App. 625
Baothghaledi Buadh Mac Aegan,
142, 151, 175
Baptist, St. John ; fiery bolt on fes-
tival of, 385, 402, 404
Barbarous custom of a brain trophy,
275
Bare, Dun [App. 589
Bards, 248, — the " Contention of the,
141
Barnab, stone-builder of Jerico, 222
Barrdan, Joannes 0', 323
Barrow, the river {Bearbha'), 302, 422.
— St, Eimhin of, 351
Bath, medical healing, of the Tuatha
DiS Danann, 250
Battle of ^Ica///, 230, 264
Battle oiAchadh Leithderg (a.d.331),
69
Battle of Aichi; [App. 621
Battle of Almhuin, (a.d. 718), 191,
389, 420
Battle oi Ardhmnachta [App 588 n.
Battle oi Ath Cumair [App. 591 n.
Battle of Ballyshannon, (1359), 183
Battle of BealAtha DuUe{li>05), 407
Battle of Bel an Atha buidhe (1598),
417
Battle of Bd-an-Droichit [App. 548
Battle of the Boyne, 331
Battle of Bernas, the, [App. 481,
482 n.
Battle of Bregh [App. 621
Battle of Brinlech, in Muirthimn^,
[App, 587 n.
Battle of Caenrai(,he, 189
Battle of CennAbrat, (II.century),187
Battle of Ceann Feabhrait, (1579),
395, 416
Battle of Ceannfuait (915), 421
Battle of Ceann Mara (Kinvara), 303
Battle of Cenntire [App. 622
Battle of cm Eochain, (1414), 395
Battle of cm Sosad, or Cm Osnadh
[App. 483, 586 n.
Battle of Claire, [App. 586 n.
Battle of Clairinc, [App. 621
Battle of Clontarf, 233, 400
Battle of Cnoc an Air, 312
Battle of Cnoc Samhna, 312
Battle of Cnucha, 302
Battle of Comar. 307
Battle of Conachail, 101
Battle of Corann [App. 586 n.
Battle of Craunagh, 69
Battle of Cruachan Bri Eile', (1385),
395
Battle of Crinna, 200, [App. 593 n.
Battle of CuaUgne [App. 622
Battle of CuilDreimn€, 329, 417
Battle of Disert O'Dea, (1318), 236
Battle of Downpatrick, (1260), 235
[App. 547
Battle of DruimCriaigh [App. 487,508
Battle of Dunbolg, (a.d. 594), 191, 232
Battle of Eli [App. 621
Battle of Emania (" foretold"), 418
Battle of Fidh-Ros [App. 621
Battle of Finntraigh (Ventry- Har-
bour), 308, 315
'BsitWe ot Fossnd [App. 481
Battle of Gabhra, 304
Battle of Geisill, (b.c. 1975), 449
(a.d. 1406), 395
670
INDEX.
Battle at Gort na Tibrad, 395
Battle of Kinsale, 396
Battle of Leac Bladhma (1027), 414
Battle of Liamhain [App. 492
Battle of 3Iacha [App. 621
Battle of 3Iagh Ailbhe (903), 420
[App. 467
Battle of Magh Leana, 243
Battle of Magh Mucruimhe (a.d.
125), 43, 391 [App. 621
Battle of Magh Rath, (a.d. 624), 50,
191, 243, 418
Battle of 3Iagh Slecht, (1256), 101
[App. 536
Battle of Magh Tuireadh, 241, 244
Battle of Magh Tuireadh na bh-
Fomoraxh, 247
Battle of Muirtheimn^, 319
Battle of Ocha or Och^, 55, 88-9,
App.] 484, 488
Battle of Odhbha (1072), 421
Battle of Ollarbha, 307
Battle of Rath Chormaic (atTara),
402
Battle of Ross na Righ, (first cen-
tury), 187 [App. 589
Battle of Saingel, 396
Battle of Salchoid (Sallyhead, Tip-
perary), 403
Battle of the Samair [App. 485
Battle of Seaghais (a.d. 499) ; [App.
499
Battle of Tailhiti, 448
Battle of Tara (978), 403, 404
Battle of Uchbadh, (a.d. 733), 130.
Battles, the Flag of; {Brat Bughach),
401
Battle (with the Danes near Dublin,
A.D. 917), 387
Beag=^beac, 177
Beagh, Rath-, 449
B€ Aingen, Tain; the, 283
Bealach Conglais [see Baltinglass],
232, 283, 586, etc.
Bealach na Beithighe, 103
BealAtha Dade; Battle of, (1505),407
Bean-sidhe (Banshee), 36 n. [App.
504 Sin, the [App 599
Beannchuir (Bangor, Co. Down), 170,
374 -^—Mac Uidhii; abbot of, 419
Bearbha, the river (Barrow), 302, 452
" Bearchan Profetans", 412 [App.
626, etc., [see Berchan']
Bearnan Culainn, (the gapped Bell of
St. Culann'), 337
Beathach, ancestor of the Tuatha Di
Danann, 244
Bede on the Picts, 450
Bed, four posts to, 311 ; — of gold and
silver, 310; — of Diarmaid and
Grainn^, 315 [App. 597. — iwda of
St. Ciaran, at Clonmacnoise, 27
Begfolad, Tochmarc ; Tale of the, 283
Beg Mac D€ (ob. a.d. 556) ; " Pro-
phecies" of, 399
Beinn Edair, (Howth), [App. 587 n,,
588
Beithe' Lids Nin, the [App. 471
Belach Duin ; St. Ciaran of, 360
[App. 608
Belach Mic Uilc [App. 508
Belach Mughna (Ballaghmoon) [App.
487
Belach Conglais, 232, [App. 586 ii.—
Uath-, 283
Be'l an atha Buidhe, Battle of (1598),
417
Be'l an Bheallaigh, 102
Bei-an-Droichid (near Sligo); Battle
of, [App. 548
B^lchu [App. 590 n.
Bel Dragcdn, Loch; 427 [App. G33
Bd, Eoghan ; King of Connacht, 340
Belgadan, Mount, 245
Belgian government, liberality of, 174
Belgium; Irish MSS. in, 26, 232
356. — the Cathach long in, 331. —
MSS. lent by the government of,
362. [App. 647.— Irish priests take
refuge in, 356
Bell, — of the kings, the (Clog na
Righ), 334. — " the voice of my bell
in cold lona", 400. — of St. Patrick ;
the Finn faidhech, 337 [App. 631 n.
Bells, church, 413. — In Museum of
R.I.A., etc., 321, 336
"Belle Isle", 13allymacmanus Island,
[see Sencui'], in Loch Erne, 85
Bel S^ad, Loch ; 426 [App. 633
Belltain^, pagan Festival of (May-
day), 286
Benedict, the gifted, 369
Benen, S. (St. Benignus), 4, 373,
[App. 612.— His Life of St. Pa-
trick, 349
Bennan, Aedh ; K. of West Munster
[App. 590 n.
Bennchur (Bangor, Co. Down), 170,
257, 374, 419
Bennchcdr, Cuil; in Ui Fcdlghe', 365
Benne Brit, 43
Beothaigh, Raith; iid
Beremain, the Strand of; (near Tra-
lee), 305
Berchan, St. ; of Cluain Sosta, 409
[App. 626. — " Prophecies" of, 412.
— Book of, 353.- Quoted in the
" Danish Wars", 405 " Berchan
dixit" (in "prophecy" ascribed to
St. Moling), 421
INDEX.
671
Bernard, St. ; his Life of St. Mala-
chy cited [App. 602
Bernard, a Danisli cliief, 403
Benias, the Battle of. [App. 481,482
Berraidhe, Ceann ; (servant of Conor
Mac Nessa) [App. 641-2
Berry-juice, a bowl of, 309
Besom out of Fanait ; tlie, 420, 421,
423, 426, 428
Betham, Sir W., and Sir N. O'l^^on-
nell, 331. — account of the Caihach,
327
Bethech ; Diseri-, 364
Bethlehem, 369
Bkaet/i, Doire da, 276
Biatach, CHospitaller), 84
B!l(f, 21a gh ; (MoviUe), 287
Blllffh, Raith ; (Rayilly). [App. 488
Bindon, Samuel, 174, [App. 647
Biographical Dictionary of Mac Fir-
bis, 123
Birchwood used for tablets [App, 470
Birds, fairy ; in the eaves of Credhi's
Grianan, 310
Bird, fairy (golden head and silver
wings), 333. — Fairy transforma-
tion into, 426.— Music of, 334.—
Birds of Baili, the. [App. 479
Bishops, Hill of the (near Cabin-
teely); {Tulach na n-Espuc), 382
Bishop ; punishment of a, 372
Bissextile Year, 427
" Black Book" of Clirist' Church, re-
ferred to [App. 603
Black Maggot, the {Cro?n Duhh)
[App. 631-2
Bladh. App. 586 n.
Bladhma, Leac, (Meath), Battle of,
(1027); 414
Blai, 48
Blar (father of Bole), 222
Blathmac,St. ; sonof Flann, Monarch,
362.— Crozier of, 338
Blathnait. [App. 590
Bloc, the Druid, 388, [App. 620
Blod, 209
"Bloody Maggot, the" (O-omCrwac/*), •
[App. 631-2 (and see 103, 538)
Blue Mantles, 310
Bluicne, the Druid, 388. [App. 620
Boar, bare rib of a, presented to
Conn, 388
Boat of Hides, a large curach or, 292
Bobbio, ; MS., formerly in, now at
Milan, 27
Bochra, 11
Bochna, {Fiontan Mac), 171
Bodhhh Derg; the fau-y. 426
Boeth, Coerabar, 426
Bo Finne, Inis, 418
Boi=Baoi=Bai; 177
" Boin ; le gacli", etc., 328
Boinne; Brugh na-. [App. 505
" Boinin ; le gach bohi a", 328
Boirche; Cathair. [App. 591 n.
Bole, sou of Blar, rath builder of
Cruachain, 222
Bolg, Ink ; in Loch Techet (Loch
Gara). [App. 547
Bolg, Magh; murder of Fiacha at,
(a.d. 56) ; 264
Bolt, fiery, on the festival of St. John
Baptist, 385, 402, 404
Bo; Mael na m-, 421
Books before St. Patrick, Of, 4
Books of Poetry, the Twelve, 301
Books of Erinn ; " the countless hosts
of the", 368
" Book, to eyery, its Copy", 328
Book" (" the smallest), 9
Books, of the Lost, 1 et seq., 20. —
Of the chief existing ancient, 181 ,
et seq.
Book of AcaiU, 47
Book of Armagh, 21, 27, 343
Book of Bally Clery, 22
Book of Ballymote, 9, 44,188, 215, 656
Book of Bally Mulconry, 21
Book of St. Berchan of Clonsost, 353
Book (Saltair) of Cashel, 19
Book of Cluain Eidhneach, 21
Book of Clonmacnoise, 22
Book of Clonsost (^Cluain Sost), 21
Book of Connacht, 225
Book of the Dun Cow {Leabhar na
h-Uld/ire), 20, 182
Book of Cuana, 19
Book of Blmma, (T.C.D.), 23, 27,
335
Book of Doir^ (Derry), 20
Book oi Drom Ceat, 21
Book of Drom Snechta, 13, 41, 656
Book of Duhh da leith€, 19
Book of Dun da Leth glas (Down-
patrick), 20
Book of Diin Doighr€, the Great,
(called the Leabhar Breac), 31,
190, 352
Book of Durrow, T.C.D., 23
Book of Feenagh. [App. 503
Book of Fermoy, 25 and n., 294
Book of Flann of Dungeimhin, 20
Book of Glenn da Locha (Glenda-
loch), 21
Book of HyMany(i?)A Maint),\2, 658
Book of Hymns, (T.C.D), 24, 343
Book of Inis an Dtdn, 20
Book of Invasions, 21, S6, 168
Book of the Island of Saints {Loch
RM), 22
672
INDEX.
Book of Kells (T.C.D.), 23
Book of Laws (Senchus Mor^, 16
Book of Lecain Mic Firbhisic/h, 22, 1 92
Book o{ Lecain, (the Yellow), 125, 190
Book of Leinster, 69, 186, 215
Book of Leithghlinn, (the Long), 21
Book of Lismore ; [Note. — The Cork
part of it has been restored to the
original Book of Lismore, since the
delivery of these Lectures.] 196, 199
Book of Mac Aegan (the Ked), 21
Book of Mac Brody, 22
Book of James Mac Firbis ; " The
Dumb", 125
Book of Mac Murrach,(the Yellow),20
Book of Saint Mochtce, 19
Book of Saint Molaga (the Black), 20
Book of Saint Molinq (theYellow), 20.
— liis Evangehstarium (T.CD), 23
Book of Monasterboice,(the Sliort),20
Book of Munster, 225, 237
Book of tlie O'Duigenans, 22
Book of the OTerguses ; the Yellow,
("Liber Flavus Fergusiorum"), 76
n. [App. 531
Book of Pedigrees and Genealogies of
Duald Mac Firbis, 120, 215
Book of Sabhall Phatraic (Saull, Co.
Down), 20
Book of Seanadh Mhic Maghnusa (in
Loch Eirn€ ; called the Annals of
Ulster), 22
Book of Slane ; (the Yellow), 20
Book ; the Speckled, (^Leahhar Breac ;
and see Great Book of Dun Doigh-
rc); 31, 190, 352
Book {Saltair) of Tara, 9, 10, 11, 41,
42, 204
Book of the Ua Chonghbha.il, 13
Book of Ulster, 225
Boroimhe, 10, 5(j.— {Brian), 213, 214,
231, 238
Boromean Tribute, History of the
Origin of the ; Tale of the, 181, 230
[App. 585 n., 588 n.
Borrisoole [see Burgheis UmhaiW].
[App. 561
Bothar-na-Bruiqhne ("the Eoad of
the Court"), 259
Bowen {O'Cnaiinhvi), 211
Bowl of berry-juice, 309
Box, ancient ; of St. Molbu/s Gospel
(T.C.D.), 23
Boyle, Annals called those of, 52, 81,
105 [App. 539
Boyne, Battle of the ; Domhnall
O'Donnell at the 331 "Ford of
the Sods" on the, 282. — Meeting
at the mouth of the, 333.— Tale of
the eruption of the. [App. 531
Braccan {Berchan), 433
Bragantia, in Spain, 447.
Brahmins; Gen. Vallancey and the,
366
Brain; Sruibh, 4:27 [App. 477
Brain of a conquered warrior made
into a ball, as a trophy, 275
Bran, 211
Bran Dubh, King of Leinster (a.d.
594), 232 [App. 588n
Branch, Itnights of the Eoyal, 14,
244, 270, 279 [App. 507, 637.
Branfinn (Sliocht), 211
Brat Baghach (Flag of Battles), 401
402
Brat Sliabh, 101
Breacan, Tale of the Voyage of (a.d.
405), 257
Breac; Leabhar (so called); [see
Great Book of Dun Doiqhr^~\, 31,
181, 190, 352
Breaqain, Magh ; (in Tipperary) ;
[App, 593
Breaghach ; Domhnall (^O^Maeilsech-
lainn), 387
Breas, herald of the Tuaiha Dg Da-
nann, 245, 247
Breasail, (K. of Leinster), 91. —
Raiih-, [App. 485, and n.
Brecan (sou of Partholan) [App.587n.
Bregh, or Breqia; the east part of
Meath, 49, 63, 193, 259, 286, 409,
451 [App. 620.— Battle of [App,
621.— j\Iaqh Muiredha in, 451.—
Tara of, 409. [App. 62Q,— Oengus,
(" of the poisoned spear",) King of,
44.
" Brehon Law Commission", 16, 17
" Brehon Laws", MSS. of the, 201,
etc. [and see "Laws", " Seanchiis
M6r\ etc.], — example, 655
Breifne', 102.— O'Rourkes of, 335, 337
Breise (see Bath Breise^, 222
Brenainn ; Cluain Ferta-, [App. 477
Brenan Ban, 210
Brenann of Birr ; Legend of Saint
[App, 532
Brendan, St., of Clonfert, 399 ;— Life
of, 340. — Pilgrimage, 382. — the
Navigation of, (Tale of), 289.—
Story of [App. 533.
Brestine, Ard-, 268
Brelhibh Neimhedh, 46, (201), 219
Tract on (in B. of Lecain), 240
Brettait, Town of, 349 (Loam Bishop)
Breusa, Philip de, 432
Bria7i Boroimhe, 76,213,214:,23\, 653-
4.— At the Battle of Sakhoid, 403
Brian, K. of Connacht ; Genealogy
[App. 499
INDEX.
673
Brian na 3Iurfha O'Jiuairc, 194
Brian of the Battle of Nenagh, 212
Brian, son of Feabhall ; Tale of the
Adventures of, 318
Bricin, St., 48, 50, 418;— " Prophe-
cies" attributed to, 418
Bricrinn's Feast, 193,346 [App. 637-8
Bri Eil€, Cruachain, — Battle of, 395
Brigh Ambui (daughter of Senchadh,
46
Brigid, St., of Kildare, 369.— (goes
to Downpatrick 17th March, a.d.
493 ; dies, a.d. 525 ;) 415.— buried
at Down, 410.— Lives of, 339 et
seq., 342, 343. — Conlaedh, the arti-
ficer of, 338. — Poem by [App.
616. — Visit of the Seven Bishops
(of Cabinteely) to, 382.— Figure
of, 323.
Briyobhann, 197. — St. Finnchu of, 340
422
BrisleachMhorMhaigheMhuirthemhne
(Battle of). [App. 587 n.
Britain ; Christianity in, before St.
Patrick, 398
Brittany (Letavia) [App. 502
British Museum, MSS.in, 25.— Visit
to, in 1849; 345
Britons; "anger" of the, 224 [App.
581
Britons of Fotharta (Forth, Co. Wex-
ford) ; poisoned weapons of the,
450
" Britons of Letka''' ; the [App. 503
Briiiin, Ui-, 414
Broc ; Eos (Badger Wood), 302, 392
Brody, 141, 148,— Mac, 401 (^ste Mac
BriaddeudlKi)
Brogaii, St. Patrick's scribe, 308
Bronaigh ; Cluuin, [App. 538
Bronze, golden ; rods of, 310
Brooch of Maine'Mac Durthacht acci-
dentally found in presence of, and
claimed by, Aithirn€t\iQ poet, 268
Broom out of Fanait; the, 420, 421,
423, 426, 428 [App. 632, 634
Bronze; vat of ale, 311, — bed-rods of
golden, 310
Brtia ideadJt a , Mac-; (MacBrody),40 1
[App. 625, etc.
Brughaidh, 83
Brugh na Boinne [App. 505]. — " The
teeming Bruglf [App. 597
Brugh, the fairy mansion of, 308
Bruiqhean Da Choga (see JJa Choga),
260
Bruighean Da Derga, 14, 185. [App.
618.— referred to by Flann, 242
Brussels, Burgvmdian Library, 26,—
MSS., in, 232
Buadhach, Laeg/tair^, 275
Buan (see [Tale of] Bade Mac
Buain), 464, 472
Buan, the wife of Mesgedhra, death
of, 270
Buanlumh, 222
Biichet {Dun Buichei) [App. 588 n,
Buckingham, Duke of ; slirine in pos-
session of, 336
Buffoons, 248 (Taulckinne, App. 618)
Baidhe ChonnaUI, 425, 428 [App. 630
Builders, the principal ancient, 222,
[App. 577
Builder; the first in Erinn, 221
Buildings of stone in Erinn, Mac
Firbis on, 223
Buirqheis Umhaill, 178, [App. 561.
Buithe, 20, 23, 43, 53, 56 (and see
Flann of Monasterboice)
Bunratty Castle, built by De Clare,
236
Burach, 38 [App. 591 n.
Burgkeis Umhai/I (Borrisoole) ; Mo-
nastery of, 178, [App. 5G1.
Burkes, the, wrote in Gaedhilic, 6 ; —
the, of Clann WiUiam, 422
Burren, 212.— O'LocJdainn of, 235
Bursting of Lakes (Toinadhnia) ;
Historic Tales of the, 294
Butlers, the, wrote in Gaedhilic, 6 —
Mac Richard Butler, 19.
C ; (of the sound of the letter c in
Gaedhehc), 48 n.
Caah (see Cathach), 321, 327
Cabinteely; Tidach na n-Espuc, near,
382
Cachani, the poet, etc. 217
Cabur, stone-builder of Tara, 222
Caech {Rudhraighe), 109 [App. 539
CaeilM Mac Ronain, Poems ascribed
to, 301 et se.q. (see CaUte)
Caelain ; Cluain-, 374
Caelbad (ancestor of Aengus CciU
De), a Rudrician, 363 [App. 610
Cael=Caol, 177.
Cael O'Neamhain, 308, — and the
lady C redid [App. 594
Cael, the Strand of {Traigh Cueil),
311
Caeluisg^ (Tadhg), 212
Caehisg^, " Narrow Water", 235
Caemh (Aedh), 210, 213
Caemhghin, St. (Kevin), of Uleann da
Locha ; Life of, 340
Caenraighe, 189
Caherass {Cathair Essa) [App. 486
Cahir (Co. Tipperary) : Badamar,
near, 305
Catcher, the Druid, 217
Cailitin; the sons of [App. 508,— ne-'
074
INDEX.
I
cromantic arts of the childreu
of [App. 587 n.
Cdillin, St., of Fklhnacha (Co. Lei-
trim) ; Life of, 31, 340, 398.—
" Prophecies" of, 398. — Shrine of,
337 [App. 625
Cailte Mac Ronain, 301, etseq.; — in
a foot race, [App. 587 n,— his
poems, 311 [App. 594
Cainioch, 209.
Cairbr^, 217,— (see 0"Karbri), 323
Cairbre Cinn-Cait, 198, 230, 262, 264
[App. 590 n.
Cairbre Lifeachair, 48, 72; — killed
at Battle of Gabhra, 304.— King
of Ciaraighe Lnachra (Kerry), 309
[App. 597. — Finn slain, (a.d. 283),
in reign of, 304
Cairbr^ Nia/ear, 49 [App. 483 n.,
507 n., 513
Cairbre Riada (ancestor of Dalria-
dans), 516
Cairbrk, son of Cor mac Mac Airt, 386
Cairbre, the satirist, son of the poet-
ess Etan, 248
Cairbrech {Donnchadh, O'Brian), 212
Cairell (Tiian, son of), 171
Cairin {Ui); O'Meachuir in, 147,
Cairnech of Tuile'n, St., 336 [App.600
Cairpr^Niafer, 49, [App.483,507,513
Cairpri Cinn C«iV,198, 230,262,264
[App. 590 n.
Cairpri Niadh [App. 515
Cairthenn Finn, 210, 213
Caise', (the river), 389
CaiseJ=za. stone fortress, [App. 577 ;
654
Caisin, 209
CaMach, 95, 407, 562
Calbhach Ruadh 0'Donnell,179, 407,
etc. [App. 562
Calendar {clar'i) [App. 599
" Calf" ; " to every cow her", 328 ; —
" courting over a living" [App. 503
Callaghan (see Cea/hichan), 200, 238
Calphurnn, father of St. Patrick, 395
Calwell, Castle- ; near Caeluisye', 235
Cambray, MS. at, 28
" Cambreusis Eversus", by Lynch, 443
Cambrensis, (Giraldus), 431,432, — as
to the BachaJI Isu [App. 602, 603.
— Passages from, concerning pre-
tended "Prophecies",432, [App.634
Cam, St. Finan ; of Cenn Eitiijh ;
(King's County), 340
Cumm; Conchobhar, [App. 548
Campion's History, (the Bachall Isu
referred to iu) ; [App. 603
Candhsh {O'Cuindlis), 192
Can {escra), of ale, [App. 621
Canons, 357,— of St. Patrick, the, 373
[App. 612. — as to absence from
Mass on Sunday, 372 — " Canon"
of Fothadh na Canoin^, 364, 419
[App. 610
Cano, the, 243
Cantire, Ceunn Tire; Cuchtdainn in
280.— Battle of, [App. 622
Caogdach [App. 494
Caoihe', [and see Caihe'}, 200; —
cousin of Finn Mac Cumhaill, 299
Caoin, Oirear, 287
Caol=caeI, 177
Capa, the first doctor in Erinn, 2^1
Capita, son of Cinga [App. 465
Caradniadh Teiscthe, 46
Carbry ; Granard in the territory of
349
Carew, Sir George ; false use of pre-
tended " prophecy" by, 434 [App.
636
Carlingford {Citan SnamJia Aigh-
necli), 287
Carlsruhe, MSS. at, 27, 28
Carmogal, 311
Cam, of the daughter of Brian, 126
Cam Glas [App. 477 n.
Cam of Traigh Eothaik, the, 246
Cam OUltriaUaigh, 100
Cam Tighernaiylt (mountain, near
Eathcormac, Co. Cork,) 267
Cam UiNeid (Co. Cork), 422
Carpenters, 249
Carraig Locha Ce, 96
Carraig Mhic Diarmada, 96
Carraig 0' g-Conaill(Co. Limerick),
212
Carraig Phatraic (the " Rock of
Cashel") [App. 623
Carrignavar, 196
Cartait (the only Pictish word we
have), 20
Carihach, 214; — (called Mochuda),
the Rule of St., 374
Carlhuinn, 209
Carthainn, Mac, Saint, 324, 325
Carved silver lintel of the Lady
Credlii's door, 310
Cas, 209, 213 ;— (a box), 327
Cashel; SaUairoi,\^ ; — first discovery
of the site of [App. 485 n.— the
Rock of (called Carraig Pliatraic').
[App. 623,— =" Maceria", 654
Casruba, stone-builder o{ Ailinn, 222
Cassidy, [see O'Caisid^^, 85, 86
Castle Conor, 223
Castlefore, {BaiU CoilU Foghair),
166, 170
Castle Kelly, Co. Galway, HI. [See
Errata]
INDEX.
G75
Cathac/i, the, 321, 327
i'atlutir Boirch€, Slaughter of; Tale
of the, 261
Cnthair Conroi (in Kerry), [see Curoi
Mac Dah^'] ; [App. 631 u., etc.
Cathair Mor, 68, 1G7, 208.— Eace of
in Leinster, 208
Cathairs ; Eaths, Forts, and, 449
Cathal, 26
Cathal Crobh - Dearg Ua Concho-
bhair. [App. 547
Cathal Mac Finghuine, King of Mun-
ster, (A.D. 720;, 238, 353
Cathal MacGiiirc, 84 ; his death, 84.
[App. 533
Cfl^^«/ O'Conor, 114
Catha, The (Battles); ("Historic
Tales", No. 1), 243
Cathhadh, 45
Cathbharr O'Donnell, 179, 214, 331
[App.599.— the first 0'Donnell,214
Cath Chimic an Air, 312
" Cat-head", Cairbre, 230, 262, 264
Cathair Mo'r, 68, 107, 208
Catherine, figure of Saint, 324
Catholics perbecvited in Ireland, 355
Cathrach Boirche, Argain, 261
Cathreim Chonghail Chlairin(/nigh,261
Cathreim Daihi, the; referred to by
Flann, 242
Cathreim Thoirdhealbhaigh, (" The
Wars of Thomond"), 195, 234
Cavalry fighting at Battle of Gabhra
304
Caves, of the Tales of ( Uathu). [His-
toric Tales, No. 9], 283
CV, Loch, Annals of, 97. [App. 534
Ce, Raith of Beinn-, [App. 591 n.
Ceacht ; Mac, 447
Ceallach, St., (son of Eoghan Bel) ;
[App. 532.— Life of, 340, [App. 647
Ceallach Mac Curtin, 82
Ceallachan of Cashel, K. of Munster,
[A.D, 934], 200, 238
Ceann Berraidli^, servant of Conor
Mac Nessa. [App. 642. — " Ceann
Berraidhe's sovereignty over Ul-
ster". [App. 642
Ceann (or Croni) Cruach, 103. [App.
538
Ccannfaelad, 47, 48, 49, 418
Ceann Feabhrat, Battle of; 395, 416
Ceann Fuait, Battle of (915), 421
Ceann Mara (see Kinvara), Battle of,
303 ;— Church of, 292
Ceann Sleibhe'; Tale of the Feast of
Conan's House of, 313
Ceann Tire', Land's End (" Canth'e").
in Scotland, 280 ;— Battle of [App.
584 n., 622
Cearbhall, 132
Cearmna, Dun-, 427, 429
Cearna, the Hill of ; 259
Cearnach, 14
Cearra (Co. Sligo) ; Clann Firbis
historians of, 219
Ceasair, the lady, 13, 171, 225. — her
female physician, 221
Ceasnaidhean Uladh, Tale of the, 37
[App. 637-8
Cecht, Mac- ; one of St. Patrick's
smiths, 337
Ceileachair MacConn na mBocht,\38,
182, 185 i—Maelmhuir^ Mac, 182.
[App. 570
CejYe'De, 12,17,26,53,76,111,185,353
Ceinnselach, 5
Ceinnsealach, Enna ; (Eochaidh, son
of), 454
Ceis Corann, Tale of the Court of, 313
Ceisneamh Inghine Ghuill [App. 623
Ceithlenn ; Lugh Mac-, 388
Cein, Tadhg Mac ; Tale of the Ad-
ventures of, 318
Cellach, 48
Cellar, son of Oengus, 363 [App. 610
Cellrais, 108, 109
Celtic Society, Miscellany of, 207
Cenannus (Kells), 331
Cenel Chonaill, 183, 327, — the his-
torians of the, 219, [App. 570, 600
Cenel Eoghain, the, 407; — the histo-
rians of tlie, 219
Cenel Fhiachach, (in 'Westmeath),163
Cennabrat, 187
Cennfaeladh "the Learned", of; 47,
48, 50. — cured at Tuaini Drecain,
4 18.— his Tablets ("Charta-Book"),
[App. 472
Cenntire' {see Ceann-tire'), 280, — Bat-
tle of, [App. 584 n., 622
Censelach [App. 482 n. — Enna Ceinn-
selach, 5 n. 454, 482 and n.
Ceolach, 42
Cerbheoill (Diarmaid Mac Ferghusa),
55, 111
Cerds (gold , silver, and brass workers) ,
249
Cermna Milbheoil (the three sons of),
447
Cerrbheoil, (Diarmaid MacFerghusa),
55, 111
Cesair, the lady, 13, 171, 221, 225, etc.
Cesarn, the poet, 388 [App, 620
Cet Mac Magach, 275
Cethach, Flann-, 398,401,402,421,426
Cethur, (or Mac Ceacht^, 447
Chaerthainn, Bruighean-, 313
" Chain- verse" (Conachlcam), 365
Chains of Silver, 426
67G
INDEX-
Chairof Credhi, 310
Chair of the chief poet, the, 383
Chiurne, Domhnach- ; (qu. Donnycar-
ney ?) 382
Chaldeans, the, 369, — tract on the
Kings of, 83
Champion's Extasy, the {Bail^ an
Scdil), 385, 419
Champions of the Eoyal Branch, 270,
274, 279. — Cliampions, Order of;
or of Knighthood [App. 507
Champions, professional, 279
Cliaracteristics of the races in Erinn,
223
Charioteer of Cuchulainn: Laegh^ 278
Chariot of C'o«(«Veil/o;-, 259. — of Cu-
chilainn, 281 — of St. Patrick and
St. Fiacc [App. 606
Charlemagne, the Conquests of (tract
in the Book of Lismore), 25, 200. —
The Triumphs of [App. 531
Charms, (Druidical or Medicinal), 28.
" Char ta- book" of Ceniifaeladh, the,
[App. 472
Charter of Land ; Oengus O^Domhnal-
luin witness to a, 335
Charter; the oldest, of the land of
Niall, 423
Charlhi, {Magh an), [in Scotland] ;
287, 288
Chasuble (" perforated garment"). 397
Chess-playing [App. 565
Children; dedication of, to the
Church, 372
Chivalry, a vow in, 280 — Vows of,
314. — Custom of (ladies calling on
a hero of the opposite army to
show himself to them), 276
Chonaill, Tir-, 329
ChonaUl Gabhra, Ui-, (Co. Limerick),
316
Chonckobhair, Aideadk-, 274
ChonnaUl, Buidhe- ; (and Crom Chon-
naill) ; 425, 428 [App. 630
Chosgair ; Tealadi an (Hill of the
Victory), 451
Christ ; Birth of (Synchronisms of)
[App. 509. — " CR." conti'action for
the name of, 366. — Conchobur Mac
Nessa accounted the first martyr
in Erinn for, 277. — Mystical Inter-
pretation of the ancestry of, 379. —
Kepresentation of, in alto relievo,
323
Christ-Church, Dubhn, the "White
Book" of [App. 603.— The " Book
of Obits.", etc., of [App. 602.—
" Black Book" of [App. 603
Christian Period ; Of the remains of
the early, 32Q
Christianity in Erinn before St. Pa-
trick, 397
Chronicon Ratisbonense, the, 346
" Chronicum Scotorum", the, 120,
126, 128 [App. 542
Chronologists and Historians, ■
EARLY ; Of the, 52, 53, etc.
Chronological Poem of GiUa Caem-
hain, 55. — of Eochaidh O'Flinn, 69
Chronology of Annals of Loch Cif,
101.— of the Four Masters, 151
Church; altar at tlie east end of a,
397. — and State, 344. — Canon on
dedication of children to the, 372.
— the early, in Erinn, 320
Clan, son of OiUoU Oluhn, 209 [App.
593
Cian, the son of Diancecht, 249
Cianachta Glinne Geimhin, 147
Ciaraighe Luachra (Kerry), 309
[App. 697, 630
Ciaran, St.; 8, 41, 59, 197.— his
Hand ; Tale of the Man who swore
by [App. 532. — of BeJach L>uin,
350 [App. 608. — of Clonmacnoise ;
Life of, 340, 342. — referred to in
" prophecy" of St. Berchan, 417. —
the Rule of, 374. — of Duleek, 64,
— of SaigJiir (King's Co.); Life of,
340, 342!— (Story of) [App. 531
Cianaigke, 309, 597, 630
Cidoin, (or Cidoini), stone-builder of
Cii7-oi Mac Dcdre, 222
Cildi, Colum- [App. 608
an AnsaiUe, 344,— (Killossy), 421,—
{CUlAuxili) [App. 606
an C/iaidhe, 15 i
cm Chluaine (Co. Galway) ; St.
Grellan of, 840
CillDara {Druim Criaigh) [App, 487
CillEochain; Battle of, 395
cm F'mche in Magli Raighn^, 302 -
cm Gabhra, 17
CiV/ Garad, 18.
cm Manchin [App. 630
cm Mic Creiche (near Inistimon),
App. 630
cm. Monach, 344 [App, 606
cm Mosomog, 134
cm Rona'm, 22
Cimbaoth, 63, — (Dr. Todd on the pas-
sage in Tighernach), [App. 518
Cinueth O'Hartigan, 42, 49 (n, 28),
53, [App. 513, 643.
Cin Droma Snechla, 13, 15, 41, 53
[App. 501
Cinel Chonaill, (O'Donnells), the ;
[and see CDornhnum'] ; 183, 219, '
327 [App. 570, 600;— the Calhach
of the [App. 599
INDEX.
677
Cinel Eocjhain (O'Neils of Tyrone) ;
Historians of the, 219
Cinel Fiachaidh [App. 593
a tiff a, son of Ros [App. 465
Cingris; Pharaoh, 447
Cinn-Cait, Cairbre, 230,202, 264
Cinnathrach (Aengus), 209
Cinnaiiin (Aettffus), 209
Cinneidig/i, 211,213
Cinn [or Cetm] Eitigh (King's Co.);
St. Finan Cam of, 340
Ciothack; Flann, 398, 401, 402, 421,
426
OV, 217,— stone-builder of Kome, 222
Cis, 217
Cifhruadh, 200
Civilization of our pagan ancestors, 4
Clachan Mucadha, 101
Claen, ford of the Z»/eat, 270, 275
Cldir^; Battle of, [App. 586 n.
Clair ine; Battle of, [App. 621
Clanna-Nemheidh, the, 217
Clann Cholmain, the, 413
Clann ChonaiU, the, 406
Clann Chuilein, (in Clare), the, 234
Clann Ui Mhceilchonaire, the, 148
Clann William ; Burkes of, the, 422
Clanchy {Mac Flanchadha), 210
Clar (Calendar?), 599
Clare, De, 234, 236 '
Clare, the chieftains and clanns of,
237. — Fenian Tales current in, 299.
— Topography of [App. 630
Clarus (Sanctus Magonus) [App. 608
Classical Teacher, the{Fer-Leiffhinn),
2 n.. 9 n., 56 [App. 495 ,
Classification of the people in ancient
Erinn ; a fixed legal, 4
Clathra, or Clara, 37
Clear ; Cape, 449
Cleitcc/i, the enchanted house of, 308
Cleitech ; palace of Muircheartach
Mac Ere, on the Boyne, [App. 600
Chith (see Cli), 9 n.
Clery, Book of Bally-, 22
Clergy the, released from military
service, 363
Cli, or Chith (column, or tree of a
house), 9 n.
Ch, the, 241, 243
Cliabhghlas {Aedh); \_Aedh, "the
gray-bodied"], 401
Cliach ; Eochaidh,chief oi \_A-pTp.585n.
Cliack, harper of Smirdubh Mac
Snidil, 426
Cliach ; Loch Crotta- ; (Lake of Cli-
ach's Harp), 427
Cliath, Diibhlinn Atha, 2G9
Cliodlma, the Wave {Tonn) of, 306,
307
Cliii Mail [App. 480
Clochar, 325
Clock na Coillte (Clonakilty), 306
Clochar (Co. Tyrone), 325.— Bishop
Erniedach, of [App. 608
Clochair, Oeiiach- ; (Manister, Co.
Limerick), 305
Che Phutraic (Bell of St. Patrick),
336, 337
Clog=cloc, 177
Clogher (Clochar), 290
Clog na High (Bell of the Kings), 334
Clonakilty {Cloch na Coillte), 306
Clonard, St. Finnenof, 291, 340
Clones, Monastery of; (The Domh-
nach), 32o
Clonfert {Chain Ferta Brenainn)
[App. 477.— St. Brendan of, 399 ;
—Life of, 340
Clongowes Wood College; Crozier
at, 338
Clonmacnoise, 352. — History of the
Foundation of, 58 [App. 517. —
St. Ciaran's bed (imda) at, 27. —
Annals of, 130, — Authorities used
for, 137.— Crozier of, 338. — Donn-
ehadh CBraoin, Abbot of, 419 —
Prayer of Colga Ua Duinechda of,
379. — Turgesius' -wife, superior of,
400
Clonsost (Cluain Sasia),B52
Clontarf, Battle of; "foretold", 400
Clothar (Clogher), 290
Clothrann {Ms-), 112
Cloyne {Cluain Uamha) "of the
Caves", 66
Cluada ; Srath-, [App. 591 n.
Cluain Bronaigh [App. 538
Cluain Caelain, 374
Cluain Eidhneach, 21,26,364
Cluain Ferta (Clonfert), 399
Cluain Fraoich, 110 [App. 539
Cluain Hi Bhroin, 94
Cluain Mic Ndis, (Clonmacnoise) ; 8,
21,59,138,185
Chiaitie' {see Cill Chluaine), 340
Cluain Sosta (Clonsost), 352, 353
Cluain lorard (Clonard), 170
Cluain Uamha (Cloyne; literally,
" Cloyne of the Caves"), 66
Clyde ; Strath-, [App. 591 n,
Cnamhchoill (in Tipperary), 385, 403
Cnamhchoille i the Coirth^-, (Rock of),
385, 402
Choc Ain^, (Knockany), 316, 317,
486 n.
Cnoc an Air, Battle of (the Hill of
Slaughter), 312
Cnoc na n-Aspal; Abbot of, 361
Cnoc Grein^, 422
678
INDEX.
Cnoc LuiiH/e (" Knocklong") ; Drom
Damhyhuire, 198, 200, 271
Cnot Samhna, Battle of, 312
Cnucha, Battle of; Cumhall, killed at
the, 302
Coast Guards, Finris, 315
Cobal; Eochaidh, 363 [App. 610
C'obkthach Cad Breagh, 63, 208, 451.
— killed in Dinn Righ, 253
Cohlai; Druim-, [App. 607
Cochlan (Mac), 163,— [Pedigree of,
App. 550
Codan Corinchisnech, physician, 221
Codiad^cotlad, 177
Coelbad, 363 [App. 610
Coerabar Boeth, daughter of Btal
Anbuail, 426
Coemghhi's [S. Kevin's], Church at
Gleann da Locha, 367, 370
Coga (see Da C/ioga), 260, [App.
584 n.
'^ Cogadh Gall re Gaedhealaibh", the,
232
Coidi^ O'Coicle, 102
Coigedh Shreing [App. 563
Coin Eassa, 102
Coilhfoghair, (Baile), 166, 170
Coire Breacain, 257, [App. 587 n.
Coirthe Cnamhchoille, the, 385, 402
CoinMDmrg (the Red Pillar Stone),
of Dathi, 288
Cokely, (OCoicle), 102
Colamnafearb, 32
Colgan, Father John, 26, 143, [App.
645. — Defended against Lanigaii,
341, 345. — On the ancient Lives
of St. Patrick, 348
Colgu; Aedh, the son of, 420
Colgu Ua Dinnechda; Prayer of, 37'J
[App.#615
Col/a Mac Mahon of Oriell [App. 557
Colla Uais, 55, 72, 167 —Race of;
Clann Ferbis historians, 219
Collas, the Three : CoUa Uais, Colla
Meann, and CoUa Fochri, the de-
stroyers of Emania, 72
CoJhit, Cruimthir ; from Druim Roil-
gech, [App. 608
Coll Buana (" the Hazel of Buaii"),
270
College of St. Columba ; the Miosach
at, 336
College, Trinity; MSS, copied for,
370
Caiman (see Clann Cholmabi), 413
Colman Mdr, 414
Cohnan, St., of Arann Island, 293, 350
Colman, St., of Cruachan Aigle, 423
Colman CSeasnan, 53
Colman Uamhach [App. 608
Coloured thatch, 810
Colpa, 447 (Inbliear Colpa)
Colptha, 200.— Bath Colptlia [App.
603
Colton's Visitation, Primate ; Dr.
Reeves' edition of [App. 613
Columba, St., (Coli/m Cllle); forged
" prophecy" of, 432
Columbanus, MS. Commentary on
the Psalms, by (at Milan), 27
Colum Cille, Saint, 17, 18, 41, 77,
170, 218,339etseq.,342, 369, 399,
407 ;— called Cohnn Cildi [App.608 ;
the son of Feidhlimidk [App. 608,
— first compiled the miracles of St.
Patrick [App. 501, 608.— Prayer
of, 329 [App. 598. — " Alius"
of, 77.— Rule of, 374 [App. 612.
— Cuilefadh of, 332, 334 [App.
599. — Crozier of, 338. — his Amhra
218.— Copy of the Psalms by, 321,
327.— Figure of, 323. — his burial
and exhumation, 410. — Judgment
of K. Diurniaid against, 328. —
Lives of, 389 et seq., 342.— O'Don-
nell's Life of, 407 [App. 540.— Pre-
tended " Prophecies" of, 399, 432,
[App. 625 et seq., 634-5,— Co/«w
Cille, and the Saints of Scotland,
* 369. — pedigree of, 360. — acquainted
with Beg Mac De', 399. — his Poem
on Eochaidh Mac Eire, and on the
Battle of Magh Tuireadh, 242 —
the Cathach of, 330 [App. 598, 599
Colony, Immigration of a (Tochomh-
ladh) ; " Historic Tales" of, 294
Coman of Ceann Mara,^ Saint, 292
Comur, Battle of, 307
Comqull, (son of Domanqori), 55, —
Saint, 170
Comhad, 212
Comharba (successor), 58, 325
Comhghall; the Rule of St., 374
Commandments, the Ten {Deich m-
Breithir) ; [a name for the Penta-
teuch,] 9, 31, [App. 495
Commons, Committee of the House
of (1849), 345
Comyn, John; grant by John Earl
of Moreton to [App. 604
Conachuil ; BaXtle of, 101
Conacldann, or " Chain -Verse'', 365
Conaill,Cinel(see Cinel Chonaill),lSo,
219, 327 [App. 599, 600
Conaill, Clann ; heir loom of the,
183, 327, 219 [App. 599, 600
Conaill, Buidhe; the, 425 [App. 630
Conaill, Crom ; the (ib.)
Conaing's Tower, 244 [App. 590 n.
Conair€ Mdr Mac Ederscedil (Mo-
INDEX.
679
narcli a.m. 5091), U, 45, 54, 258,
453, [App. 618.— Date of the reign
of [App. 509. — Ci(-(/Ius, Master of
the Hounds to [App. 586 n.
Conaire O'CIerlff/i, 148
Comiire, the Rath of [App. 515
Connll Ceanutch, 14, 49, 226, 270,
275, 279 [App. 514;— and Bi-ldm
[App. 590 n. — At Ross na Bii/k
[App. 589 n.— Death of [App. 483,
587 n.— The " Eed Route" of, 319
ConallDearg Ua Corra, 289
Conall Eachhuikh, 209
Cunall G(//6a«,288,— (Adventures of),
319, 328, 330.— Burial of,(A.D. 464),
398
Conall ("of the Swift Steeds"), 213
CoiniH" Sciath-Bhachair, 331
Conul/, son of Amhalgiiklh, 330
Conall, son of Coelmuine, at Rome ;
663-3
Conall, son of Niall " Xaoi-ghiallach",
360
Conamhail, son of Gilla-Arri, 403
Conan Mac Morna, 317
Conan^s House of Ceann Sleiblie ;
Taleof the Feast of, 313
Conception ; the Immaculate, 380
Conchobhar, oi; St. Ultan, son of
[App. 608
Conchobhar, 54, 96
Conchobhar Camin [App. 548
Conchobhar Mac Nessa ; -69, etc. [see
Conor], — the Vision of [App. 592n.
—Tragedy of, 274, 276, 458 [App.
693, 636.— On the place of death of
[App. 593
Conchobhar na Siubhdaind', 236
Conchobhar, son oi Maelsechlainn, 346
Conde're, 17 [on, 372
Confession and Absolution ; Canon
Confey, near Lucan (^Ceannfuait) ;
Battle of, 421
Confessors, assembly of 3000 Father-,
381
Conga (Cong) ; the Cross of, 338 —
Magh Tuireadh, near, 245
Congal Claen, 50 [App. 586 n.
Conghal Claringneach (^Caithreim') ;
(the Battles of. Tale of), 261.— the
Triumphs of [App. 591 n.
Conghbhail, Ua ; Book of the, 13
[App. 496
Congliniie, Mac ; the Poet, 353
Conlaedh, artificer of St. Brigid, 338
Conla Ruadh, Tale of the Adventures
of, 318
Conloingeas, (Cormac), 36, etc.
Conmach, successor of St. Patrick, 363
Conmaicne, 101
ConmaicneMaigheRein; O'Duigenans,
the historians of the, 219
Conn " Ced- Cathach" ; (" of the Hun-
dred Battles"), the birth of [App.
531. — poems on 300. — his reign,
453 (and see Bade Chuinn, and
Bade an Scad) [App. 618, 620.—
" Prophecies" ascribed to, 385
" Coim's half" (see '■'■ Leath Chuinn"),
400, etc.
Conns, the three ; 407, 507, — the son
of; [App 479, 507
Con, Loch ; Paten of St. Tighernan
found at, 338
Conn-na mBocht, 138, 182, 184, 185,
[App. 570, 571
Connacht, Annals of, 104, 113
Connacht, Fenians of; Goll Mac
Morna, chief of the, 302
Connellan's edition of the Annals of
the Four Masters, 150, 159
Connery ; the Abbe, 6G
Connla Mac Ecliagan, 130
Conor ; Castle, 223 — diocese of, 76
Conor Mac Nessa, 69, etc. [and see
Conchobhar'] Adhna, poet of, 383.
— Cormac Conloingeas, son of, 260,
275. — tract on the Death of [App.
533. — the History of, 453
Conor O'Beaghan, 82
Conroy, Florence {O'Maelchonair^),
[App. 644
Conrui; Aideadh-, 273
Conry, John, 98
Consecrating touch of the crozier,
the, 413
Consecration of a church; ancient
ritual for, 357, 378
Constantinople; Oilen, stone-builder
of, 222
Constantine the Great ; Story of
[App. 532
Consul; Altus, aRoman,277,[App. 642
" Contention of the Bards", the, 141
Continental expeditions of Ugaine
Mdr, 451
Continuation of Tighemagh, by 3Iac
Gradoigk, 74 [App. 529
Contractions appended to O'Clery's
Glossary, 178 [App. 560
Copenhagen, no fragments of Irish
MSS. found in, 5
Cooke, Mr., of Birr, 337
Coolavin, (Ciiil 0 bh-Finn), 145,
[App. 546, 548
" Copy ; to every book its", 328
Corcmn, 101.— Battle of [App. 586 n.
Corb, the Poet. 209, 388. [App. 620
Core, 210
Core of Caisel. [App. 491
680
INDEX.
Core, the son of Lughaidli, Tale of.
[App. 469 ;— his city, [App. 623
Corca Laoi, 190
Corcomroe Abbey, 212, 234, 346
[App. 630. — Founded by Conor
O'Brien, 234
Corcomroe, the O^Troightlnghs of, 346
Cork, woe to the people of, (" Pro-
phecy" of); 420, 421, 426, 428
CoRMAC Mac Airt ; History of King,
42, 43, — A righteous Judge, 10 n,
— Description of, 44 [App. 510.
— Learning and legislation of, 46-
47. — At Drom Damhghaire [App.
589 n. —Courtship of ^//6/(e',Daugh-
ter of, 283.— Tale of the Adven-
tures of, 318.— >SaZtoiV, 9, 41, 402,
464, 656
Cormnc Mac ChuUhnnain, 12, 53, 41 7;
— K. of Munster (a.d. 885), 238.—
Killed (a.d. 903), 420 [App. 467.
—Killed on a Tuesday, 405.— The
Rule of, 375,— his Glossary, 17, 19.
— on"T'eo</;ra" and ^^Tuighen", 384
Cormac Co)iloingeas, 36, etc.
Cormac (see Rath Chormaic), 402
Cormac Cas, Death of, 312. — Race of
in Thoraond, 208
Cormac MacLagliteghi, 68
Cormac, successor of Colum Cille, 338
Cormaic, Mainister ua g-, 352
Cormaic (and see Ua Cormaic), 70
[App. 526
Cormaic Ua. ; Abban, son of, 382
[App. 616
Cornutan, 381 [App. 615
Corra, Ua ; Tale of the Imramh (Ex-
pedition) of the, 289
" Corrig a Gunnell" (see Carraig 0
g-Conaill), 212
Cosgrach, 211
Costelloe, Mac-, [App. 548
Cothirthiacus (Patricius), [App. 608
Coihraighe, another name for St. Pa-
trick; [App. 623
Couches, 310
Courcy, John De; (a.d. 1260), 235.—
Porged " prophecies" in favour of,
431
"Courting a living calf"; [App. 503
Courtships [see Tochmarca'], " Histo-
ric Tales" of ; 278
Cow, Book of the Dun, 182
Cow-Spoils [see Tdnu'\, "Historic
Tales" of; 277
" Cow, to every, her calf", 328
Craobh- Ogham [App. 470
Craebh-liuadh, 14
Crafting, the first harper named in
history, 252
Crann-tabhaiU (sling), the, 276
Cratloe, {Creataluch), 312, 401
"Craunagh" (Battle of), 69
" Creas''; Vallancey's invention of
word, 366
Creotalach (Cratloe), 312, 401
Cre'dhi, daughter of Cairbre, K. of
Kerry, 308, etc. [App. 594
Credibility of our earlier history, 67.
— of the ancient genealogies, 205
Credni, the mound of [App. 514
Credo, 412, [App. 627
Creiche, Mac; Life of Saint [App. 630
Creidn^, worker in metals to King
Nuada, 247
Creinhthainn, Ua, territory of, 325
Criaigh, Druim ( Cill Darci), Battle of ;
[App. 487, 508.
Crimthann Sciath-beI,4:50[ATpY>- 589 n.
Cricil, son of Dubhchruit, builder of
the Rath of Ailinn, 222
Crbiudi, 48
Crimhthainn, (Aodh Mac-),18G, [App.
571 '
Crimthainn, FeiJdhimidh Mac; K. of
Munster (a.d. 824), 238, 362 [App.
623
Crimthan, 5 n., 54
Crimhfhann Mor, 189. — granduncle
of King Dathi, 285
Crimhthann Nia Nair in Britain,
[App. 589 n.
Crimhfhann Sciath-bel [App. 589 n.
Crimhthami's daughter Eithne " Uu~
thach", or "the Hateful" [App.
483, 586 n.
Crinna, 200; Battle of [App. 593 n.
Crithinbd, 221
Crobh-Dearg, Cathal, 101 [App. 547
Crochan, King's County {Cnta chain
Bri File), 395
Crofton ; Duald MacFirbis unfortu-
nately slain by a, 122
Crogh Patrick {Cruach Phatraic'),
423, etc.
Cro'in^; Loch-, 312
Cro7n Chonnaill, 425, 428 [App. 630
Crom Cruach, 103;— the site of it, 103,
[App. 538.— "The Bloody Maggot"
[App. 631-2
Cromlechs, graves vulgarly so called,
247, 315 [App. 597
Cromwell's barbarous rule in Erinn.
127
Cronins, the (O'Crdnin); descended
from the Druid Mogh liuitk, 272
Cronan of Roscrea, Saint, 335
Cronchu, son of Rdnan, (father of
CaeilM), 307
" Crook-headed staff", (crozier), 397
INDEX.
681
Crooiu, Co. Limerick, 305
Cro ; Jiath-, 416
Cros-Doire- Chduin, 101
Crosses in Museum of R.I.A., etc.,
321, 336.— of Co»f/a, 338
Crotta C/iach, Lodi ; (Lake of CUaclCs
Harps), 427
Crott, SUabh- (the Mountain of
Harps), 427
Crozier (" crookheaded staff"), 397.
— of St. Patrick (and particuhu-ly,
see BachaJl Isii), 603 n. — the con-
secrating touch of the, 413
Croziers in Museum of R.I.A., etc.,
321, 336
" Crozier shield" ; Conall of the, 331
Cruach (Crom-), 103 [App. 53S. —
"The Bloody IMaggot", [App. 631-2
Cruachain, 179. — Bole, rath-builder
of, 222.— Palace of, 2S5.— Bait/,-,
33.— Iving Dat/ti, buried at, 288.
—Tale of the Cave of, 283 —Tale
of Meaclhbh and the Cave of [App.
532.— The Cave of [App. 586 n.
587 n,
Cniachain Aigle (^Cruach Plialraic),
423 [App. 629
Cruachain Bri Eile, Battle of, 395
Cruachne, 88
Cruai()li, or Cruaklh, (not CruaicK),
the -word in O'Lochain's Poem on
Tara; 10 n.
Crucifixion, death of ^ Conor Mac
Nessa on the day of the, 277 [App.
642
Cruimthir CoIIait, from Druim Roil-
gech [App. 608
Cruit, a harp, 427
Cruithneans, the (Picts) ; 450, [App.
586, 592 n.
Cru, Mucjh-i ("bloody plain"), 263
Crunn, and his wife, Macha; [App.
586 n.
Crunnbadrai, son of Eochaidh Cobai
363 [App. 610
Crystal cups, 310
Crystal ornaments, 323
Cu. — [the son of the three Cus, or
Co«s].— [App. 479, 507
CuaUgne, 8 n., — Battle of [App. 621,
(and see Tain Bo Chuailgne)
Cualann, S/ig/te, (The Great Road
of Cualann), 259, 453
Cuan O'Lockain, 9, 42, 53. — His Poem
on Tara, 9, 10 [App. 496
Cuan Snamha Aighnech (Carlingford),
287
Cuana, Book of, 19
Cuana, King of Fermoy [App. 590 n.
Cuanuch (O'Briens of), 211
Guar ; Dun-, 3G3
Cuchonnaclit, 103
Cuchorb ; {Sliabh SuidM C/'tonchorb),
[App. 478, 480, —poem on the
Death of [ApP- 480, 482
Cuchulainn, 14, 69, 274, 275, 278,
279, 280,— death of, by magical
arts [App. 319, 483, 507, 5S7.—
Adventures of [App. 589 n. — and
Blathnait [App. 590 n at the
siege of Falga [App. 588 n. — the
SeirgUgh€ Chonchulainn, [App.
637-8.
Cuckoo sings for Credhi, 310
Cucoipriche O'CIery, 22 [App. 78, 79
Cucoigriche G'Dubhgennain, 145
Cuglas, Prince ; (from whom Bdach
Con^/atSj^Baltinglas), 283 [App.
586 n.
Cuigeadh Sreing, the, (Sreng's Pro-
vince, Connaclit), 246
Cuil Bennchair, in Ui Fadgh^, 365
Cuileanndin, Cormac Mac, [aud sea
Cormac], King of Munster, (a.u.
885), 238
Cidlefadh, the (of St. Colum Cille),
332, 334 [App. 599.— the, (of St.
Eindiin), 335, [App. 599.- the, (of
St. Patrick), 338
Cuil Dreimne, 329
Cuilein, Chain- ; in Clare. 234
Cuil Garnhnu, Flann of, 421
Cuilinn, Fidh, 420
Cuill; Mac-, 447
" Cuilmenn", the, 1, 8, 29, 31, 32.—
great antiquity of, 41 ; [App. 494,
504
Cuil 0 bhFinn {Coola.vm), 145, [App.
546, 548
Cuinnire, 76
Cuirrech Lifi, (the " Curragh of Kil-
dare"), 305
Cuirr na h-EillM, 178 [App. 561
Cuisin ; David, son of Rickard, [App.
457
Culann, Bearnan- ; (the gapped Bell
of St. Culann), 337
Culdees (Cede I)c), 111, 185, 353.—
Rule of the, 375
Cullen, (^O'Cuileamhain), Most Rev.
Paul; Archbisliop of Dublin; fa-
mily of [App. 488
Cul, the Feara- ; (of Teabhtha), 286
Cumair, Ath-; Battle of [App. 591 n.
Cumdach, 326
Cumhaill (see Raith Chumhaiir), 403
Cumhall, lather of Finn, 302, 304
Cunga (see Cong), 82, 93, etc. [App.
586 u.
Cup-bearers, 249, 309
44
682
INDEX.
Curacli, the making of a, 292. — Trad-
ing between Eriun and Scotland,
257
Curoi Mac Daire, 185 [App. 587 n.,
589 n., 590 n., 631 n.— Tale of the
Tragedy of, 273. — his Grave [App.
579.— Stone-builder, Cldoin, 222
Curragh of Kildare (^Cuirrech Lif^),
305
Curry, (0' ComhraidM), race of, 210
Curtains of bed, 310
Custom (see Chivalry), 276
Cycle of the Epact (calculation as to
St. John's Day), 425, 427
Da Choffa, Tale of the Destruction
of the Bndghean, 260 [App. 584 n.
Da Derga, Destruction of the Brulg-
hean, 14, 185, 242, 258 [App. 584,
(and see 618)
Dachre'ca, Dill, son of, 305
"■Dael Uladli", Duhhthach, 275
Daghda, Aeiigiis, son of the, 45
DagJida Mor, the, 249.— the Hall of
the [App. 505
Da idh I, Temple-; [App. 593
Daile, Deal atha. Battle of, 407
DaiThre, or Dairaire, Island ; (now
called Valentia Island), 272
Daire, 68.— Cerba [App. 491.— Do/r^
Da Bhaetk, the ford of (where
Conor Mac Nessa fell); [App.642 —
Daire Dornmhar, " Emperor of the
whole world", 315
Dairine, daughter of Tuathal Teacht-
mar, 230, 303
Dairt, daughter of Eochaidh [App.
585 n.
Ddla, Sliglie, the, 453
Dalcassians, Pedigrees of the, 209,
213. — the ; called the House of
Tal, [App. 479. — Kings of this
race, 213
Dal Cidrh [App. 474
Dal Fiatach,\n, 226
Dalian Forgaill, 29, 171
Dal m-Buain [App. 474
Dal Monach [App. 474
Dall (the blind), Guairif-, 305
Dalriada, 88; — of the race of, 412,414,
415 Progress of the, into Scot-
land [App. 593
Darnghhuire', Drom (Knocklong), 108,
271, 200 [App. 589 n.
Damh-Inish (Devenish), 330, 340
Danes and the Gaedhil; History of
the Wars of the, 232. — Copy in
volume among the O'Clery MSS.
in Brussels, 173
Danes, — or Lochlannx, 225,226. — ene-
mies of letters in Erinn, 6. — bat-
tle with the; (A.D. 917), 387.—
Gluttony of the, 224, [App. 581.—
Commerce of the, 224 [App. 581. —
Blathmac killed by, as a Christian,
362.— of the Hebrides, 404.— &inc,
King of the, of Dublin, 414. — in
Munster defeated at Sulchoid (a.d.
941), 403
Daniel, 369
Danish Invasion, 5, 416. — "Prophe-
tic" allusions to, 399. — Fleet on
the Upper Shannon, (a.d. 840),
400, 405
Daraire, Oilcan- ; (" Valentia Is-
land"); 272
Dare', 35
Dathi, King, 125 [App. 592 n.— the
Cathreiin, [App. 591 n. — Death
of (A.D. 428), 284.— the History
of, 454. — Tale of the Expedition
of, to the Alps, 284.— Duald Mac-
Firbis descended from, 125. — an-
cestor of O'liiain and O'Cuileam-
hain, (Cullen), [App. 488
Datho; Mac-, {Mtsroeda) [App. 486
David, 369
Deacair, Imtheacht an Ghilla, 313,
316
Dealbaeth, 209
Dean, Drniin ; house of Finn at, 303
Dearc Ferna, (now Cave of Duumore)
[App. 587 n., 589 n.
Dearg, (Ath-), 103
Dearmait, Duil ; the Exile of the
sons of, 319, 468
Deasy {Deise), 50, 193 [Aiap. 532
593
Debility of the Ultonians, the [App.
586 n.
Decollation of St. John Baptist, Fes-
tival of, 425, etc.
Decies, 193 (see Deise)
Decision of King Diarmaid as to
St. Colum Cille, 328
Declan, St., of Ardmore ; Life of, 340
De Clare, 234, 236
De Courcy, John, 235. — Forged
"prophecies" in favour of, 451
Dectir(f [App. 508
Dedication of Annals of the Four
Masters [App. 543
Dedication of O'Clery's Leahhar
Gahhdla [App. 552
Dedication to O'Clery's Reim Riogh-
raidh^ [App. 550
D€ Domnand, Indech, son of; a Fo-
morian, 249
Deer hunted by the king's guards,
333. —Tadhg, son of Cian, killed
by a deer [App. 588 n.
INDKX.
G83
Defence of Erinu; Finn's arrange-
ments for the, 315
Deick m-Bi(it/iir,9, 31
Deirditf, 9(>, 14. — and the sons of
Uistieach, Tale of, 29 1 [App. 5S'J n.
Deirbshiur don Eagna an Eu/se, 177
Deise, 50, 193 [App. 532, 593
Deluge foretold, a, 385
Delvin, the {Ailbhine) ; Ford on the,
282
Delvin (Co. Westraeath) ; Mac Cogh-
lan,Lord of, 130
Denmark, Consul Clarvujneach in,
262
Den Mor; (Arfs attendant), 391
Denvir, Kight Hev. Dr., Bishop of
Down ; Shrine belonging to, 337
DerbhJhorgaHI [App. 483
Dercedan ; Urom-, 382
Derg, Bodhbh ; — (the fairy), 426.—
Muirn, the daughter of, 308
Derg-dheirc, Loch ; origin of the
name, 267
Dermod Mac Murroch, 187, 42)
[App. 571
Dermot (see Diarmaid)
Derry, the Book of, 20
Desgibal, (Disciple), [App. 495
Descriptions (personal) of the Ulster
Chiefs, in an ancient Tale, 38
Desmond, Earl of, 395.— James, Earl
of, 422
Destruction of literature by the
Danes and Anglo-Normans, 5, 6. —
of the Palace of E mania by the
Three CoUas, 72
Devenish {Damh-Inh), 330, 340
Devil, a vow to the, 290. — Tale of
Tadg O'Bruibi and the [App. 532
Dialects ; the inventors of the [App.
501
"Dialogue of the Ancient Men", 307
"Dialogue of the Two Sages";
(;" Prophecy" in), 383
Dianceucht, physician, 28, 46, 221.—
the surgeon of King Nuada, 247
Diarmaid, 55 — and. Graiune, 313. —
"Beds of" [App. 597. — at Beann
Edair, (Howth), 283
Diarmaid Mac Fcrghusa Cerrbheoil,
the Monarch, 398 ; — judgment of,
328. — his courtship of the Bcgfo-
lad, 2So.—Beg Mac De, Poet of,
399 [App. 517
Diarmaid Mac Murchadha, 187, 421
[App. 571
Diarmaid; murder of King, (a.d.
1169), 387
Diarviaid, son of Cucogry O'Clery
[App. 561
Diarmaid^ son of y[ael na m-b(S, 421
Diarmaid, the sons of, 415
Diarmada (the Sliockt), 110. — The
genealogy of the Ua-, 13
Diarmuit, son of Ainmire, 363 [App.
610
Dichedal do chennaibh, 240
Dictionary ; want of a Gaedhelic, 457.
— Committee formed to prepare a,
457
Dill, son of Dachreca, 305
Diman, 70 [App. 527
Dimma ; Es-, [App. 489, 490
Dimma's Book (T.C.D.), 23, 335 ; 652
Dinn High, 451, — (Tuaitn Ttnbu
[App. 482, — the Destruction of,
252
Dinnsenchas, 9, 53, 49 (n. 28), 188,
193, 449,— the, about Brecdin, 257.
— Einian Poems from the, 302
Dionui's Book (T.C.D.), 23, 335
Directors, Spiritual, 368
Disert Aengusa, 364
Disert Bethec/i, 364
Disert O'Dea, 236
Discipline; Monastic Rules of, 357,
373
Distribution of Food. 311
Dithorba,^ 70 [App. 527.- The three
sons of, 283
Divination by Druidism {Finn Mac
Cumhaill), 3d4:
Dobkarckon (JSIiunter^, 210
Dobru, 222
Doctor; the first, in Erinn, 221
Dodder ; the Bruighean Da Derga on
the, 259, 209
Dopt of Neimthenn, the judgments of,
46
Dog, Breacan^s, 257
Doqlira, the chief Druid of King
JJalhi, 284
Doighre; LexiMar mdr Dilna (com-
monly called Leabhar Brew j
E.I.A.), 31, 190, 352, etc.
Doirif, 20
Doire' da Bliaelk, 276
Doire Lurain, 50
Doirin Cranncha, 102
Domangorl, 55
Domhnach, the name (to what ap-
plied), 335
Dondinuch Airgid, the, 321, 322
[App. 598
Domluiach Chairne (qu. Doneycar-
ney?)382
Domhnach Sechnaill (Dunshaughlin),
344, [App. 600
Domhnall, 50. — Military School of
the Scottish champion, 279 — Son
41 B
684
INDEX.
of Flannacan, liis poem, 222 [App.
577
Domfmall Ban, K. of Scotland (1093),
414, 417
Domhnall Mor O'Briei), last Iving of
Munster, 234
Domhnall, son of Aedh Mac Ainmire,
333
Domhnainn, Inbher- ; (Malahide Bay),
385, 402
" Domiciliary visits" in Ireland, 355
Domhnainn, Mac'il (" Moll Downey")
[App. 485
Domhnann multitudes ; tlie, [App.485.
—the Fir-, [App. 580 _
Donaghadee (probably Oirear Caoin'),
287
Donaldbane (^Domhnall Ban), 414,417
Donegall, Martyrology of, 353
Doulevy, 148
Donn, (the ^'Donn Chuailgn^"'), 85, —
Donn ; the eldest son of Milesius,
217, 447, 448,— Lordof Z;/-er//«,414,
— oV/ Mac Oireachtuigh, 102
Donnan, St., martyrdom of [App.
591 n.
Donnchadh, brother of K. Fiacha,
333.— K. of Leinster, 364
Donnchadh O'Biaoin, Tale of, [App.
532
Donnchadh, son of Domhnall, 333
Donnchadh, son of Donn, 414
Donnchuan, 211
Donn Chuailgne, 35
Donndesa [App. 586 n. — the sons
of, foster brothers of the Monarch
Conaire Mar, 258
Donochmore, Munca, Bishop of, 349
Donnsleibhe Ua Gadh-a, [App. 546
Donovan (Rev. J.) ; his publication
without acknowledgment of cata-
logue of the St. Isidore MSS., drawn
up by Mr. O'Curry for the late Very
Rev. Dean Lyons, 157, [App. 646
Donnycarney(qu.Z)o/«A««cAC'Aa//7ze'),
382
Doorkeepers, 309
Doorposts of green (bronze), 310
Door, (lintel of carved Silver), 310
Dornmhar, Dair^-, 315
Dothor, the (Dodder river), 259, 269
Dove, representation of the Holy
Ghost as a, 323
" Downey, Moll" ; (Maeil Domhnaimi)
[App. 485
Downpatrick, Battle of, (a.d. 1260),
235, [App. 547. — Burial there of
St. Cohan Cill€, St. Patrick, and
St. Brighid, 410. — {Diln da Leth
glas), 20, 413.— The Book of, 20
Dragnin ; Loch Bel, 427
Dragon, the Fiery, 426, 427
Drecain, Tuaim; St. Bricin of, (a.d.
637), 418
Drech-Mhagh, paved by Conn [App.
621
Dremain, Olas Mac, 315
Dremn^, Cuil, 329
Dresses and accoutrements of an an-
cient chief, 38
Drignend, Drom-, [App. 477
Drimnagh (Drummainech), 270
Driseg, the, 241
Drogiieda, (Inbher Colpa), 448
Droichit; Bel-an-, (near Sligo),Battle
of [App. 548
Drom Aurchaille, 382
Drom Ceata, the Book of, 21
Dromm Coblai, [App. 607
Droma Deirg, Ruith, 308
Droma Snechta, the Cin, 13, 41,
206, [App. 464, 497; 656
DromcViS (Cidl Dreimne, near), 329
Drom Damhghaire, 198, 200, 271
Drom Finn, Saint Finnen of, 328
Drom Sneachta,(The Clnof), 206, 656.
"Drowning of books", etc., by the
Danes, 5
Druid, Finnchaemh, the (of Dnthi),
285 Bacrach, Conor's, 277, —
Dor/hra, the, 284,
Druidical arts, 284.— Spells, 271.—
Verse, 240
Druidism of Finn (his Thumb of
Knowledge), 396, 394. — of the
Tuatha De Dancum [App. 505
Druids, 249, 309 ; their learning, 4 ; —
as heralds, 287. — Of Conn ; the
three, 388 [App. 620.— of King
Laeghaire; " prophecy" of St. Pa-
trick by, 397 [App. 617.— of the Mi-
lesians,448. — Mound of the(Dumha
7ia n-Druadli), 284. — the mound of
the, at Tara, [App. 514
Druim Cain, the ancient name of
Tara, 244
Druimcli, 2 n. 9, [App. 495
Druim Coblai [Ajip. 607
Druim Criaidh, the Battle of [App.
508
Druim Dean, house of Finn at, 303
Druim Tibrait, 59
Drummainecli (Drimnagh), 270
Drury, Sir William, 395, 396
Diiuch, son of Brian, K. of Connacht,
14, 15, [App. 498-9
Duach Dalta Deadhgha,(Monarch),63
Duach Galach, 15 and note, 206. 226,
[App. 497
Duach Laclhrach, [App. 526
INDEX.
685
Duach Tengumha, 15, and note; [App.
498
Dtiaibhsech, the wife of Muircheartach
Mac Erect, neglected for Sin the
Beansiclhe; [App. 600
Dminair^, 12
Duarcan 0' li-Eaghra (Cathal, son
of), 102
Duhh, the lady ; (from whom " Dub-
Un"), 269
Dubhaltach, 82
Diibhaltach Mac Firbhisicjli, 9, 120,129
[App 541, 542
Diibhchruif, the Builder, 222
Duhhda DiMhsacJi, physician, 221
Dubh da leithe, Book of, 19
Dnbhdeadach, 44
Dubh(]enn O'Duigenan, 83
Dublilacha and Mongan [App. 592 n.
Dubhlinn (Dubhn), 88, 403, [App. 590
n. 627. — Origin of the name of, 269
Dubh Mac Turilu (?), 198
Dubhthach, 5, 82,^4, 170
Dubhthach Duel Uladh, 21 o
Dubluhach Ua Liiguir, or O'Lugair,
349.— Lands granted to [Ajjp. 489.
—Poems by [App. 482
Dubhn, 88, 269-403, [App. 590 n.,
627. — tlie orator of {Conamkail^,
403. — (^Dubhlinn), origin of the
name of, 269
Du Cange, cited, [App, 602 u.
Dufferin, in Wexford, 2^11
iJufthakr (Norse for Dubthacli), 5
Dugdale's Mouasticon referred to
[App. 603 n.
Duggan, (O'Duggans of Fermoy),
descended from Mogh Buith, 272
Dmbldinn [App. 627
Duigenan, 113 [and see Muintir
Didhhglienainn, 22 ; and O'Duibh-
genainn'].
Duignan, David, 94 [App. 534
Dud Dearmuit, the Exile of the Sons
of, 319 [App. 468
Dud Droma Ceata, 21
Dtdnechda ; Cohju Ua-, 379-80 [App.
615
Dulane (near KeUs, County Meath),
(Ttdk'ii), 330
" Dumb Book" of James Mac Firbis,
the, 125
Dumha na n-Druadh (the Druid's
Mound), 284
Dumha Selga (hunting mound), 391
Dun Aithirne (on the Hill of Howth),
269
Duncan, 211
Diin Cearmna, (Old Headof Kinsale),
427, 429
Dim Cuar, 363
Dihi dd Leathqhias, (Downpatrick),
13, 20, 413, [App, 627
Diin Leth-glasse [App. 606
Dun na n-Gall, 52,148
Dun na n-Gedh, 191
Diin, the, of Credhi, 309 [App. 597
Diinbolg [App. 588 n.
Dunchadh (Donnchadh^. son of Donn,
414
Dundealgan (Dundalk), 287
Diin Doighre, 31, 180, 190, 352
Dundrum Bay, (Co. Down), {Loch
Rudhraidhi?), 429. — Congal Clar-
ingneach lands at, 262
Dunfliun, Co. Sligo ; murder of Du-
ald Mac Firbis at, 122
i)i(rt(7e/«/«'», (Dungiven, Co.Derry),20
Dunghus, Bishop of Dubhn, 404
Dunlang, 44
Dunlaing, son of Enna [App. 466
Dunmore, Cave of (Dearc Ferna ;
County Kilkenny), [App. 587 o.,
589 n.
Dum-aven, Earl of, 210
Dun Riga, 63
Dunshaughlin {Donihnach SechnailT),
344 [App. 606
Diin Tri-Liag (Duntrileague), 312
Duntrileagne, Co. Limerick (Dun Tri
Liarj), 312
Durlas (Thurles), 421
Darius, in Connacht (Palace of K.
Guaire &i), 30
Durrow, the Book of (T.C.D.), 23.—
The Crozier of, 338
Durrthacht, 46
Durthacht ; Eoghan Mac, 275
Durthacht; Mairnf Mac, finding of
the brooch of, 268
E written for A, 180
Eaba,t\\Q female physician of Ceasair,
221
Eachtgha, 125. — Clann Firbis histo-
rians, 219
Eaghra (Ui), 147 [App. 546
Ealta (see Magh n-Ealta'),^ 407
Eamhain Mhacha, (Emauia), 96
Earc, 55
Eas Mac n-Eirc, 81, 111
EasRuuidh (near Bally shannon), 71,
284, 400 [App. 528
Eassa (Coill-'), 102
East end of a church, the altar at
the, 397
Eatharlagh (Atherlow, O'Briens of),
211
Eber (or Eihlr), Finn, 147, 157,— and
Eremon, the genealogical lines of,
194,207,447-8
686
IKDEX.
Ecclesiastical MSS., analysis of the,
339, 357
Ecclesiastical History ,materials of,355
Echach (genitive case of the name
Eocltaidh; as App. 610)
Echach ; Loch n- (Loch Neagh) [App.
591 n.
Echaidh Salbiddhe, father of Nessa,
262 [App. 636-7
Echbhedil, Eockaidh, 383
Echtigern, 211
Echtgh^; Sliabh-, 312
EoHTRAi, of the ; (" Adventures") ;
[" Historic Tales", No. 10], 283
Eclipse of the sun on the day of the
Crucifixion, 277
Edail (Italy), [App. 504
Edain; Tale of the Courtship of,
[App, 585 n.
Edair, Vath Behind; (Tale of the
Cave of Beann Edair), 283
Edair, Beinti- ; (Hill of Howtli), 269
269.— Poem by Finn at, 394, 395
Edinburgh, Advocates' Library, 26
Edlenn, son of Tighernmas. (^Lug, son
of), [App. 621
Education, and duties of an Ollamh,
239. — Education for the Priesthood,
Canon on, 372
Eg in the Hebrides [App. 591 n.
Eglais beg, (Clonmacnoise), 59
Egypt, 222, 447
Eibir Mac Mileadh, [and see Ebbr'],
147, 157, etc.
Eibhin, [see Eimhiti], 132
Eidersgel, father of Condire Mor, [and
see Etersgel,'] 258, — killed, [App.
^508
Eidhneach ; Cluain-, 364:
Eile, Cruachain Bri; Battle of, 395
EilM, Our mi h-, 178 [App. 562
Eilti; Ah nah-, 102
Eimhin, St. ; Life of St. Patrick bv,
347, 348, 351. — the Cuilefudh 6i,
335, 351 [App. 5dQ.—Mainister-,
(Mouasterevan), 132
Eimhir^, Tochmarc ; (Tale of the
Courtship of Eimer), [see Emer],
278
Eire; [see Ere; and Eas Mac n-Eirc'],
111
Eir( dginis na naomh, 163
Eir^, Queen, 448
Eirn^, Loch [App. 592 n.
Eithlenn, daughter of Balor, 250
Eithn€ ''Uathach", ("the Hateful")
[App. 483, 586 n.
Eitigh (see Cinn Eitigh), 340
Elatha, King of the Fomorians, fa-
ther of Breas, 249
Elegy of St. Colum C'iirc,[8ee Amhra'],
406, etc.
Eleran (see Aileran), 350, 378, etc.,
[App. 608,614
Eh/ga (Erinn) [App. 484
ii//,' Battle of [App. 621
Elias, 369
Elim Mac Conrach, 54, 230, 264
Elizabethan and other modern set-
tlers in Erinn, 422
Elizabeth, confederacy against
Queen, 422
Elizabeth's reign, Wars of, 396
Elopements (Aithidhe); Historic Talcs
of, 294
Elphin, {Ailfimi), 175
Ehan, 304
Ely, O'Carroll of, 209, 219
Emania, 63, 64, 67, 70. — Bainchn^,
rath-builder of, 222. — Foundation
of. Historic Era of the, 67, 68, 70
[App. 518, 526. — Foundation of
the Palace of, d^cription of, 283.
Battle of, " foretold", 418. — De-
struction of (a.d. 331), 72
Embroidery (the lady Eimer'), 279
^wer, the Lady; 279,"[App.515, 585n.
Emer Mac Ir, [and see Eber'], 207
Emhain Macha, [and see Emania],
70. — Foundation of [App. 526
Emhin, St. [see Eindwi], 347, etc.
EmiM, grandson of Ninin€, 8, 30
Emly (Imliuch), 374 [App. 630
Er)iir [App. 538. — Tochmarc Emire
[App. 637-8
Emruis, Tuath- ; [App. 621
English defeated in several battles,
395. — settlers; Tales, etc., before
the time of, 299. — Use of forged
"prophecies" by the, 431
Enchanted Goblets ; Aedh Oirdnidhc
and the, [App. 532
Enchanted house of C/eitech, the, 308
Engach (the Valiant) ; Aedh, 419
Enna Ceiiinsealach ; 5, — Eochaidh,
son of, 454
Enna Nia, 44
Enniskillen, (Bns Cethliotm), 169,
[App. 553
Enoch, 369
Eochaidh Abhradh-ruaidk, 312
Eochaidh Aireamh, murder of, (a.m.
6084) [App. 591 n.
Eockaidh Aireamh, Monarch (b.c.
100), 285, 286— Killed, [App. 508.
— and Etain, [App. 685 n.
Eochaidh Aincheann, or Ard-Cheann,
King of Leinster, — and the daugh-
ters of Tuathal Tcachtmar, 230,
303. [App. 586 u.
INDEX.
G87
Eothaidli Biy Dciry, Bruiyhean, 313
Eochaidh Buadhach, G7 [App. 526
Eochaidh Cohai, 363 [App. GIO
Eochaidh DomhJen, 72
Eochaidh Echbhe'oil, school of, in
Scotland, 383
EochaidhFeidkch,{coQtQva\}O^SXjv:it\\
Julius Cffisar), I^ing; 33, 5-1, 224
[App. 523. — Father of Queen
Mcdhhh [App. 637.— Slaughter of
his sons by [App. 591 n.
Eochaidh Gurbh [App. 513
Eochaidh Giuuwt, 41
Eochaidh Mac Daire, 68
Eochaidh Mac Eire ; Cohan Clue's
Poem on, 242. — when king, 244.
— Tailte, the Spanish wife of, 287
Eochaidh Mac Luchia, King of Mid
Erinn, 46, 267
Eochaidh Mac Maireda, K. of Fer-
moy, 294
Eochaidh Muiyhmhedhoin, 14,208,386,
389. — Story of the Sons of, [App.
531, 593. — fhe descendants of,
[App. 498
Eochaidh O'Flannayain, 20, 138
Eochaidh 0 Flinn, [and see O'F/oinn.']
53 [App. 521. — his Chronological
Poem, 69
Eochaidh Salbhuidhe, 262 [App.636-7
Eochaidh, soa of Enna Ceinnsealach,
454
Eochaidh, the first name of OUamh
Fodhla, 218
Eochaidh, the Lake of, (Loch n-
Erhach, or Neagh), 294
Eochaidh Tirmchania, K. of Con-
nacht, 329
Eochain, CiU ; Battle of, 395
Eoyanacht, (of Loch Le'ui), 76, 77
Eoyhun Bel, King of Connacht ; St.
CeaUach, son of, 340
Eoyhain, Cinel; (see Cine! Eoyhain),
219
Eoyhan, from whom Tir Eoyhain,
(Tyrone^, [App. 587 n., 590 n.
Eoyhan Mac iJurthacht, 275
Eoyhan Mo'r, 44, 208 Son of Oilioll
Oluim, 351. — race of in South
Munster, 20S. — O'Didnins histo-
rians of the race of, 219
Eoyhan 0' Conor, 184 [App. 570
Eoyhan liuadh Mac an Bhaird,
(Ward;, 330
Eoyhan, son oi AiJill Flann Bey, 351
Eoyhan, son of Murchadh, ancestor of
St. Eimhi'n, 351
Eoyhan Srem, 15
Eoyhain, Tir, 329 [App. 587 n., 590 n.
" Eoteream ci'sitatem" [App. 501
Eo-minn, 71 [App. 528
Edin Bic Baile [App. 478
Eoir (the river Nore, n-Eoir), 364
Eo'lhaik', Traiyh ; (near Bally sadare),
246
" Eothena", 15 [App, 501
Epact for 1096 ; (as to St. John's Day,
that year), 425,427
Episcopacy, duties of the, 372
Equerries, 309
Era of foundation of Emania, wiiy
preferred or selected by Tiyhernach,
68 [App. 518, 526
Erail, A. itye, (request) [App. 633
Ere (see Eochaidh Mac Eire), 88, 242
[see also Eiic, and Eas mac n- Eire']
Ere (the lady), 39 [App. 506, 515
Ere, son of Cairpri, or Cairbre', 49,
[App. 483, 507,— Mound of, [App.
513
Erca, 171
Eremon, 447, — the grave of, 449, —
and Eber, the genealogical lines of,
207
Erenach, an (Airchinnech'), 290, 344,
408
Eric, 49
Erinn ; " Banba'^ (q. v.), 656. — desti-
nies of (St.Berchan's "Prophecies"),
417 Sovereignty of [App. 621. —
Noble Saints of, 369. — Learning in
ancient, 3
" Erlonde ; the great relicke of" [App.
604
Ermedach of Clochar, Bishop [App.
608
Erne; Loch, 418, — Caeluisy^ on, 235.
— Devenish in, 330, 340.— Island of
Senait (Mac Mayhmtsa) in, 84
Erne, the river ; Eas Liuaidh on, 284
Ernin, son of Duach ; writer of the
Cin Droma Snechta, 14
Escra, or can, of ale [App, 621
Esmonde, Sir T.; note concerning
the estate of [App. 490
Espousals, or courtships ( Tochmarca);
Historic Tales of, 278
Espue, Tidach na n-; (near Cabin-
teely), 3S2
Essa [App. 515 ; — Cathair-, 486
Etain, Tale of the Courtship of, 319,
[App. 585 n.
Etair, Beinn ; (or Edair), 283
Etal Anbuail, Coeraber boetli, daugh-
ter of, 426
Etan, the Poetess, mother of Cairbr€
the Satirist, 248
Ethain, the poet, 388 [App. 620
Etheor, 164
Ethur, (or Mac Cuill), 447
fiS8
INBEX.
Eterscel, 258,— killed [App. 508
Etymologies of names, part of the
lore of an Ollamh, 240
Eucharist, the Holy ; ancient Expo-
sition of Doctrine of, 357, 376
Eugene, son of Sdran, 374
Eugenians (the), 213, — and Dalcas-
sians, alternative rights of, 2 1 3
Eusebius referred to by Aengiis, 368
" Eusebian Numbers",'the, 650
Eustace ; Captain, 396
E vangelistarium, the, of Saint Moling,
(T.C.D.), 23
Eve, November, a pagan festival,
284, 286
Exile on the sea of the Men of Ross ;
of the, 333
Expeditions by Sea; of the, (Im-
ramha ; Historic Tales, No. 12), 288
Expeditions, Military (Sluaighead/ia ;
Historic Tales, No 1 1), 284
Expedition to Italy of Uyaine il/o'r,451
Eyebrows, colouring of the, 309
Facktna Finn, chief poet of Ulster,
(A.M. 4024), 261
Fachtna,d5, 46, 96— Father of Con-
chohhar Mac Nessa, 274 [App.
636-7
Faidheach, Finn, the ; ("sweet sound-
ing" bell), 337
Fail, Ath Finn; [App. 480
Fail, Tnis, (the Island of 7^a7), 167,
388 [App. 620
Failcjhe, Ui, (Offaly), 302, 365, 395
Faitsin€, Berchan na ; 412
Faind [App. 515
Fair of Tailldn, the, 2S7.— of the
Lije (Liffey), 305
Fairies, and Fairy Mythology [App.
504.— Tale of Mac Coise, the Poet,
and the Fairy Woman [App. 532
Faithlenn, Inis-, (Inisfallen), 75
Fal, "the stone of Destiny", 388
[App, Q20.—Temair of [App. 479,
620
Falc/a, the Isle of Man [App. 588 n.
Faiman, the Druid, 217
Fanait, the Broom out of, 420,421,
423, 426, 428 [App. 632, 634
Farney, 69, 72
Faro [see Pharaoh], 369
Farsaidh {Fenius), 15, 127, 163,217,
226 [App. 501
Fas, US,— (Glenn Faisi), 448
Fast, general (in 1096), 404.— three
days ; (vow to the Devil of), 290,
Fathach, 217
Futhan Mura (a.d. 800), 419
Fawn,alittle (meaningof " O«.s«'m"),304
Fe, Cormac on the word ; [App. 468
Feabhaill, Loch ; (Foyle), [App. 478
Feahhall, Tale of the Adventures of
Brian, son of, 318
Feabhraf, Cecmn ; Battle of, 395,416
Feadha (" woods"), letters anciently
called, [App. 470. — Gleann, (the
Woody Glen, in Scotland), 287
Fearadharh, 54
Fear a Ciil Breagh [Bregia], (or, of
Teahhtha), 286
Fearfeasa O^Maelckonnh% 145
Fearmidghe (Air an dci), [and see
Fermoy], 198
Fearna Mhor (Ferns, Co. Wexford),
St. Maodhog of, 340
Fcarnmhaigh, (Farnej'), 72
Feasa, of the ; (Historic Tales of
Banquets), 294
Feast of Taillt^i, (Telltown, Co.
Meath), 287.— Feast of the Lifii
(LiflPey), 305
Feathers ; go^vn of a poet ornamented
with, 383
Fedhlim, Mac Cathail Crobhdeirg,
(Ua Conclwbhair), 101
Feenagh, Book of (as to Letha) [App.
503
Feidelm Nockrothaigh, or Nitachru-
thach (" the ever-blooming"), 39,
49 [App. 512, 514
Feidlimidh, father of St. Colum CilU,
360
Feidlimidh Mac Crbnhthainn, K. of
Munster (a.d, 824), 238, 362 [App.
623
Feile, the ; (the river Feale), 306
Feing; Tidach na-, 30S
Feinigh, storytellers, 220
Feis (Assembly) of Tara ; the first, by
Ollamh Fodhla, 218
Feis Tiqhe Chondin Chinn t-Sleibh€,
Tale of the, 313
Felisdine (qu. Palestine ?), 222
Felire Aengusa, the; 17, 26, 174, 367.
Noteson, 349, 351 [App. 501, 610
et seq. ; 660.
Felmac ; Feile'; etc. 657.
Femhen, the fairy palace of, 426
Fenerhas, 49, 121.— The Book of, of
Fddlda, 220
Fene men, 10
Fenian Poems, etc.. Of the ; 299, 301
Fenian (Prose) Tales, of the, 313
Fenians of Connacht; Goll Mac
Morna, chief of the, 302
Fenius Farsaidh, 15, 127, 163-4, 217,
226 [App. 501
Fera Roiss, the [App. 641
Feradach, 44 ; 264 [see Errata] ; — K,
of Scotland [App. 469
IXDEX.
689
Feraniorz, 278
Ferb, daughter of Gerg [App. 585 n.,
592 n.
Ferccirtne, 45, 218. — Poet and philo-
sopher, 252 [vVpp. 558
Ftrcorb, 209
Fer Leighinn, (a Classical Teacher),
2 n, 9 n., 51 n., 56 [App. -195
Fer-morca (iu West Munetci) ; Sco-
riath. King of the, 253
Fera Jlois, Fiacha, King of the, 333
Fer-sidhe ; of the, [App. 504
Ferdiadh, 39
Feredach Finn, Kins of Scotland,
287
Ferc/hal mac MaoUiduin (contempo-
rary with Leo. III.), 54, 389, 420
Fergtui, 38, [App. 506 the physi-
sician, 221
Fergus Fnirge, K. of South Leiaster,
268 [App. 465, 474
Fergus FinnbJieoil (Fergus " the Elo-
quent'', son of Finn Mac Cumhaill),
Poems ascribed to; 299, 301, et
seq. [App. 593
Ferghus Fog/ui, 69, 72, 73
Fergus Mac Leide, K. of North Ul-
ster (a.m. 4024), 261
Fergus Mac Roigh, 30, 36 [App. 483.
— married to Xessa, 274, [App.
636-7. — and Flidais [App. 585 n.
— Exile of, from Ulster [App. 593
Fergal^Lac Uilliam, 32 [App. 504
Fergus Mor, son of Ere, 55
Fergus, son of Conall, grandfather of
St. Colum CiUe', 360
FerU; the King of, 222 [App. 577
Fermenting ale, vessels of, 309
Fermoy ; Book of, 25 and 25 n, 294, —
(Tale of Fraech Mac Fidkaigh)
[App. .^03. — Eochaidh Mac Mai-
re'da, King of, 294. — Famihes de-
scended from Mogh Ruith in, 272
Ferns (Co. Wexford) ; (see Fearna
Mhor), 23, 340
Fert Scota, 448
Fessa, {Feasa), the, 294
Festivals, pagan; Belltain€, 286;
Samhain, 284, 286
Festologies, 339, 357, 360, etc.
Festology of Cathal Macguire, 26
Fetkur (or Mac Greine'), 447
Fiacal Phadraig, the; (Tooth of St.
Patrick), 338
Fiacc, of Slettv, 4, Si2.—Sechnan,
and St. Patrick, 344, [App. 606.—
his Poem on St. Patrick, 5, 343,349
[App. 606 Gloss on his Hymn
(as to Letha), [App. 503.— as to
the desertion of Tara, 343 [App.
605-6. — his sore leg, 344, [App.
607
Fiacha, 54, 209
Fiacha Finnolaidh, Monarch, 230. —
Mm-der of, 263 [.and see Errata,
as to his name at p. 264, where
it should be that of his son Fera-
dach.'\
Fiacha Foltleathan, King of Ulster,
316
Fiacha, King of the Fera Rois, 333
Fiacha MuiUeaihan, 44, 208, 305
Race of, in Munster, 208. — Ances-
tor of St. Eimhin, 3.5 1
Fiacha Sraibhtene, 72, 386
Fiacha Suidhe, 50 (n. 29)
Fiachaidh, CineJ, 163, [App. 593
Fiachna, son of Baedan [App. 592, n.
— viae Reataich, Story of, 198
Fiachra, 189
Fiachra Ealgach, 126
Fiachra, father of King Dathi, 284. —
Genealogy of [App. 499
Fiachrach (Ibh) ; Clann Firbis, his-
torians, 219
Fiachrach, Tir, 120, 125, 418
Fianna Eireann, the, 300, 315
Fiatach, 5i—Dal-, 171, 226
Fidhaigh, Fraech Mac (Tale of),
[App. 503
Fidh Cuilinn, 420
Fidhgha [App. 589 n.
Fidhnacha (Co. Leitrim) : St. Cail-
lin of, 340:—" Prophecies" of, 398
Fidru, son o? Diarmint, 363 [App.GlO
Fiech (see Fiacc), 5, 342, etc.
"Field, the, of the Pillar Stone";
(^Gort an Chairthe'; in Scotland),
288
Fiery Plague on festival of St. John
Baptist^ the, 385, 402, 404, 423
Firjma, 217.
FiVe', or poet, 2, 8, 16, 29, 45, 70 [App.
461, 464.— Degree of, 240, 243
Filedecht, 2, 18, 29 [App. 461, 464
Finan, St. of Ard-Finain ; Life of, 340
Finan Cam, Saint ; of Cinn Eitigh
(King's Co.) ; Life of, 340
Finan Lohhar, 76
Finbarr, Q^Mac Hui Bardene"), 91, —
(of Termonbarry), 338,— (of Cork),
340
Finch^; Cill-, (the chiirch of Finch(f),
302
Finchadh Mac Baicheda, 68
Findruing; the " white metal", [App.
493. — a rooftree of, [App. 621
" Fingal" of MacPherson, the, 300
Fingin Fisiocdha, 221 Physician of
Conor Mac Nessa [App. 641
600
INDEX.
Finguin^; CuthalMac; KingofMun-
ster (a.d. 720) ; 194, 238, 353
Finnabhair, (" tlae Fair-browed"), 36,
585 n.
Finnobkair of Ma ffh InisJO, [App.527
Flnnachta the Festive (a.d. 680), 231
Finn (AedJi), 102
Finn Faidheach, the (" sweet-sound-
ing" bell), 337, [App. 631 n.
Finn Mac CumhaiU, 56, 194, 200, 283,
299, et seq.— a historical ijerson-
age, 303, 304. — his courtship of
AiWhe, 283, [App. 585 n.— in the
Cave of Dunmore, [App. 589 n. —
Poems ascribed to, 301 et seq., 395,
[App. 594, 624. — " Prophecies" as-
cribed to, 392, [App. 422, 624.—
the mound of [App. 514. — his
" Thumb of Knowledge", 395, 396
Finn Titlach, 308
Finnhharr, St., of Cork, 91. — Life of,
340. — of Termonbarry ; Crozier of,
338
Finnbarr's, the Abbot of Saint (Tale
of), 353
Finnbheannach, (the great Connacht
Bull), 34, 39,— the noble land of
the [App. 564
Fimichacmh, the Druid of Duilii, 285
Finnchu, 197. — St., of Bri Gobhunn,
422.— Life of, 340
Finncona, 38
Finnen, of Clonard ; Saint, 170, 291 .—
— Life of, 340, 342. — of Drom Finn,
328
Finnjail; Nnada, (a.m. 4238), 83.
Finnliath (Aedk), 133
Finnbheoil (Fergus), 299,300 [App. 593
Fiitntan (sixth century), 11, 171. —
Poem by, quoted as authority, 241,
—(father of Cimbaoth), 68
Finntragha ; Cath-, (Battle of Ventry
Harbour), 308, 313, 315 [App. 597
i^mtaw, 11, 67, 171,241 [450
Fiodha, Tuatha, the, (Forest Tribes),
Fiodhnacha, S. Cuillin of, 31
Fiontain Mac Bochra, 171
Fior comhlainn, the, 37
Firbhisigh, {Dubhaltuch Mac), 120
[App. 541. — the Clann, (historians
of Lower Connacht), 219
Firbolgs, 226.— Colony (a.m. 3266),
244. — the first physicians of the,
221 referred to by Finntan, 241
FircJieart [App. 558
Firdiadh ; Ath-, (Ardee), 39.
Fir Domhnann, 223
Fires of Tailltin, the, 287
Fis (Visions) ; (" Ilistoric Tales" of),
295
Fisher, Sir Edward [App. 490
Fisherman, the first in Erinn, 221
Fishing by the Fenians, 315
Fithil, 11
Fithir, Daughter of Tualhal Teacht-
mar, 230, 303
Fitzgerald, John, Earl of Desmond,
422.— Maurice Bub/i, 422
Five provinces, the, of Erinn, 896
Flag of Battles, the (Brat Baghach),
401
Flag, Patrick coming to Erinn on a,
393
Flagstone, Finn slipping on a, 393
Fluinn, Aengus Ua, 399
Flaith, 3, 202
Flaithbheartach O'Flannagain [App.
547
Flannacan ; Donnell, son of, 222,
[App. 677
Flann Beg, Ailill, 351
Fkinn, Blathmac, son of; Monarch,
362
Flann Cethach, 398, 401, 402, 421, 428
Flann of Cuil Gamhna, 421
Flann Mac Aedhagain, 151
Flann Mainistrech, or Flann of Mo-
naslerboice ; 53 et seq. ; — not an
ecclesiastic, 56, — Synchronisms of,
54 [App. 509. — Entries of the
death of [App. 516 — Compared
with Bede, Gildas, and Nennius, 57.
— quotes from poems of eai'lier date,
242. — Verse identifying, with the
Synchronisms, [App. 523 Poem
on the kings, etc., 242. — Refers to
the Baile an Scdil, 389, 390 [App.
621
Flann Mac Lonvn, 53; poem by
[App. 467
Flann Sionna, 132
Fleasc File, the ; (Wand of the Post) ;
[App. 464
Fledh Bricrinn, Tale of the. 346 [App.
637-8
Fleming's CoUecta Sacra, 379
Fleming (Thomas), Archbishop of
Dublin, 151
Flidais [App. 585 n.—Tdin Bo, 185
[App. 531
Flynu (see Ui Fhloinn) [App. 548
Florence Mac Carthy, 198
Foal, the Island of (from Avhich the
i^«? was brought to Tara) [App. 620
Fochlog, the, 241
Fochri, Colla, 72
Fod/du^^BTUxu, 220
Fogartach, King of Fotla (Erinn)
[App. 516
Foglaintibh [App. 495
I
INDEX.
691
Foirceadhidki [App. 495
fhircetal (knowledge) [App. 461
Folt/eathan; Fiacha, King of Ulster,
316
Fomorians, 225, 226. — in the German
Ocean, 2i9.— Bohr "of the stiff
blows", one of the, 217. — Tribute
of women to the, 280
Footrace, by Cailte [App. 587 n.
Furbais, a siege by regular invest-
ment, 264
FoRBASA (Sieges). Tales of. — (" His-
toric Tales''^ No. 5), 264
Forbes, (Mac Firbis), 192
Forhuis Droma Damhghoire, 198, 271
Fon-hairtkuw (near Kathcoole) [and
see as to the "Rowing Wheel"],
403
Fords, combats generally at, 281
Fordmlm [App. 489, 490
Foreign Ecclesiastics in ancient
Erinu, 381
Forest Tribes {I'uatha Fiodha), the,
450
Forgall Monach, father of the lady
£/we?-,278, 279
Forgery of " Prophecy", bv O^Neach-
^«/m (1716), 418
Forgery of " Prophecies" of St. Co-
him Cille, 407, etc.
Fonts Focail; the Glossary called
the, 177
Fornnd/i, 189, [App. 588 n.
Forth, in Wexford (Fotkarta), 450
Fossud, (Battle of) [App. 481
Fothudh Canann, and the wife of
Ailelf; of [App. 590 n.
Fothadh lui Cuudine, 363, 419. — the
Canon of [App. 610
Foiharta (Forth, in Wexford), 450
Foundation of Emania; of the His-
torical Era of the, 70
Four Masters, Annals of the, 140,
155 [App. 543 et seq. — " Martyro-
logy of Donegal", 353
Foyle, Loch {Sndbh Brain), 429
Fruech [App. 585 n. — Ifac Fidhaigh,
Tale of [App. 503
France, assistance to Erinn from,418.
— Labraidh Maen flies to the King
of, 256
Fratricidal King, the, 387
Fraoich {Cluain), 110 [App. 539
Freumhainn (now Frewia in West-
meath), 285
French, the ; in Scottish army (5th
century), 288. — " Eesponsive" (re-
vengeful), "covetous", 224 [App.
581, — Expedition to Erinn with
I.nbhraidn Maen, 256
Frewin, Hill of, in Westmeath
{Freamhainn), 285
Friday, a journey on, 309.— Plague
on festival of St. John on a, 402,404
Fuaid, S/iabh; [App. 475, 642
Fuidhir, 654
Fuinedh [App. 492
Fursa, Saint, 427.— The Vision of
[App. 592 n.
Gabha/a, Leabhar-, (O'Clerys), 168
[App. 552
Gabh/tin, son of Ua Gairbh, stone-
builder of Aikach, 222
Gabhra; CUl, 17.— Battle of, (a.d.
284), 72. — Oscar, son of Oisiii,
killed there; 304, 307, 386,—
{Magh Ui\ 145 [App. 546,— L^t
ChoiudU-, (Co. Limerick), 316
Gabhrd'in, Aedan Mac, K. of Scot-
land (a.d. 570), 414, 417
Gabran, son of JDomangort, 55
Gabuaidech, Aengus, 48
Gaedhel, son of Ethiur [App. 501
GaedhU, 3, 13, 164. — Beauty and
amorousness of the, 224 [App. 581
GaedhU, GaedluUc, etc., 3, 29, 188,
etc.
Gaeidelg, 3
Gaileng, 147
GaUeoin, the, or GaUiims, 223 [App.
580
G'cM7?e'(Galtee) Mountains, 141 [App.
485
Gairbh, Ua-, 222
Gairech, the Hill of, 39
Galach, 15
Galariih (Milesius), the eight sons of,
447
'' Galur breac'\ the, 84
Gall, St. (in Switzerland), MSS. at,
27, 379
Gall, the son oi FiachaFoltleathan,Z\Q
Gall-bearla, il2 [App. 627
Gal way, prophecy of suiferings of, 418
6-'a/«/(rta,Z.oc/i-; (Longford), 109, 113,
418
Gara, Loch-; {Loch Techei) [App.547
Garad, Magh, 17, — Bisert, 17,—
an, 18
Garbh (Niall), 183 [App. 570
Gecdt, Glean na n-, 316
Geantraighe, the (laughing music),
255
Gearr (^Leabhar'), 183
Gedh {Dun na n-), 191
Geimhin, 147
Geisill (Gesbill), Battle of, 395, 449
Gelasius {Gilla Mac Liag), 361
Gem, crvstal, set between bedposts,
811
692
INDEX.
Genealogical Tables (^NiaU naoi ghi-
(dlach) [App. 499
Genealogies and Pedigrees, the Books
of, 203. — Mac Firbis' great Book
of, 121, 215 [App. 572.- -Official
records kept of all, 204
Genealogies of the Irish Saints, 357,
358
Genealogy, a, distinguished from a
Pedigree, 214- -Example of, in that
of the O'Briens, 208
Georgius and the Innocents at Beth-
lehem, 3C9
Geraldines, the, 6
Gerq, of Glenngeirg [App. 585 n.,
592 n.
German, St. ; in Letha [App. 503,
601
Germany, shrine discovered by Mr.
Grace in, 330. — MSS. in (described
by Zeuss), 27
Geshill (Gets*//), Battle of, 395
GIteisi, Magh da; (Plain of the Two
Swans), 302
Ghobhan, Aengiis Mac an (see Mac an
Ghobhan), 163, 219 [App. 610
Ghuakinn, Tuahndd; (Tuam) 290
Gilba (Gilboa), Mount, 3G9
GUIa an Chomdcdh Ua Cormuic,
Poem by, 70 [App. 526
Gdla-Arri, 403
Gilla Caemhghin, 414. — Chronolo-
gical Poem by, 55
Gilla IsaMor Mac Firbhisigh, 82, 121
Gilla Mac Liag (Gelasius), 361
Gilla na Naomh O'Hiddhnn (O'Hee-
rin), 83 [App. 581
Gilla na Naemh O'Taidhg, 102
Gillaruadh O'Gadlira [App. 547
Gillausaille, son of GUlacaemhghin,
414
Gildas' (a Saxon Saint); his " Lori-
ca", 353
Ginach; Flann-, 398, 401, 402, 421,
426
Giolla, [see Gdla']
Giolla-Piitrick, Si.— O'Lidnin, 169.—
— DonnellMac, 421
Giraldus Cambrensis, 431, 432 [App.
Gp2, 603, 634
67(15 Charraig (the SkeUig Kocks),
315
Glaiss^ Criche [App. 481-2
Glais in Ascaill [App. 489, 490
Glas Mac Dremain, 315
Glann, son of Carbad [App. 514
Gleann an Chatha (Battle Glen), in
Scotland, 288
Gleann dd Loclia (Glendaloch), 2 1 . —
St. Caemhghin (Kevin) of, 340
Ghann Falsi (Valley of Fas), 448
Gleann Feadha (the Woody Glen), in
Scotland, 287
Gleann-na-nGealt, 316
Gleann Scoithin, 448
Glenn dd Locha, (Glendaloch), 21
Glonn-Ath (Ford of Great Deeds),
£82
Glossary, Cormac's, 19, — (Battle of
Magh Ttdreadli). 250. — Brecan,
257
Glossary, of Michael O'Cleiy, 175,
847 [App. 557. — of Mac Firbis,
123.— of O'Davoren, 123
Gloucester, Earl of; Thomas De Clare,
son of the, 236
Gbm-dubh, [see NialT], 133
Glun-r/eal, [sqq Amergin'], 217
Goblets, 309
Godfrey, the sou of the Sea King,
iOX. — Mearanach, Lord of the
J) in PS 40*4!
Gold, Alpine, 310.--Cups of red, 31 0.
— yellow, 310, — necklace of red,
426
Goisien, (or Gosiin), 217, 449
Goliath, 309
Goll, the Grumbling of the Daughter
of; (^C'eisneamh Inghine Ghuill),
[App. 623
Goll Mac Morna, (chief of the Fe-
nians of Connacht,) Poem on, by
Film, 302
Goll, stone-builder of Clochar, 222
Goltraif/hc, the (lamenting music),255
Gorm, William (0'i?««(7c), 398
Gormacan ; Abbey, (JSIainister ua g-
Cormaic), 352
Gorman, Mac, 237
Gorman, Marianus ; Martyrology of,
353, 361 [App. 609
Gormain, Maelmidr^ Ua, 353, 361
[App. 609
Gormlaitk, Queen, 132 [App. 467,
592 n.
Gort an Chairth^ (the Pillarstone
Field), in Scotland, 288
Gort na Tibrad, Battle at, 395
Gosiin, or Goisien, 217, 449
Gospels, ancient copies of the, 321
Gothic, or black letter, inscription,324
Gown of a poet; the of&cial {Ttdghen'),
383
Grace, Mr. ; shrine discovered in Ger-
many by, 336
Gradha, (Degrees), 220
Grammar and Prosody ; ancient tracts
on, 190; 659.— O'Douovan's, 457
Granard ; Guasactus, son of Milco,
Bishop at, 349
INDEX.
693
Grainne a.nd Diarmaid, 313 [App.
587 n., 590 n.— *' Beds of" [App.
597.— at Beinn Eclair, 283
Grainne, the elopement of [App. 467
Gratianus Lucius, (Father John
Lynch), 53, 262, 442-3
Graves ; called " cromlechs", 247
[App, 597. — of Eremon, the, 449.
— of GoU Mac Jlorna, the, 302.
— of Heroes killed hy Leinster-
men. Poem on [App. 587 n. — of
Oscar, Ogham iuscription ou, 304.
— of St. Tighernain at Loch Conn,
338
Graves, Very Kev. Dean, F.T.C.D,
175, 190, [App. 647
Greece, 222
Gi'eeks, " acute, cimning, and valor-
ous", 224 [App. 580
Green, the, of the king's palace, 328
Gregory, " Abbot of Home ofLetha"
[App. 504. — the great, Pope, 406
Gregory O'Mulconry, 83
Grellach EiUti, (in Westmeath), 59
GreUun, St., of Cill Clduaine (Co.
Galway), Life of, 340
Greine; t'noc, 422. — JIac, 447
Grcssach, 221
Griandn, (sunny chamber), 3 10, [App.
475. — Ailigh, 400. — Imleach-, 2<2.
— Lachtna, 210
Griffin (O'Griffy), 237.— Gerald, 291
G-'/ tti6«e', the poet [App^4G9
Guaire, '■ the Hospitable", 30
Guuire Dull, {Oisin, so called), 305
Guarantees, to confirm an agree-
ment, 70, etc.
Guasacht, Bishop [App. 538
Guasactus, son of MUco, Bishop at
Granard. 349
Gidban; (Conall), 167
Gunning, 211
Guthard, the water named [App. 539
" Hag's beds" (Beds of Diarmaid and
Grainne), 315
Hair, twisted, 310
Hahday, Mr. Charles, (shrine of St.
Molaise), 336
Hand ; Cathal of the Red [App. 547
Hamo de Valoignes, 432
Hardiman, James ; MSS. of, 347
Hare(0'Z?eAiV). -37
Harpers, 248. — Crafting, one of the
first named in history, 252. — Sirdr-
diibh Mac Smuil ; Cliac/i, the son
of, 426
Harps; Cliach played upon two, 427
Harris (in ed. of Ware) on Cathtd
ilaguu'e, 85. — Eemarks on ilac
Pirbis, 123
Hostings, or Military Expeditious ;
{Sluaig/ieudha), 284
Hazel of Buau, the; (Coll Buana'),270
Head of JLsgedhra taken away as a
trophy, 270, 275
Hebrew account of descendants of
Japhet, 205
Hebrew women (exiles of), in Erinu
at the coming of Milesius ; 15-16
Hebrides ; Danes of the, 404. — in-
habited by Fomorians, 249. — He-
bridean Islanders, 288. — Eg in the
[App. 591 n.
Heir, royal, of Tara (Roeti), 413
Henry VIII. ; the reigu of the English
I£ing, 355
Herald, a Druid sent as, 287
Herbert, Captain, 396.— The late Kc v.
jUgeruon, ou the Picts, 450
Herbs, the Plain of; {LusMhagh).2oO,
— healing; Bath medicated with,250
Hermon, Mount ; St. Patrick on [App.
602
" Hibernia Sacra", 320
" Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores", etc, 6
Hides, a curach made of, 292
Hill of the Victory, the; {Teulach an
Chosgcur), 451
Hill, New Milk- ; (Ard Leamhnach-
ta) ; Battle of, 450
Historians, 2, 3. — and Chronologists,
early, 53. — of Erinn, families of,
219.— the Judges of Erinn, 219
Historic period; Tighernach's com-
mencement of the, 67 [App. 518
Historic Tales, 229, 238, 243.— of
the historic truth of the relations
in the, 239, 241. — introduction of
legendary or mythical inventions
in, 38, 39, 242, 250, etc. — use to be
made of the, 454. — List of in the
Book of Leinster, 243 [App. 583,
584. — Example of natiure of de-
tailed information preserved in, 40 ;
[and see also, 445-455]
History, anciently Avritten in verse,
12. — the Annals as materials of,
119. — detailed pieces of, in the
Gaedhelic, 229. — of the Borobiean
Tribute, 230. — of the Wars of
THE Danes and Gaedhils, 232.
— of the Wars of Thojiond, 233.
— Book of Munster, 237. — of
Ireland, wars and persecutions, 355.
— in Erinn, commencement of, 4.
— of Erinn ; how it is to be writ-
ten, 443, 444. — John O'Connell's
Poem on (1650),350:— of the Wri-
ters on, of the xii., xiii., and xiv.
centuries, 82. — of the various wri-
694:
INDEX.
ters ou the, ii\. — of Erinn yet un-
written, 437
Holy Ghost, representation of the,
323
Holy Land, pilgrimage to the, 382
Homilies and Sermons, ancient, 357
Honorati, 369
Horse of Conan Mac Morna, 317
Horseman, spear cast by a, 388 —
cavalry in battle (Battle oiGuhhra^,
304
Horses of an Ollamh, 3
Horseracing, (tempore Finn Mac C'lini-
haiU), 305
Hound of Mac Datho, the [App. 487
Hounds ; an Ollarnh's, 3. — Master of
the, to Conaire Mdr [Ai)p. 586 n.
House, dimensions of Credlas, 310;
— dimensions of -£?<</'« [App. 621
Household of the lady Credhi, 309
House of Commons Committee (1849),
345
" Host of the books of Erinn, the",
370, 368
Howth, HUl of; Beiiin Edair, 259
Hudson, the late William Elliott, 457
Hugh of Derry, 396
Hugh Roe (Aedh Ruadh) O'Donnell,
396, 406
Hugh (see Aedli), 331, etc.
Hid Bardene, 91
Hunting, royal privilege of, 333
Hurling, the game of, 328
^,the Island of, (lona); 330, 361
Hy Diarmada, 13
In/ Tmele [App. 615
Hi/ Maine {SQQ Ibh Main^), 219
Hymn to the Holy Trinity ; St. Colum
Cille's, 329
Hymns, ancient, 357
I, the Island of, {Hy, or lona,) 330, 3G1
lar, son of Nema [App. 501
larrdonn ; Lughuidh, (a.m. 4320), 83
Ibar, Bishop, 381; — assembly in
Munster under, [App. 616
Ibh Maine (_see O'Kelly), 219
Iceland, Irish Christian remains found
in, 332
Ickf, the Minrn-; 4:54: [App. 592 n.,
605
Ictian Sea, the (Mtur n-Icht), 454
[App. 592 n., 605
Idol of Magh Sleclit, the [App. 539,
631-2
Idol, the priest of the ; St. Martin
saved from, 370
Idols at Rath ArchuiU; Druidical, 284
Idrona, barony of, 342
Ignorance of writers on Irish history,
etc., 430, 441
Illuminated books of Erinn ; '• the
countless liosts uf the", 368
Illuminating poems (laedlia laidkibli),
240
Iinas Forosnadh, the, 240
Imaginative Tales and Poems, 296
Iinele', Hi (see Ui Mele) ; 380, [App.
615
Imgliain, Raith (Rathangan) [App.487
Imda, 28
Imleach Grianan, (Co. Limerick), 272
Imliuch (Emly), 374 [App. 630
Immaculate Conception, the, 380
Immigration of a colony {Tochom-
ladli), Historic Tales of, 294
Improvisation, part of the duty of an
Ollamh, 240 [252, 289
Imrum, a voluntary expedition by sea,
Imramha (" Expeditions by sea"). — ■
[" Historic Tales", No. 12]. 288
IintheacJit an GhUla Deacair, 313,316.
— na Tram Duimhe', 30
Inauguration ceremony of the 0' Dow-
da, 126 [App. 542
Tnbliear Colpa, (now Drogheda), 448
Inbher Dea, (Wicklow), [App. 485
Inbher Domhnainn, (Maldliide Bav),
385, 402
Incantations (Jaedha laidhlbh'), 240
Indai, Neit, son of, [App. 590 n.
Indech, son of De Domnand, a Forno-
rian, 249
Independence, war of, in Erinn, 355
Ingcel, the pirate ; (see Bi ulyhean Da
Derga), [App. 618
Inis Aingin, 58
Tnis an Duin, 20
Inis Bo Finnd', 418
Inis Boh/ on Loch Techet (Loch
O'Gara) [App. 547
Inis Caein, 84
Liis Cathaigh (Scattery Island), 339
Inis Cetldionn; (Enniskillen), 169,
[App. 553
Inis Clothrann, 82
Inis Fail, 388
Inis Faithlenn (Innisfallen), 75
Inis Mac Nerinn, 98
Inis Madoc (in Lake Templeport,
Co. Leitrim), 27
Inistimon ; Cdl Mic Crcichc, near
[App. 630
Inues, Mr., as to Tighernach the An-
nalist, 65, 80, 81
Innocents at Bethlehem, under Geor-
gius, 369
Inscription on Shrine of the Cathach,
331. — on the KeUs Crozier, 338 —
on the Shrine of the Domhnach
Airgid, 323,324
INDKX.
G95
Intoxicalion, (see Mesca), 40G
Insignia of battle, (see Miosach and
Cathach), 336
Insult to St. Colum Cille, 329
Invasions, Book of; Plan of every
ancient, 172 n. — of the O'Clerys,
21, 108 [App. 552 et seq.
Invasion ; Finn's army of Defence
against, 300,315. — the Anglo-Nor-
man, 414 [329
Invisible ; St. Cohim Cille becomes,
Invocations to God and the Saints,
ancient, 357. — from the i^e/(re, 3G5,
[App. GIO.— of St. Aireran, 378-9
[App. 614,— 656
lobath, son of Beathach, ancestor of
the Tuatha De Danann, 244
lona, 330. 361.— "Cold", 400.— Death
of Anilaff the Dane at, 403
//-, 207.— the race of, 207, 226, 363
Irial Glunmar, record of the death of,
[App. 517
Irian genealogical line, the, 207, 263,
363
Irish letters, 324
Irruptions of the sea, etc. (^Toniadh-
ma), of the, 294
Isaac, 369
Isaiah, and the prophets, 368
Iseal Ch'mrain, (Clonmacnoise), 58
Isidore's (Saint) College in Eome,
MSS. in, 156, 353, [App. 644
Island of Senait, or Ballymacmanus,
in Loch Erne, 84, 85, etc. [and see
Lus.-]
Islands, uninhabited (legend), 333
Isu, Bachull; the, 101, 330, 338 [App.
539, 600, 624
Italy ; {Lallia, q.v.) [App. 503, 504,
— expedition of Uf/aine'Mor to, 451
Itf/e, request ; {erail), [App. 633
lih, 163, 207
Ithian genealogical line, the, 207
lubhar Chinntrachta (now Newry),
73, 287
Jacob or James (St.), 369
James or Jacob (St.), and the Bishops
of Jerusalem, 369
Japhet, ancient Irish account of de-
scendants of, 205, 238
Jaundice ; the Buidhe ChonnaiU, a
kind of, [App. 632
Jerico ; Baniab, builder of, 222
Jerome, St., referred to by Aengus,
368. — Ordination of, date of the
[App. 518,_quoted (MS. a.d. 690;)
653
Jerusalem ; Arond, stone-builder of,
222. — Story of the Destruction of,
25,— the Bishops of, 369
Jksds, the Staff of, 101, 330, 338
[App. 539, 600
Jewels, 310
Jews, the; "noble", '-envious", 224
[App. 580 ■
Job, 369
Jocelyn, as to Saint Ei,nhin , 348. —
Life of St.Patrick, 330, 391.— Lives
of SS. Patrick, Brighid, and Colum
CiUe, 340
John the Baptist, St. ; festival of,
plague on, 384, 402, 404, 423
Jonas, 369
Joseph, 369
Judges must have been first Ollcmdis,
239.— the, oi Banhha (Erinn), 219
Judgment of King Diarmaid, 328
Jugglers,482. — ( Taulchinne\ the [App.
618)
Julius Caisar contemp. with Eochuidli
Feklhlech, 53 [App. 523
Justinus, or Justin; '■'■ Saerhhreathach"
Latinized, 293
Karbri, John 0', 323
Keating, Dr.Geoffrey, 21,140,441,442.
— on the Cin Droma Snechta, 14
[App. 497. — Books referred to by,
21.— History, 12, 21.— Works, 140.
— Account of Curoi Mac Dciire,
273. —on the Fiona Eireann, 300.
—on the Saltair of Tara, 12.— De-
fended against ignorant critics, 341
Keatings, Butlers, Burkes, etc., the ;
spoke in Gaedhilic, 6
Kelleher, 211
Kells; DonneU O'Eafferty, Abbot of,
331. — present barony of, granted
to the Feara Cul, 286.— Crozier of
(in possession of Cardinal Wise-
man), 338.— Book of, 23
Kelly, Denis H., Esq., Ill
Kelly, the late Rev. Professor Ma-
thew, 362, 377, 443
Kennedy, 211. — James Marinus,
76 n., 98, 340.— MSS. of [App. 531
Kenry \_Cuenraiglie], 189
Kerry, (Ciarraighe Liiachra,) topo-
graphy of the county, [App. 630
Kevin (see Coemghinn and Caemh-
glnu), 34.0, 367, etc., 370
Kil [see cm and CoiIl~\
KilcuUen Bridge; Ath Seanaigh, near,
420.— Old [App. 492
Kildare (Druim Criaigh), [App. 487.
—the Church of St.Bngid at, 367.
— " Prophecy" of great destruction
of Saxons at, 418
Kilfinan (Co. Limerick) ; Ceann Fea-
bhrat, near, 395, 416
Kilkelly, [see Mac GiUi Kelly], 219
696
INDEX.
Killarney, {Loch Lein), 75. — Bairnech
hill near, Finn at, 305
Killossy, near Naas ( Cill Ausailk),i2 1
Kilmallock, arrest of Desmond at, 4'22
Kilronan, 52, 93. — Annals imi^roperly
called of, 93
King, the, as a Judge ; 43
Kings, the Succession of the; Book
of, 1G2, et seq.
King's Inns Lib.. Dubl. ; MSS. in, 660
Kinsale, Battle of, 396.— Old Head
of{lJun Cearmna), 427, 429
I\invara, Galway, {Ceann Mara);
Church of, 292.— Battle of, 303
Kisses of Aenqus of Brtir/h net Boinn€;
the Four [App. 478
Knights of the Koyal Branch, 14,
270, 274, 279 [App. 6157.- -Order
of Champions, or of [App. 507
Knockany {Cnoc Aine), 316, 317,
486 n.
Knocklong {Cnoc Lu'mge, or Droni
Damhrjliaire), 198,200 [App. 589
n Siege of, 200, 271
Knox family, the (Co. Mayo) ; relic in
possession of, 338
LuhhraUlh Loingseach, 63, 68, 191. —
Tale of, 251, [App. 587 u., 590 n.
'■'■Labhruldh Maen!" ("il/aew speaks!"),
253
Labhraidh, son of Bresal Belach
[App. 494
Lachtaiii, St., 211. — Shrine of the
armof, 211, 337
Lachtna, son of Core, 210
Ladies, accomplishments of, in ancient
Erinn, 279
Laedha laidhihh (incantations), 240
Zaef//(,thecharioteerofC»c/iM/f//;i/?,278
Laeghuire Mac Net/I, 5, 15, 16, 55, 57,
106, 170, 242. — " of the many con-
flicts", 389. — his Druids; '' prophe-
cy" of Patrick by, 397. — Brotlier
of Conall Cearnach, 270. — Bua-
dach, 275 [App. 641.— Xorc, Mon-
arch (B.C. 593), 208, 252, 451
LagJira, (a.q. Ard Laghrami), 656.
Ldldh, (lay), 30
Laidhibh; laedha-, 240
Luighen ; Sliabh Suidh€, (" Mount
Leinster"), [App. 475-8
Laighis Eeta Mor [App. 481, 482 n.
Laighne, the first Fisherman in Erinn,
221
Lairge, Port-; (Waterford), 50
Lamh Lachtain, 337
Lamhraidh^ ; the wood of, 277, [App.
643
Lammas Ere, 346
Lane's Arabian Nights. 298
Lanigau, Eev.Dr., [App. 647, etc. — as
to the Seaiichiis Mor, 17. — his as-
persions on Colgan, 341
Lanfranc's correspondence with Borne
(Book of Lismore), 200
Language, necessity for the study of
the Gaedhelic, 457. — its neglect in
modern times, 6. — of the Firbolgs
and Tuatha De Danann, 245. — of
the poets ; obscure ancient, 384
Laol, 30, — Corca-, 190
Larcom, Maj.-General Sir T. A., 370,
457 n.
Larkin {O'Lorcdin'), 211
Latin (language of tlie Church), 412
Latium, /. e., Letha, [App. 504
Law; regularly defined system of, in
Erinn, 4. — as to succession to chief-
tainship, 227.— of Aflaiiation; St.
Patrick's, 225. — of preference by
seniority; ancient, 261. — Rule as to
primogeniture, 227, — of the Fui-
dhir, 655
Laws, the great compilation of the, 16.
—MSS. of the " Brehon Laws", 201
Lay impropriators of Church pro-
perty, 344
" Le gach boin a boinin", 328
Leabhar Arda Macha, 20
Leabhnr Breac, (J. Mor Duna Doir/h-
re), 31, 180, 190, 352
Leabhar Breac mhic Aedhagabi, 21
Leabhar BuidJie Lecain, 125, 190, 191
Leabhar Bai.dhe Mhic Murchadha, 20
Leabhar Buidhe Moling, 20
Leabhar Buidhe Slaine, 20
Ljeabhar Chluana Sost, 21
Leabhar Dubh Malaga, 20
Leabhar Fada Leithghlinne, 21
Leabhar Feara-Maighe, 25
Leabhar Gabhdla, 21, 86,168 [App.552
Leabhar GhUnne-da- Locha, 22
Leabhar Lecain, 191
Leabhar Mor Duna Doiqhr^, [l.breuc'],
31, 180, 190, 352, 663
Leabhar na h-Uidhre, 14, 15, 21, 30,
172, 182 [App. 570
Leabhar na h-Ua Cliongbhala, 22
Leabhar Ruadh Mhic Aedhagain, 20
Leabthacha Dhiarmada is Grain7ie',3i5
Leacaoin, in Lower Ormond, 352
Leacain Mic Fhirbisigh, 22
Leac Bladhma (Meath), Battle of
(1027), 414
Leac Phatraic (the Eock of Cashel)
[App. 623
Leaf given by fairy bird to the priests,
{Cuilejadh), m^
Leary Alac Neill (see Laeghuire),
91, etc.
INDKX.
697
Leamnachta ; Ard-, (New Milk Hill),
450
Leamokevoge, Co. Tipperary (Liath
Mor Mochaemhog) [App. 485 n.
Lear; (see Llr), [App. r)84 n. — Tale
of the Tragical Fate of the Chil-
dren of, 319. [See Errata.]
Learning in Erinn before St. Patrick,
4, [App. 4G3
Leath Chuinn (Conn's Half), 400
Lee Da Bhearg [App. 477
" Leca Lugdach Lis", [App. 478,
Leca Meic. Nemedh, 246
Lecain (Leabhar 13uidhe), 125, 190,
191
Lecain Mhac Fhirhhistgh, 120, 192
Lecain ; the Book of, 125. — The Yel-
low Book of, 125, 190, 191
Legendary, or Mythical, inventions
introtluced into Historic Tales, .31,
33, 39, 242
Leighinn, the Fear; (Professor of
Classics), 2 n, 9 n, 51 n, 66, [App.
495.
Lein, Loch (Lake of Killarney) ; Inis- -
Faithlenn (Inisfallen) in, 75
Leinster; Book of, 186 [App. 571. —
List of Historic Tales in, 243 [App.
583, 584. — Kings of, entry in Tigh-
ernach as to the, [App. 526. —
Mount (SUabh Suidhe Laighen')
[App. 475-8
Leiustermen, poem on the graves of
heroes killed by, [App. 587 n.
Leiter Maelain, 151, — L. LamhraigM,
(death of Conor Mac Nessa at),277,
[App. 643.
Leithglinn, 45 1. — The Long Book of,21
Leo III., the Emp. ; contemporary
with King Ferghal, son of Mael-
dtiin, 54
Leper, the, coming to Erinn on a flag-
stone, 393 [App. 623
Letavia (see Letha) [App. 502
Letha, the ancient name for Italy,
29 [App. 502, 616
Leth-glass€, Dun; [App. 606. — '^ Dun
da Leaikghlas'' [App. 627
Leth Mogha Nuadhat, 186
Letters before St. Patrick, 4 [App. 463
Letters in ancient Erinn ; O'Flaherty
on [App. 469. — Uncial, 324. — Irish
letters, 324
Leyney, 158. — (I^uiglmg), [App. 546
Liadain, the poetess, 194
Liag, Dun Tri- ; (Duntrileague). 312
Liamhain (Dunlavin) Battle of. [App.
492
Lia Milidh (Warrior's Stone), the; 394
Liath Manchain (Westmeath), 337
Liath Mdr Mochaemhdg (Leamokev-
oge, Co. Tipp.) [App. 485, (647)
Liber Hymnorum, in course of publi-
cation, 406 u
Library, ancient; (of S. Longarad,
6th century), 17.
Liccus [App. 518
Z(/e (the Liffey), 2G9.— (Liffey) the,
put for Leinster, 389. — Cuirrech
(Curragh of Kildare), fair at, 305
Lifeachair, 4y, 72
Life ofAedh Ruadh O'Donnell, 22
Liffey [see Z//e ] ; Fair of the, 305
Lime, mixed with the brain of a con-
quered warrior, 275. — the colour
of, 310
Limerick, 312. — Cathedral of, site of
Palace of Murtoch O'Brien, 401.—
Retreat of the Danes into, (a.d.
941) ; 403
Line', Magh- ; [App. 622
Lintel of carved silver, 310
Lios, 212,.—Lios MaighM, 163
Lips, a cross made on the, 413
Lir [see Lear\ 319, [App. 584 n.
Lisle, Irish MSS. written at, 356
Lis Mdr (Lismore), 374
Lismore; (Book of ), 196. — account
of fragment of it, stolen in 1815,
lately in Cork ; [Note. This frag-
ment has been restored to the ori-
ginal book, at Lismore, since the
delivery of theseLectures]; 196,199.
— fac-simile copy, by Mr. O'Curry,
in E.I.A., 196.— /SV. Mochuda of
Raithin and, 340
Lismoyne (Co. Westmeath) ; Connla
MacEchegan of, 130
Litany of Irish Saints, by Aengus
Ceile'De, 353,380 [App. 615
Litany of the Blessed Virgin, ancient,
357, 380 [App. 615
Lives of the Irish Saints ; O'Clery's,
173, — copies taken (1856),[App.647
Llwyd, as to the Annals of Ulster, 86
Loam, Bishop of Brettan, 349. — K.
of Scotland [App. 590 n
Loch Del Sead, 426
Loch Ce', 52, 81. [See " Annals of ",]
Loch Derg (Upper Shannon), 267
Loch Eirne, 22
Loch Lein (Killarney), 75, 76
Loch Ribh (Loch Bee), 22, 74.--
Ships upon, 400, 405
Loch Rudhrcddh^, 428
Locha n-Echach, Tomhaidhm ; Tale of
the, 294
Lochan, eldest son of Ua Corra, 290
LocJdainn (Fearfesa, son of), 148
Lochlanns, or Danes, 225, 226,
45
698
INDEX.
Lochra, Druid of K. Laeghaire, 397
Loinciseach, Labhraidh ; Tale of, 251
Loisgenn (son of Cas), 209
Lombards, History of the (Book of
Lismore), 25, 200
Lonergan, 211
Long, a ship, 252
Longarad, (verse of Felir^ about), 17,
[App. 501.— his Library (Gth cen-
tury), 17
Longurgan, 211
LoNGASA, or " Voyages" (Historic
Tales, No. 2), 252
Lore of Limerick [App. 492
Lorcan, 210,213
Lorg, Tahhall-; (Tablet Staff), [App.
471
" Lorica", the, of Gildas, 353
Loss of the earlier writings ; causes
of, 5
Lost Books ; of the, 2, 20
Lot, 3G9
Lothra, Bronze bell found at, 337
Louis of France, King ; (assistance
of), 418
Louvain, MSS., 26.— the Irish Fran-
ciscan College at, 356, [App. 644.
Love Stories (Serca), of the ; (" His-
toric Tales"), 294
Luachair [App. 479
Luachra (Rushes) ; Ciarrdighe-, (Ker-
ry), 309. — Teamhair-, 185, 266
[App. 637-8
Liiaidet, 189. [See Errata]
Luain, Ath-, (Athlone),40
Luasad, the first Builder in Erinn,
221
Lucan ; Confey, near,( Ceannfuai{),Ai2 1
Luchat Mael, Druid of K Laeghaire,
397
Luchta, 46, 267.
Lug ; the founder of the Fair of Taill-
tin, 287. — the son of Cian, 249. —
Mac C'eithlenn, or Mac Eithlenn,
or Edlenn, 388, [App. 478, n. ; 621
Lugha, Sliahh- ; (^Ua Gadhra, Lord
of,) [App. 547
Lughaidh, 22, 25. — Firtri, 44
LugliakUi's grave [App. 479
Litghaidh larrdou, 83
Lughaidh Luaighn^, Monarch (a.m.
4024), 261
Lughaidh Meann, 209
Lughaidh O'Clery, 141
Lughaidh Riabh-nderg, 54, [App. 483,
483 n., 508
Lughaidh ; son of Fergus Fairg€ [App.
465. — sou of Ith, 107, 226, -the
blind poet, 257
Lugdach Lis, Leca [App. 478
Lugh Mac Eithlenn {Mac Ceiihhnn),
388 [App. 478, 621
Luighn^ Chonnacht, 147, [App. 546
Luighneach (Brian) 0'Conor,95-6, 183
Luinqe, Cnoc ; (see C'^ioc Z.), 271,etc.
Luighne, 48, 101 [App. 546
Luirg, 96
Lullaby, Fairy, in Petrie's Ancient
Music [App. 505
Ltunans Life of St. Patrick, 349
Lundaine [App. 477
Lunatics, Glen of the; {Ghana na
n-Gealt), 316
Lusk, 259. — Court of Forgall Mon-
ach at, 278
Ltis-3Ihar/h, "Vlain of Herbs" ; (King's
County), 250
Lynch, Eev. John; " Gratianus Lu-
cius", (Cambrensis Eversus), 53,
442, 443 — puzzled by the name
"Attacots", 262
Lynegar, 86
Lyons, the late V. Rev., 156, [App.645
Mac Aedhagain (Mac Aegan, or Mac
Egan), 141, 352 ;— the Red Book of,
21— (Flann), 151
3Iac Aedha, Idij—Sitric, son of, 331
3Iac an Bhaird (Aedh). [Ward], 142.
— Eoghan Ruadh, 330
" Mac" and "O", 214
MacAnally, (see Mac-an-Legha), 660
Mac an Ghobhan, historian of the
O'Kennedys, 219
Mac-an-Leqha, the scribe; MS. of,
A.D. 1473', 659-60
Mac Aonghusa (Magennis), 226
Macbeth ; parallel to passage in Shake-
speare's, 285
Mac Bruaideadha (Mac Brody), 141,
148, 401 [App. 625, 628.— Book
of, 22.— Donnell, 422 [App. 628;
— Historians in Thomond, 219
Mac Carthainn, Saint, 324, 325. —
Presentation of the Domhnach
Airgid to [App. 598
Mac "Carthy, D. F. (Poem on St.
Brenda7i), 289
Mac Carthys, the, 158, 209, 211, 214,
226. — junior to the O'Sullivans,
326.—(Cormac and Tadhg), 211,—
O'Duinins historians of the, 219
Mac Casac, W. ; Bp. of Ardagh, 100
Mac C'echt,smith of St.Patrick,337,447
Mac Cochlain, 210. — Turloch, Lord
of Delvin, 130, 164, 210 [App. 550
3Iac Coise the Poet ; Tale of, and the
Fairy Woman [App. 532
Mac Con, 43, 90, 187, 386
Mac CongUnne', the Poet, 353
Mac Conmidhe, 100
INDEX.
699
Mac Conn -na- m Bocht ; Gilla - na -
naemh, 138
Mac Conrach ; EUm, 230, 264
Mac Cormack, 210
Mac Costelloe [App. 548
Mac Craith, John, the son of Rory ;
author of the History of the Wars
of Thomond, 233
Maccreen (see Inis^Mac Nerinn), 98
" Maccuboin Magus" ; Miliuc, [App.
608
Mac Creick^, S. ; Life, [App. 630, 647
3fac Ciiill, 447
MacCurtin (Andrew), 195, 234, 339
Mac Curtins, historians in Thomond,
219
Mac Dermot's rock, in Loch CV, 96
Mac Diarmata ; Brian, 95 [App. 534.
— of the clann Maolruanaidh, 219,
— Gall [App. 548
Mac Donnchaklh (Mac Donagh),
(of the claun Maolriianaid/i), 219
[App. 547
Mac JDonnells of Antrim, 194. — race
of Colla Uais; clann Firbis, histo-
rians, 219.— the, of Scotland, 125
Mac Echagain, 130
Mac Egan (see Mac Aedhagain), 21
Mac Enery, 211
Mac Ere, 88
" 3Iaceria"=Caiseal, ({. e., the city
of), 654
Mac Firbis (see Fh bisigh, Forbes), 2 1 9
Mac Firbis; Duald, 120, 121 his
death, 122. — his family, 125. — his
descent from the last jiagan I^ng,
Datfii, 125. — on stone buildings in
Erinn, 223.— on the Red Pillar
Stone of Dathi, 288 Tablets in
possession of [App. 470. — James ;
the "Dumb Book" of, 125. — liis
works, 123, 215
Mac Flanchadha i^Clanchy), 210
Mac Gabhrdin, Aedan ; K. of Scot-
land (a.d. 570); 414, 417
Mac Geoghegan; the Abbe, 441, 422
Mac Gilla Duibh, 103
Mac Gilli Kelly, historian of O'Fla-
herty, 219
Mac Gilla Patrick, Donnell, 421
Mac Gorman, 237; — Finn (Bishop of
Kildare, ob. a.d. 1160; wrote the
" Book of Leinster"), 186
Mac Grady, 74 [App. 529
Mac Graths, the (in Clare), 233,—
MUer Mac Grath, 233
Mac Greine', 447
Mac Guire (see Mac Uidkir), 419. —
Cathal; Death of [App. 533.—
Martyrology of, 353
Macha, Battle of [App. 622
Macha, inqhen Aedha Ruaidh ; Tale
of the Echtra, 283 [App. 589 n.
Macha Mongruadh, 71, [App. 521, 528
— Wife of Cninn [App. 586 n.
Machairc Choiiiiacht [App. 564
Machaire, Mac Costelloe [App. 548
Mac Hugh {Mac Aedha), 194
Mac Iniry, 211
Mac Kennedy, 77
Mackintosh (Sir James) on the Annals
of the Four Masters, 153
Mac Liag, death of, 361, — his poem
on the Firbolg colonies, 241. — GUI a
(Gelasius), Primate of Armagh, 361
Mac Lonain, Flann; poem by, [App.
467
Mac Maghratsa, Annals of Senait ;
(called Annals of Ulster), 83, [App.
533
Mac Mahon, Ti.— Colla [Ajip. .557.
— the, of Clare, 211. — senior to the
O'Briens, 226
Mac MalUn (Clarus) 109
Mac Maonaigh, 102
Mac Murach, 141— the first named,
214
Mac Murchadha.,Diarmaid, (Derniot
Mac Murroch), 187, 214, 421 [App.
571. — "the dark demon", 395. —
the Yellow Book of, 20
Mac Namaras, 210, 214, 236.— of
Ranna ; Tadhg, line of, 234
Mac Niadh, 96
Mac Nia, son of Oenna ; ancient
Poem by [App. 505
3Iac Niss^, 17
Mac Oireachtaigh, {Flami), 102
Mac Pherson's Ossian, 300, 304
Mac Rannall, the race of, 208
Mac Renalds, 194
3/</c7?oM,34
" Mack Shayne", Sir Gerald ; sworn
on the Bachall Isu, (a.d. 1529),
App. 604
Mactenus, 88
Mac Uidhir, Tanaidhe ; (Maguire), 4 1 9
Mac UilUam, Fergal, 32 [App. 504
Macutenius on prophecy of St. Pa-
trick's coming, 390, 397
Madden, Sir Frederic, 345
Madoc, Ints ; Lake of Templeport,
Co. Leitrim, 27
Maedhdg (St.), 107.-Shrine of, 337
Maen Ollamh, son of Ailill Ain^, 252
Maeil Domhnainn (" Moll Downey")
[App. 485
Maein, Magh [App. 481
Maen, 452
Mael, the Druid, 388.
45 B
700
INDEX.
Mael, Luchat, 397
Maelchonaire, 145
Maeldithri, 423
Maelduin, 191. — Fergal, son of, 420.
— Fergus, son of, 389. — Tale of the
Navigation of, 289
Afrie/isa Mac Maelcohdm, 82
Maelfathartaiqh Mac Ronain ; Tale of
the Tragedy of, 277 [App. 588 n.
Maelmaire Ua Gormain, 353, 361,
[App. 609
Maelmdr, King of the Feara CuJ, 286
Maclmura, verse of, quoted by Tigh-
ernach, 64 [App. 524, — of Otlina,
42,53
Maelmuir^, ]SS,l82.—MacCraith, 233
Mael na mbo ; Uiarmait, son of, 461
Maelpatrick, 78
Maelruain (St.) of Tamhlacht, 364,
375 ; [and see 3Iaol, Maolruain,
Maolriiainair/h, etc.]
Maeheachlahm Mdr, 10, 22, 56, 57,
130. — of Corconiroe, 346. — son of
DomhnaU, 403.— O'Mulvany, 82.
Maelsuthainn O'Cearbhuill, 76 [App.
529, 531 ;— 653-4
Maeltamhlachta, 423. — "Prophecy" of
[App. 628
Magach, M.— Cet Mac-, 275, [App.
641, — the sons of [App. 591 n.
Magenis {Mac Aonghusa), 82, 226 —
of Down, of the Ulidian or Irian
race, 207
MaGeoghegan, Connla, 130, 164
" Maggot,the Bloody"; ( Crom Cruach'),
[App. 631-2 (and see 103, 538)
Magh Ai, 35, 58
Magh Adftair,4:0l
Magh Ailbhe; Cormac Mac CuUinan,
killed at Battle of, 420
Magh an Chairthi (in Scotland), 287
3Iagh Bile (MoYille), 287
Magh BoJg, murder of Fiacha at,
(a.d. 56), 264
3Iagh Breagain (in Tipperary) [App.
593
Magh Breaqh (Bregia), 49, 308
Magh Cru, (the " bloody plain"), 263
Magh da Gheis^ (Plain of the Two
Swans), 302
Magh Drech (see Drech-Mhagh)
[App. 621
Magh-Eo, (Mayo), 101
Magh Gar ad, 17
Magh Inis, 70 [App. 527 _
Magh Tuaisceirt (see Raith Muigh(^)
[App. 631 n.
Magh Learn, Battle of, 243, 282
3Iagh Lin^ [App. 621
Magh Luirg, 96 [App. 534
Maglt Mae'in, (Co. Wexford), [App.
481-2
lilagh Mucruimh^, 43, 90
Magh n-Ealta (near Dublin), 407
Magh Nia, now Magh Tinreadh, 245
Magh Rath, 48, 50, 191, 243, 418.—
O'Donovan's Edition of Battle of
50, 243
Maqh Rein (Co;* Leitrim), 244. —
Fidhnacha, 398
Magh Slecht, 101 [App. 536
ISlagh Tuathat, 17
Magh Tuireadh (Moytura), 125, 245, C,
— O'Flinn's Poom on the First
Battle of, 241. — Colum CUle'sYoem. '•-.^
concerning, 242. — Second Battle of, /
247 "-7
Magh Uladh [App. 631 n. (^
Magical waves of the Tiiaiha De
Danann, 447
Magical skill of the Titatha D€
Danann, 250
Magog, son of Japhet; the Gaedhil
descended from, 14, 205
jNfagonus, Sanctus [App. 608
Ma Gradoigh, Augiistin ; the conti-
nuator of Tighemach, 74 [App. 529
Maguire, 73.—" Festologj'-of Cathal,26.
—(Brian Roe), 1 69 [App. 552
Magus ; Simon, 272, 402, 403,
Magus ; Miliuc Maccuboin, [App. 608
Mahon, 211 — son of Kennedy {Math-
ghamhain Mac Cinneidigh), 403
Maidens killed at Tara by Dunlaim)
[App, 466
Maighe', Fas [App. 486
Maighen, Ferta [App. 477, 478
Maigh Rein; (see Con7naicne'), 219
Maighne, Lis, 163
Main^, Lbh, (see O'Kelly), 219.— il/«c
Durthacht; finding of the brooch
of, 268. — son of Gressach, physi-
cian, 221. — son of Nia U Naoi-ghia-
lach, 257. — Niall ; Brecan, son of
[App. 587 n.— the Ui, 312
Mainister Eimhin (MoDasterevan),132,
335, 351, 363,
Mainistrech, 13,53, 75.
Maire'da, Eochaidh Mac; son of the
K. of Fermoy, 294
Maisten, Mullach [App. 486
]\fdl; {Clin Mail) [App. 480 n.
Malachy (^Maelsheachlainn'), 17; — St,
Bernard's Life of, cited [App. 602
Malahide Bay, {Inbher Domhnainn),
385, 402
Malt, vat of juice of (Ale), 311
Man, the Isle of (Falga) [App.588 n.
Manchan, St. [App. 607, 630
Shrine of, 337
INDEX.
701
Mandar, the Daue, 410 [App. 62G
Manister, Co. Limerick {Oenack CIo-
chair), 305
Mantles of blue, 310
Mantan, 217
Manuscript ; nobles ransomed for a, fi.
Manuscripts; necessity to the histo-
i-ian of study of our, 441. — (Irish),
written in Belgium, 26, 356. — at St.
Isidore's, Kome, 26, 353, [App. 644.
— in British Museum, 25. — Visit to,
in 1849, 345.— Miscellaneous, iu Li-
brary of E.I.A., 24, 200.— in Li-
brary of Trin. Coll. Dublin, 23.— in
King's Inns, Dubl., 660. — in Bel-
gium, 26, [App. 644. — in Germany
(described by Zeuss), 27. — Of the
early Ecclesiastical, 339, 357
Manuscripts Quoted : —
R.I.A. ; Leabhar na h-Uidhr^, 14,
15, 30, 138, 182, 183, 184, 260,
282, 391, 570, 571, 584 n., 585 n.,
587 n., 618
R.I.A. ; Leabhar Mdr Diitia Doiglvr€
(or '■'■Leabhar Breac"), 17, 31,
32 n., 190, 339, 352, 363, 365,
366, 368, 370, 372, 380, 381, 408,
424, 426, 429, 501, 504, 610, 611,
615, 630, 632, 634
E.LA.; Book of BaUymote, 9, 11,
13, 44, 49 n., 55, 188, 212, 215,
306, 359, 492 n., 494 n., 496, 497,
499, 500, 501, 502, 503, 505, 'oO'J,
510, 513, 520-1, 522, 594
R.I.A. ; Book of Lecain, 23. 54, 55,
69, 125, 126, 130, 192, 212, 215,
240, 241, 242, 302, 306, 359, 462,
488 u., 497, 501, 522, 542, 587 n.,
589 n. 591 n. 594
R.I.A. (CI. 23. 5), O'Clery's Leabhar
Gabhala, 57, 168, 169, 173, 516
R.I.A. (CI. 23. 6), Annals of Loch
Ce, 111 [Connacht, 106
R.I.A. (CI. 25. 4; 25. 5), Annals of
R.I.A. (CI. 33. 4), Cucoigchrice
O'Clery's copy of Leabhar Gab-
hala, 173
R.I.A. (CI. 40. 4), O'Clery's Eeun
Rioghraidhe, 163, 164, 165, 548,
550 551
R.I.a! (CI. 43. 6), 335, 600
R.I.A. (H. & S. 1. 1), 587 n., 591 n.
R.LA. (H. & S. 1. 57), 423, 629
R.LA. (H. & S. 1. 75), 409
R.I.A. (H. & S. 1. 175), 406,407,626,
R.LA. (H. & S. 2. li;, 417, 628
R.I.A. (H. & S. 2. 52), O'DonneU's
Life of St. Colum CilK 112, 330
339, 410, 540
MSS. Quoted, (continued) :
R.LA. (H. & S. 3. 54), 398-9, 625
R.I.A. (H. & S. 3. 59), 413, 414,
416, 417, 627, 628
R.I.A. (H. & S. No. 74), Ancient
Glossary, 32 n., 504
R.I.A. (H. & S. No. 149), 307
R.LA. (II. & S. No. 205), 262, 591 n.
R.I.A., Copy of Mac Firbis' Book
of Genealogies, etc., 121, 215, 216,
359, 541, 572
R.LA. (Copy of). Book of Lismore,
196, 307, 308, 339, 340, 589 n.,
593 n. 594
R.I.A. Cttco(>c^/-jc^ O'Clery's MSS.
in ; 110, 178 ;— his Will (MS. 34.
4), 178, 560; [and see 179, 562]
E.I.A., Fragment of Wars of Tho-
mond, 237
R.I.A., Vellum MS. (Life of St.
Caillin, etc.), 340
R.I.A., Paper MS. of the Sluaghed
Dathi, 288
R.I.A., Paper MS. (Life of St.
Brigit), 339
T.C.D., Various MSS. in (E. 3. 5 ;
H. 2.7; H. 2. 15; H. 2. 17; H. 3.
3;H. 3. 17; H. 3. 18; H. 4, 22),
192
T.C.D., Book of Armagh, 343, 344,
372, 373, 397, 607, 608, 612
T.C.D. (CI. E., 3, 5), Book otAcaill.
47, 49 n, 511, 512
T.C.D. (CI E., 3, 20), Annals of
Ulster, 84, 533
T.C D. (CI. E., 4, 2), Liber Hym-
norum, 343, 406 n., 503, 606
T.C.D. (CI. F., 3, 19), (Trans, of).
Annals of Clonmacnoise. 13u,
135
T.C.D. (CI. H. 1. 1 ; H. 1. 2), An-
nals of Connacht. 104, 115, 539,
540
T.C.D. (CI. H., 1. 8), Annals of
Ulster. 84, 85, 90; (Tighernach,
507) (517) ; 533, 534
T.C.D. (CI. H. 1. 10), 400, 409,
410, 423, 625, 626, 627, 629
T.C.D. (CI. H. 1. 11), 394, 624
T.C.D. (CI. H. 1. 12), O'Clery's
Leabhar Gabhala, 168, 169, 173,
552 5."'4
T.C.D. (CI. H. 1. 15), 422, 629
T.C.D. (CI. H. 1. 18), Chronicum
Scotorum. 58, 120, 125, 128-9,
507, 517; (Tighernach, 519, 599) ;
542, 543.
T.C.D. (CI. H. 1. 19), Annals of
Loch Ce. 94, 95, 101, 115, 534,
536, 604
702
INDEX.
MSS. Quoted, (coutiuued):
T.C.D. (CI. H. 2. 15), Mac Fir-
bis Glossaries. 123, 4(32
T.C.D. (CI. H. 2. 16), Leahhar
Buidhe Lecain. 11, 13, 58, 125,
126, 190, 260, 286, 329, 334, 336,
378-9, 380, 381, 420, 428, 452,
461, 469, 496, 503, 517, 584 n.,
685 n., 586 n., 587 n., 599, 600,
614, 629
T.C.D. (CI. H. 2. 17), 587 [n.
(161)1 590 [n. (209)]
T.C.D. (CI., H. 2. 18.), Book of Leiu-
ster. 9, 13, 14, 15, 16 n, 20, 29, 31,
69, 70, 186, 187, 233, 243, 271,
274, 277, 283, 294, 301, 302, 303,
334, 359, 381,383, 389, 399, 400,
405, 412, 452,467, 469, 476, 480,
482, 486 n. 494, 498, 501, 526,
683, 584, 585 n, 687 n, 688 n,
689 n, 690 n, 592 n, 594, 616, 622,
625, 627, 636.
T.C.D. (CI. H. 3. 3) IDinnsean-
chus'], 10.
T.C.D. (CI. H. 3. 17), 392, 485 n.,
602, 503, 507, 585 n, 587 n ,
588 n., 622
T.C.D. (CI. H. 3. 18), 32 n., 51,
260, 264, 347, 397, 461, 467, 468,
472, 478, 604, 512 n.,513, 584 ri.,
590 n., 615, 617
T.C.D. (CI. H. 4. 22), 462, 495,
504, 686 n,
T.C.D. (CI. H. 5. 30), Mac Firbis
Law Glossary. 9, 494
T CD. (CI. H. 1. 18.), Mac Curtin's
Copy of the Wars of Thomond,2 34
T.C.D. (Copy of) O'Clery's Beim
RioghraidM, 167
Annals of Innisfallen, 58, 60
Annals of the Four Masters, 16 n ,
82, 96, 138, 146, 147, 157, 178,
183, 184, 335,401, 403, 404, 413,
414, 417, 451, 452, 453, 454, 477-
8 n., 482 n.,484 n., 487 n., 509 n.,
535,643, 544, 546, 570, 571, 606,
628
Annals of Tighernach, 66, 57, 64,
65, 67, 68, 74, 90, 334, 507, 616,
517, 624, 626, 529, 604, 636
Book of Fermoy, 293, 294, 503, 693
Brussels (Burg. Lib.), MSS. in:
173, 232, 340, 361-2, 362, 374,
423, 593, 609, 613, 616, 629
Keating's History : 12, 13, 14, 15,
21, 487 n., 497, 498, 501, 642-3.
King's Inns Lib. (Dubl.) ; MSS. in,
660
"Liber Flavus Fergusiorum" : 76,
340, 631
MSS. QooTED, (continued):
London (Brit. Mus.), MSS. there,
340
London (Brit.Mus.); (Ayscotigh,49
—4795), Annals of Ulster. 84, 89
London (Brit. Mus.); (Clarendon,
36) : Annals of Ulster, 83, 89
London (Brit.Mus.) ; (Egerton, 88),
386, 584 n., 587 n., 617
London (Brit. Mus.); (Egerton,
93) : Tripartite Life. 104 n., 325,
339, 344, 345-6, 347, 350, 385,
386, 397, 488 n, 605, 538, 598, 601,
606, 608, 609, 617, 625
London (Brit. Mus.); (Egerton,
185). 360, 609
London (Brit. Mus.) ; (Harl. 6280).
271, 387, 399, 419, 467, 479 n ,
486 n., 686 n., 588 n., 618
London (Brit. Mus.) ; MS. by Gil-
lariabhach O'Clery. 282
London (Brit. Mus.), Fragment of
Annals of Loch Ce, 95, 534, 535
London (Lambeth Lib,); (Carew
MS. No. 607). 434, 635
Mason, Mr. Monck; vellum MS. of.
479 n., [App. 643.
O'Clery's Glossary; (Copy, 1728),
175, 176, 557, 658
O'Clery ; (Copy of) Poems of Cu-
coigchrice, 179
O'Conor Bonn; MS. in possession
of the. 558 n.
Oxford (Bodl. Lib.); Anuals of
Inisfalleu. 80
Osford (Bodl. Lib.); (Cotton, A.
XXV.). 81, 105, 106, 108, 109,
111 539 640
Oxford (Bodl. Lib.); (Laud, 488),
624
Oxford (Bodl.Lib.) ; (Laud, 610). 20
Oxford (Bodl Lib.) ; (Rawl, 487).
307, 315
Oxford (Bodl. Lib.) ; (Rawl., 489),
Annals of Ulster. 83, 86
Rome ; MSS. at St. Isidore's in,
156, 238, 307, [App. 644.
Stowe MSS., No. 3. 114, 641
" Wars of the Danes", Poem in.
479 n.
Maodhoq, Saint, of Fearna Mhor
(Ferns) ; Life of, 340
MaoUchatha, Rath; stone work in, 223
Maoilin 6g Mac JBruaideadha, (Mac
Brody); 22, 148, 401
Maol, druid of Conn ; [App. 620
Maolchonair^ (see JBaile Ui M.), 21,
— Clann [App. 663
Maolmura, 103 (and see Maelmair^)
IXDKX.
70J
Maolruanaidh, [Mulroony], 96, 97.
— Claim, [the Mac Dermots, Mac
Donoghs, etc.], O'Duigenaus his-
torians of, 219
Maon, (father of Morann), 218
Maranach ; Godfrey, 404 [see Mear.']
Marhhan, 31
Marco Polo, Travels of (Book of Lis-
more), 25, 200
Marianus Gorman ; Martyrology of,
174, 353, 361 [App. 609
Mark, and the Bishops of Alexan-
dria, 307
Martin, John ; (donation to the Dic-
tionary Committee), 458
Martin, St., 369,370
Martyr, ConcJwbhar Mac Nessa ac-
counted the first in Erinn, 277
Martyrologies ; 339 et seq., 353, 357,
360 et seq.— of Donegal (Skele-
ton),173; (Perfect), [O'CleryMS.],
174. — of 7\tmhhicht, 174
Mary's Abbey, St., Dublin (Crozier
of), 338
IMary, the Blessed Virgin, 369. —
iVncient Litany of the B.V., 357,
380 [App. 615.— age of the B.V.
[App. 509.— Burning of miracu-
lous image of [Ai^iJ. 604
Mason ; Collection of Mr. Monck, 25
]\Iass, form of the ; temp. St. Patrick,
377 [App. 613. — Ancient ti'act on
the Ceremonies of the, 357, 376
[App. 613. — Canon as to absence
from ]\Iass on Sunday, 3£2_
Masses for the Saints, 361
3Iasi in [App. ^^ " --pt *.- 4' / ■''
Masters, Annals of the Four, 140,'''
155 [App. 543 et seq.
]\Iaterials of Irish History, miscel-
laneous, 456
MathgJiamhain (Mahon), 210. — Mac
Cinne'idigh, 403. — 0' Conckobhair,
[App. 547
Maurice, a Danish chief, 403
Maximus Tyrius [App. 463
May Day, festival of (BdltaiM), 286
Mc Ere, 88
Meadhbh, or Medhbh ; (Meave, or
Mab) ; 33, [App. 515, etc.— Tale of
the Courtship of Queen, 282. —
Married to Conchobhar Mac Nessa,
[App. 636. — and the Cave of
Cruachain, Tale of [App. 532.—
Daughter of Conan ; Poem by,
[App. 480.
Meann, 72
Mearanack, [see Maraunch'], 404.
Modes; Tract on the Kings of the,
83.
Medical Arts of the Tuatha De Du-
nann, 250
Mediterranean, the, 402, 426, 427.—
Uodine Mdr's rule, as far as to the,
451
Mcisnekh [App, 489, 490
MeVs Life of St. Patrick, 349
Melaghhn 0']\lulvany, 82
Melbourne ; St. Patrick's Society of,
458
Melv, Ui-; Koman pilgrims settled in,
380, (see Iiuele), [App. 615
Mell [App. 488
Menu; Aedh,i20
Afesca (Intoxication), of St. Colum
Cille, 406
Mesca Uhtdh ; Historic Tale of the,
185 [App. 637
Meschoin Muaid [App. 478
Mesdeadad, brother of Conall Ccar-
nach, 270
Mesgedhra, King of Leinster; At-
thirne's visit to, 268, 275. — his
brain (^Conall Cearnacli's trophy),
275 [App. 593, 640
Mesroeda ; (Mac Datho), [App. 486
Metals, worker in; Creidne, King
Nuada's, 247 [365
Metre of Chain- Verse (Conac/Janw),
Meyler, 432— Mac Grath, 233
il//oc/;, physician, 221
Mias Tiglierna'm, the ; (Paten of St.
Tighernati), 338
Miatlilach, the river; (Co. Cork), 434
[App. 635
Michael the Archangel ; Church de-
■ dicated to, 364
''Midhhiachra, Slighe-, the, 453
Mid-Eriuu ; the kingdom of, 266
Midhclniarta, (the Teach), 187
Midir [App. 503
Milan; the Bobbie MS. in the Am-
brosian Library at, 27
Ml/bheml, Cearmna-, 447
Mdchu, [App. 538.— St. Patrick,
swineherd of, 394
Milco ; Bishop Guasactus, son of, 349
MUidh, Mile, or MUead/i, or Milesius,
147,[App.592 n.— Genealogy of,215
Milesian Colony ; History of the, 440
Milesian Genealogies, the, 206
Miler MacGrath, 233
Miley, Rev. J., translation of ancient
Irish Sermon, published by, 28 n.
MiUtary Expeditions (Sluaigheadha') ,-
[" Historic Tales" of,] 284
MiUtary Schools in Scotland, 279
Mdiuc (Maccuboin Magus) [App. 608
Milk Hill, New-, {ArdLeamhnachta'),
450
704
INDEX.
Miorh, son of Dianceckt, physician,
250. [See 3Iiack.]
Miosach ; Of the, 336, [App. 599
Miracles of St. Patrick [App. 609
Misacli., or Miosach ; the, 336 [App.
599
Miscellaneous materials of Irish His-
tory, 456
il/is, Sliabh, (in Kerry), 448. — (in
Antrim), 394
Mochaemhog, St. [App. 485,617
Mocholmog (St.); poem on the Ua
Corras, 293 [App 593
Mochua, St , of Balla (Co. Mayo), 197.
—Life of, 340
Mochia, Saint, 18, 88, [App. 606.—
Book of, (6th century) 19.— Her-
mitage of, 344.
Mochuda {Carihach\ the Eule of St.
374. — St., of Raithin and Lismore,
Life of, 340
Mocteus (5th centiury), 88
Mo(jh Corb, 207
Moffk Nuadhat, 186
Mogh Rukh, 200.— Archdruid of
Erinn, 272, 402 [see Duggan ; and
Cronin].
Mogue, St. (see Maodhog, St.) 340
Moinin (see Bade an Mhoiniii)^ 346
[App. 607
Mou*a (Magh Rath) ; Battle of, Tale
of the, 243, 418
Molagu; the Black Book of Saint, 20
Mohdse, Saint, 330.— Life of, 340 —
Shrine of, 336
Muling, St.; Bishop of Ferns, 23.—
of ^Teach MoUinj, (St. MulUns,
Co. Carlow), 302, 336. — Church
founded at Ros Broc by, 392. —
EvangeUstariura of, 23. — Inter-
cession as to Boromean Tribute,
231. — "Prophecies'' of, 412 [App.
628. — Poem on St. John's festival,
427 [App. 633.— Life of, 340, [App.
647.— the Yellow Book of, 20.— the
Bail^MhoUr)g,'i20 [App. 627
MoUng, Teach-; (now St. MuUins),
302
" Moll Downey", (Maeil Domhnainn),
[App. 4S5
Molyueaux; the Cathach found in
Belgium by Mrs., 331
Mom€ra ; Tochnarc, CHistoric Tale of
the), 243, 282
Monach ; Cill-, 344 [App. 606
Monasterboice, 53
Monasterevan, from Saint Eimhin,
335, 351. — Camp of Aedh Oirnidh€
near, 364,
Monastery of Clonmacnoise, 58, etc
(see Clonmacnoise). --of Inisfallen,
76
Monastic Rules (of Discipline), 357,
373
Mongan and Duhhlacha, [App 592,
and n.
Mongan, son of Fiachna [App. 589 n.
Monks ; Rule of the Gray, 375
Monsell, Rt Hon.W.j Shrine belong-
ing to, 335
Monster in the Cave of Dunmore
(Dearc Ferna), [App. 587 n.
Moore, Thomas, 441. — his qualifica-
tions, 44 1 . — his mistaken criticism
on early Irish history, and his dis-
covery of his error, 154
Morann macMuein, (orMaoin'), 46,218
Moreton, Earl of, grant by, confirmed
on the Bachull Isu, (1329), [App.
604
Morlath, daughter of the K. of West
Munster, (b.c. 540), 251, 253
Mormael, King of the Feara Cid, 286
Morna; Co)ian Mac, S17
Morning Star, the river [App. 485
Mossaid, Magh, [App. 485
Mosomdg, 134
Motto of the O'Donnells, 330
Mount Leinster, (Sliabh Suidh^ Lai-
ghen), [App. 475-8.
Moville {Magh Bile), 287
Moy, the river (Muaidh), 125, 284,
418,
Moycashel, Arduurchar in [App. 593
Moytura, 24 ; [see Magh Tidreadh']
Muaidh, the river (Moy), 125, 284,
418, — Ibh Fiachruch Muaidh;
Clann Firbis historians of the, 219
Mucruimhe, {Magh) 188, 209.— Battle
of, 43, 386, 389 [App. 586 n.
Mughna, {Bealach), 132
Midghe, Raith-, (Kathmoy or Rath-
mo) ; [App. 631 n.
Muighndiedhdin; [see Eochaidh'], 14,
etc.
Main, 71, [App. 528
Muineaman, 83
Muintir Duibhghenainn, 22, 23
Muindr Mhaoilmhordha, 103
Midntir Mhaodchonaire, 22
Midrchad mac Maileduin, Death of, 27
Midrcheartach Mac Erca, 89, 191
[App. 599.— Note on [App. 687
Muircheartach, son of Maelseachlainn,
413
Midrcheartach Ua Briain, 55, 211,
400, 405
Midredha, Magh, (in Bregia), 451
Midreadhach. 72, 195
Muireadhnch Mac Carthaigh, 214
INDEX.
705
Midredhach, son of Diannaid, ances-
tor of St. Eimhin, 351
Mniredach, son of Fiacfia, 386
Muireadkaigh, the Siol-; (Murray),
57, 83, 2i9
Midrgcn, son of Senchan, 8
Muir ii-Ichf, the ; (Ictian Sea), -toi
[App. 592 n. 605
Muirinn, the daughter of Derg, 308
[App. 597
Aluirtheimne [App. 475. — Brisleach
MJwr Mhaif/he-, [App. 587.— Tale
of the Battle of, 319
Mulconry ; Book of Bally, 2 1
MuUach Maisten ; [App. 486
MuUach Ruaidhe, the palace of King
Dathi's Queen, 284
Mullens, Saint; {Tigh Moling; Co.
Carlow), 231
Mulroony, (Maolruanaidh) ; 96, 219.
Mulvany ; Melachlin O', 82
21iunhain, (Munster), 209. — Assem-
bly under Bishop Ihar in, [App.
616.— the Book of, 237
Munca, Bishoii at Donochmore, 349
Munchiu's, St.; (Cill Manchin; Li-
merick), App. 630
Munster, the Book of, 237 [and see
Mumhahi]
Mura, Fathan-, (Fothadh na Ca-
no'me, of ; a.d. 800), 419
Murchadh Finn 0' FergJiaiU , 102
Mttrchadh O'Conor, 395
Murchadh, son of Midredhach, ances-
tor of St. Eimhin, 351
Muiredhach Midnderg, 171
Murray, John (1728); MS. of O'Cle-
ry's Glossary by [App. 557
Murray (the Siol Midreadhaigk), 57,
83, 219
Muscrigians, the; progress of into
Magh Bregain [App. 593
Museum of the Royal Irish Academy,
321, etc.
Music, the Ollamhs of ; qualifications
of, 255
Museum ; visit to the British, in 1849,
345
Musicians, 2, 255
IMusic ; Petrie's Ancient (Fairy Lul-
laby in), [App. 505. — of women, 334
Mythical, or legendary, inventions in
ancient Historic Tales, 38, 39, 242
IMythology ; Fairy, [App. 504
Naas, founded by Liigh Mac Eith-
lenn [App. 478. — Killossy {Cill Au-
saille) near, 421. — Palace of, 231.
— residence of Mesgedkra, K. of all
Lsinster, 268, 270
NadJraecKs stone-builder, Goll, 222
Nae, the son of Cas, 209
JVaemhan, 650
Naenbal, son of Fenias Farsaidk, 226
Nagle, Sir Richard; the late, 131
Names, family ; first introduced by
Brian Boroimhe, 214. — the Ol-
lamhs bound to know the etymolo-
gies of, 240
Naomhsheanchus Naomh Ins€ Fail,
163
Narrow Water {Caeluisg^'), 235
Naoisi, 275
Naffraech, Aengus, son of [App. 483,
586
National Independence, loss of, 6. —
Literature encouraged by the na-
tive chiefs even after it, 6-7
Natsluagh, SOU of Caelbad,3G'd [App.
610
Navan (the Book of the Ua Chongh-
bhail, or of), 20
Neagh, Loch (Loch n-Echach) [App.
591 n. — Historic Tale of the Burst-
ing forth of, 294
Neamnainn ; Gael Ua-, 308 [App. 594
Necklace of red gold, 426
Nechtain; Dun, [App, 584 n.
Necromancy of children of Cailitin
[App. 587 n.
Needlework ; (the lady Eimer), 279
Neglect of antiquarian inquiry in
Ireland, 1-2
Neidhe, son of Adhna, 45, 176, 218,
383 [App. 616
Neid, Ui- ; Cam, (Co. Cork), 422
Neill, Clanna ; the, 336
Neimthenn, the judgments of Doet of,
46
Neit, son of Indai [App. 590 n.
Nemhidh, 171, 226, — his physicians,
221, 225.— Sons of, at first battle of
Magh Tuireadh, 246.— Tale of the
Immigration of, 295. — his Colony,
referred to by Finntan, 241
Nemedians, ancestors of the Tuatha
De JJanaiui, 244
Nemsenchaidh, 381 [App. 615
Nennius, 53. — Irish Version of [Ed.
Ir. Archffiol. Soc), 450 [App 590
n. — Letha named by, [App. 502. —
Translation of, 190
Nenyita, Sidh- ; (the fairy mansion),
[App. 591 n.
Nera [App. 589 n.
Nerin, Inis Mac, (in Loch C^), 93
Nero, conduct of the village, in Ire-
land, 355
^^ Nes" ; Cormac's Glossary on the
word, 2.jO
Nessa, mother of Conor, 274 [App.
706
INDEX'.
636 ; [and see Conchohhar Mac
Nessa'\
New-Milk Hill, {Ard Leamhnachhi),
450
NeAvry Water, {Glenn Ric)h€), 72. —
{lubliar Chinntragha), 287
Nia Mdr, 44
Niull, [and see Nigellus, App. 602],
— the oldest charter of the land of,
423
Mall Frasach, Tale of [App. 531
Niall Garbh O'Donnell, 407
Niall Glun-dubh, 387
Niall ^^ Nnoi-ghiallach" (" of the Nine
Hostages";,284, 328, 360, 386, 454.
— the race of, 208. — Genealogy of
[App. 499. — his death, 454. — his
sons [App. 631. — his expedition to
the Ictian Sea [App. 592 n.
Niagh, Magh; now Magh Tuireadh,
245
Nicholson on the Annals of Loch C^,
96
Nigellus (Niall), intruding prelate at
Armagh (a.d. 1134) [App. 602
Nineveh, 369, 424
Niimie, 8
Niul, son oiFenias Farsaidh, 226
Noah ; all Genealogies made to begin
from, 215. — and the elders, 368
Noble Saints of Erinn, the, 369
'■'■NochrothaigK', Fedlim ; (daughter of
K. Conchohhar Mac Nessa), 49
[App. 514
Nore, the river ; (ii-Eoir), 364
Norman invasion, the, 414
Normans, 225, 226. — in Erinn, 422. —
Anglo-, (called Saxons), 387. —
adoption of Irish language, etc.,
by the, 6. — Settlers ; Tales before
the time of the Norman, 299
Nos ; {Cluan Mic Nois), 8
Notal, 381, [App. 615
November Eve, a pagan festival
(Sandmin), 284, 286
Niiadha Airgead-lamh, 246, 247, 249,
Nuadha Finnfdd, (a.m. 4238), 83
Nuadha N'echt, (Monarch a.m. 5090;
or B.C. 110), 304, [App. 474, 483
"0"and "Mac", 214
0'Aingidy,211
Oak from Cratloe for the roof of
Aileach, 401
Oar Wlieel (see Rowing Wheel), 427,
etc.
O'Barrdan, Johannes, 323
(rBibsaigh, 103
Ohlen, son oiFidru; 363 [App. 610
O'Boland, 211
O'Braoin {Tighernach), [O'Breen],
57. — Donnchadh, Abh. of Clonmac-
noise, 419. — Right Rev. J., BishoiJ
of Cloyne, 66. — Donnchadh, story of
[App. 532,— Tipraite, [App. 621
OBriain, 158, 209, 226.— the first-
named,2 1 4. — oiEatluirlagh [Ather-
low], 211. — of Cuanach, 211. —
Tadhg, and the Devil, [App. 532.—
Brian Ruadh, son of Conor, 234,236.
— Domhnall Mor, 212. — Tadhg, son
of Conor, 234, 235, 236. — Tur-
loch, son of Tadhg, 236. — an oak
of the house of, 396. — Conor, foun-
der of Corcumroe, 234, 236. —
Domhnall Mor, last lOng of Mun-
ster, 234. — Donnchadh Cairbrech,
234. — Muircheartach ; Aileach de-
stroyed by, 400, 405. — Donoch, son
of Tadhg, 23Q.—Midrcheartach (d.
1119), 414
O'Briens, the; junior to the Mac
Mahons, 326,— of Ara,the, 212, 236.
—of Dufferin, Wexford, 211.— Ge-
nealogy of the race of the, 209. —
Submission of Murchadh to Henry
VIII., 237.— The, in 1194 ; 234,
236. — Turloch, King of Munster,
336
0^ Caellaidh^ ; Aedh, Bishop of Air-
ghiall, (Oriell), 361
O'Caiside'; Ruaidhridhe, (RoryO'Cas-
sidy), 85
O'Callaghan, 209
O'Cane; O'Mulvany, Chief Poet of,
82
O'Cannan and O'Clery, historians of
the Cinel CoHtu// (in Donegal), 219
O'Caonihain, 126
O'CarroU, 209.— of Ely; O'Riordan,
historian of, 219; [and see O'Cear-
bhuiiq
O'Casey, 211
0' Cearbhiull, Maelsuthain, 76,'' [App.
529, 531
Ocha, or Och^, 55, 88-9, [App. 484,
488.
Ochtriidl, daughter of the physician
Diancecht, 250
O'Cleircein; {Eochaidh), 168. — the,
historians of the Cinel Eoghain, 219
CClerigh, 146. — and O'Cannan, his-
torians of the Cinel Conaill (in Do-
negal), 219. — Conaire', the Avorks
of, 178. — Cucoigchric^, the last will
of, 178 [App. 560.— the works of,
178, 179.— Two Poems by [App.
562. — Ferfasa, poet of O'Donnell,
417.- Gilla-Riabhach, M.S. by,
(1460), 250.— GdlaRiabhach, son of
Tuathal, (died 1512), 282.— Zm-
INDKX.
707
yhaidh, 142. — his Life of Aedh
Ruadh, 22.— Michael, 22, U2, et
seq., [App. G4:5. — as to Flann [App,
olG. — Glossary, 347. Books re-
ferred to by the O'Clerys, 21, 22.
— Marty rology (of Donegal), 353. —
(Michael) Lives of the Saints, 340,
— Seuan, 19, — other works of the
O'Clerys (besides the Annals), 21,
86, 1G2, 173
G'Cnaimhin, 211
O^CoinUsq, (^Mmxhadh Riabhach), 163
O'CoZ/o (Friar Paul), 164
O'Comhrald/te' (O'Curry), 210
O'Conchobhair ; FeidhUnddh [App.547
O'Connally, 211
O'Connel], John (of Kerry) ; Poem on
History of Erinn, by, 350
O'Conuiiiff, 211
O'Conor (Rev. Chas.) on Tighernach .
63, 66 n. [App. 524.— on Flunn,
b't. — on the Annals of Innisfallen,
80. — on the so-called Annals of
Boyle, 81. — on the Annals of Ul-
ster, 86. — on the Chronicum Sco-
torum, 129. — on the Annals of
Connacht, 113, 117. — on Oisin, or
Ossian, 300
O'Conor, Charles, of Belanagare ; on
Flann, 53. — Observation on Annals
of Connacht, called by him of Kil-
ronan, 114. — on MacPherson's Os-
sian, 300
O'Conors, the, 226. — the first named,
214. — Character of the bouse of
the, 115. — The O'Mulconrys, their
historians, 219. — Cathal Crobh
Dearij [App. 547. — Toirrdhealbach
Mdr (Turloch), 414. — Birth of,
[App. 535. — Rudhraidhe (mon-
arch, A.D. 1156—1172), 361, 398,
414. — Murchadh, Lord of Offaly,
895. — of Corcomroe [App. 630. —
the founder of the, 346
(yConox Donn, 116. — MS. in posses-
sion of, 356.
O'Cormacan, 210
O'Cronius of Fermoy, descended from
Mogh Rukh, 272
O'Cuile.amhain (Cullen), [App. 488
O'Cuindlis {Murchadh Riabhach), 192
O'Cidrnin, 79. — Giolla Caomhain-,
163. — Historian of the O'Ruarcs,
21%.— Sigraidh-, 183, 184
O'Daly (Hugh), 195
O'Davoren, 121. — Law Glossary by,
123. — Donnell-; MS. by, (a.d.
1590), 386
O'Dea, 210. — Fosterers of Turloch
O'Brien (a.d. 1270), 236
O'Deorans of Leinster, the, 348
Odhar, 30, 169
Odhbha, Battle of (1072) ; 421
O'Doherty, 183
0'i)o?«/i««(7/, ;(0'Donnell), the first
named, 214. — the name occurs
288 times in the Annals of the
Four Masters ; (O'Brien 254 times),
158. — Aenqus, 334. — Domhnall,
Colonel (1723), 327, SZl.—Magh-
nus (Life of St. Co/ urn Cille, by),
328.- the O'Donnells, 327, 330.—
Poems on the (O'Clery MS.), 173.
— Aedh Uubh, 407. — Aedh Ruadh
(Hugh Roe), 22, 396, 406. —
O'Clery's Life of, 22.— a Co7m- ;
basely fighting on the English side,
407. — at Beat an atha Biddhe
(1598), ill.— Ball Dearg, 406.—
Brother Bonaventura, 147. — Cal-
bhach, son of Manus, 407. — Comi,
407.— Domhnall Mor (1241), 406.
— Conall, 331.— List of Obits of
the [App. 570. — Manus, 407. —
NIall Garbh, 407.— Hugh ; of Lark-
field, [App. 570.— Sir Neal, 331.
— Sir Ricliard Annesley, 331. —
Toirrdhealbach [App. 566. — O'Don-
nells called ^'■Conall", 415. — O'Don-
nells, the historians of the; (see
Cinel Conaill), 219. — O'Donnell's
Life of St. Colum Cille', 407 [App.
540. [gus, 334
0' Domhnallain, (O'Donnellan), Aen-
O'Donnelly (Owen), 195
O'Donovan, Dr. John, 99. — on the
name Lctha [App. 503. — mistaken
comments on the preference of
O'Gara to O'Donnell, 157. --his
edition of the Annals of the Four
Masters, 85, 150, 160, 445.— his
Grammar, 457
O'Dowda; Bally-, 223.— Ceremony of
the Inaguration of, 126 [App. 542
O'Driscolls, 190.— of Cork, of the
Ithian race, 207
(JDroma ; Solomon, 483
aDubhthaigh, 82, 94
C Dubhghennain, (see O'Duigenan),
94, 145
O'Dugan, 178. — Historian of the
O'Kelly's, Ibh Maine; 219, 658.
O'Duggans of Fermoy descended from
Mor/h Ruitli, 272
O'Duibhne, Uiarmaid, 313, 315
O'Duigenans, 94, 145, — Book of the,
22, 23.— Historians of Clann Maol-
riianaidh (MacDermotts, MacDon-
achs, etc.), 219. — of Kilronan; An-
nals of the, 113
708
INDEX.
O'Duinin, historian of the race of
Eoghan Mor, 219
O'Ditinn's Poem on the Kings of
Leinster [App. 484 n,
Oenach Chchair (Manister, Connty
Limerick), 305
Oengoba, son of Ohlcn, 363, [see Aen-
f/oba, App. 610.]
Oengus, 44, 46, 48, 335, etc. (and see
Aengus). — Son of Natsluagh, 363
[App. 610
Oenna ; Mac Nia, son of [App. 505
O'Ferghaill (Murchadh Finn), 102
O'Fergus, Dr. John, 98.— Book of
("Liber Flavus Fergusiorum"), 76
[App. 531
O'Ferrall's country; O'Mulconrys, his-
torians of, 219
Offally {Ua Failghif), 302, 365, 395
Official records of the Genealogies,
etc., 203-4
O'Fkwm, 399
G'Flaithhhmrtaigh (O'Flaherty), 53,
211, — the, descended from Senach,
son of Duach Tenquniha, K. of Con-
nacht (ad. 499), 15.— Mac Gilli
Kelly historian of, 219. — Cathal,
102,— on the FUi [App. 462, 469
O'Flanagan ; Theophilus, 366
0" Flannagain {Eochaidh), 20, 138 —
Muircheartach , son of Flakhbhear-
tach [App. 547
O'Floinn, Eochaidh, 69. — {Riidh-
raidhe), 102. — Poem on Aengus 0/1-
mucadh, 241. — Poem on the Tuutha
De Danann, and Battle of Magh
Ttdreadh, 241, — Ui Fhloinn, [App.
.^48.
O'Flynn (see Ui Fhloinn) [App. 548
QGara, 209.— Ferghal, 145 [App.
546, 548 — tlie expatriated Friar,
356. — Succession of tlie Chiefs of
the [App. 546
Ogham writing, 41, 80 [App. 464,
468, etc. — Ancient tract on, 190. —
Inscription on Oscar's Tombstone,
304.
Ogma " Grian Aineach", 249
O'Gloiarn, 211
O'Gorman ; Maurice, 104, 167 [App.
539,— the Chevalier Tliomas, 104
O'Grady, 210, 237.— Mr. Standish
Hayes [App. 590 n.
O'Griffy (Griffin), 237
O'Hanlon, 73
O'Hara, 1(>2, 147, 209.— the O'Haras
[App. 548
O'Hartagain ; Cinacih, 205. — Poem
by [App.479, 513, 643.
O'Hea, 210
O'H-Eaghra, CO'Hara) {Duarcan),
102, 147 [App. 546
O'Heeren, 83, 178
O'Hehir (Hare), 237
O'Higgins, 180
O'Hogan, 211.
O'Hiddltrin (O'Heerin).- Gt7/a na
Naemh, 83, 178
O'Hurly, 210
Oi=Aoi, 177,
Oihlen, 363 [App. 610
Oi Conchobhar ; St. Ultan, son of
[App, 608
Oi/each (Aikach), 401, etc.
Oilcan Darair€ (" Valentia Island''),
272
Oilcan na Naemh, 111 [App. 539
Oilen, stone buUder of Constantinople,
222
Oilioll Oluim, 43, 96, 207, 208, 351.
— Death of, 312. — Genealogy of
tlie races from, 158, 208, 209
Oilltriallaich, Cam, 100
Oirchis, or Airchis; (" mercy") ; 379
[App. 615
Oirear Caoin, 287
Oirdnidhe, Acdh ; Monarch, 363
Oisin, 200, 209, 299, 300, 394 et seq.
— Poems ascribed to, 301 et seq.,
304. — Oisin and CaoilM, dialogue
with St. Patrick, 200
OiTTE, or Aideadha; ("Tragedies")
— [" Historic Tales", No. 6], 273
O'Karbri, Johannes, 323
O'Keef, 209, 211
O'Kelly,— the race of, 208.--of Ibh
Maine; O'Dugan, the historian of,
• 219
O'Kennedy, 211. — Mac an Ghobhans
historians of, 219
Olivll Oluvi, 96, etc. (see Oilioll)
OH ; Uch-, the ; (the Great Lamenta-
tion), 49
Ollamhs, 2, 12, 14, 29, 74, 204 [App.
462.— the duties of the, 239, 243.
their education, 240. — Classifica-
tion of, 241. — Duty of, in keeping
the Genealogies, 204. — Quahfica-
tions of an OUamh by law, 204,
241, 255. — of Music; quahfications
OT tllP 2^^
OUamh Fodhla, 218
Ollarbha, Battle of, 307
O'Liddy, 210
O'Lochain ; Cuan, 9, 42, 53 f-'^PP-
496 ; — correction of translation of a
word in his poem on Tara, 10 n.
O'Lochluinn of Burren, 212, 235 [App.
630
0 Longan, 120
I>'DEX.
709
O'Lorcan, (Larkin), 211
O'Luinin, 85, ^6 [App. 533. — in Fer-
managh, 212.--CGillapatrick-), 86,
ir,9
O'Meachair (O'Meagher), 147
O'Mahony, from Aihjenan, 210
G'Maine, 211
0'MaeIchonair^,\i:0 [App.5G3; 644
0^ MaeUseclilainn ; Domnall Breagh-
ack, 387. — JRoen, 413, 414
O'Meara, from AUgemtn, 210
" Omnia Monumenta usque Cimba-
otJi", etc., 63, 67, 68, 70, [App. 518,
519
O^^fuireadhaigh, 100
O'^Iulconry, 79, 176.— Paidfii, 118.—
Historians of the O'Conors, 219
O'iMulloy, Hugh, 98
O'^lulvany, INIelaghUn, 82
C/JLiirr/, 100
O'Xeachtain, 195, 210. — Tadhg
(1716) ; forged "prophecy" by, 418
[App. 628
O^Xeainhnainn; Cael, 308 [App. 594
O'Xeill, 208, 214.— the first named,
214. — the race of, called '-Eoghan",
415 a man of the clann, " pro-
phecy" of, 418. — the O'Neills of
Clare, 210. — the Ceiiel Eoghain,
407. — Brian; alliance with Tadhg
OBrien,23o, — 0'Dugan'spoem,658
0' n-Eoghan, 210
Onna (Harper and Musician), 217
On Festival of St. John Baptist, 429.
App 634
Ophelania, 433
O'Quinn, 210
O'Rafferty, Donnell (Abbot of Kells),
331
O'Raghallaigh, 101
Orainn (qu. Craiim) [App. 470
Orator of Dublin, the; {Conamhail),
403
Oratory, ritual for consecration of an,
357, 378
Order of Poets, qualification of the,
220
Orders, holy; unqualified candidate
for, 372
Orders of Wisdom ; the Seven, 9
Ordination of the File (i.e. Poet, Doc-
tor), 2
Ordnance Survey, the, 370
O'Reardon, 209, 217
O'Regan, 211
O'Riada, (now Heidy), 210
O'Eiain, (O'Eyan). [App. 488
Oriel {Airghkdl), 361
O'Riordan, 209.— Historian of O'Car-
roUofEly, 217
Ornamentation of Croziers, etc., by
Bishop Tassach, 368
Ornaments ; of feathers on a poet's
gown, 383. — on shrine of JJomh-
nach Airgid, 322.— m RI.A. Mu-
seum, 38 n.
O'Ruairc, 101. — Brian iia Murtha,
194.— of Breifne, the, 335, 337, 398.
■ — the O'Cidrnins historians of the,
219. — Ualgarg, 398. — WilUam
Gorm, 398
O^Ruanaidh. John, 82
Oscar, son of Oisin, 300, — Ogham in-
scription on Tomb of, 304
O'Scoba ; 100, — of Clonmacnoise, the
books of, 21, 100
O'Scully, 210
O'Seasnain, 210
O'Sheehan, 211
O'Siodhachan, 211
O^Slebhin, Gillacomqnill ; (chief poet
of Uladh) App. 479
Osnadh, Gill-; (Battle of) [App. 483,
586 n.
Osraigke (Ossory), 17, 302, 421,
etc.
Ossian [see Oisin], 297, 300, et seq.
Ossory, 17 ; — Donnell Mac Gilla Pa-
trick, K. of (1165), 421.— J/(f^A
Ruighne in, 302
Ostend; Irish MSS. written at (1631),
356
O^Suileabhain, meaning of the name,
267 (see O'Sullivan)
O'Sullivau, 209. — Meaning of the
name, 267. — the, senior to Mac
Carthy, 226
O'Taidhq ; (^Gilla na Xaemh), 102
O'Troigkhigh, 346 [App. 607
Othna, 42, 53
O'Tuomy, 211
Ounce, an; (Uing^?) [App. 493
Owen, 210. — Race of the family
called, 210
Ox, bare rib of an ; presented to Conn,
388
Oxen, Hill of the {Drom Damhghair€,
— Knocklong), 271
Oxford; MSS. in, 25.— Copy of Felire
compared, 371
Pa id in O'Mulconry, 118
Pagan worship ; pretended, [App.
586 n.
Painting of the eyebrows, 309
Palestine, 222
PaUadius, St., 342, 398
Paper not used in ancient Erinn
[xVpp. 470
Paris ; Bibliotheque Nationale, 26
Paps of Anann, the, 309
710
INDEX.
Parchment; birch wood used before
invention of [App. 470
Partholan, 171, 225. — Brecon, son of
[App. 587 n. — Colony referred to
by Finntan, 241. — his pliysician,
221. — Tale of the Immigration of,
294-5
Parthians and Bactrians, the ; of com-
mon descent with the Gaedhil;
(from Magog, son of Japhet), 205
Paste, blue and red ; ornaments in,
323
Paten of St. Tighernain ; (the Mias
TigJier)iniri), 338
" Patricius Cothirthiacus [App. 608
Patrick, St. ; and the noble saints of
Erinn, 369. — Letters in Erinn be-
fore, 4. —Buried at Down, 410.
— the Canon of, 373 [App. 612.
— Ard - Patrick (Co. Limerick),
308. — Cothraige, another name for
[App. 623.— ieac Phatraic, or Car-
raiq Phatraicc (the Kock of Cashel)
[App. 623. — Croziers of (and espe-
cially the Bachall losu [App. 600,
etc.), 603 n. — His chariot, St. iSech-
nall, and St. Fiacc [App. 606.— His
miracles first collected by St. Colum
Cille [App. 608. — Bell of Saint,
336, 337 [App. 631 n. — Gospels,
a rehc of Saint, 321. — Brogan, the
scribe of, 308.— Death" of (March
17, 493), 415.— Miracles of [App.
609. — His Dialogue with CaoilM
and Oisin, 200.— His Law of Affi-
liation, 225. — Mac Cecht, one of the
tliree smiths of, 337. — Saved from
poisoned drink, 370. — Sketch of his
life in Book of Armagh, 347.— The
CuUefadh of, 335.— Tripartite Life
of, etc., 339 et seq., 342-3 [App.
C09.— The tooth of, 33-<.— Tlie fes-
tival of, 368 [App. 811
Patrick the Younger ; life of St. Pa-
trick by, 349
Paul (old); and Spiritual Directors,
368
Pedigree, a, distinguished from a ge-
nealogy, 214
Pedigrees and Genealogies, the Books
of, 203. — of the Irish saints, 353,
357, 358. —of Mac Firbis, Book of,
121, 215 [App. 541.— of " scholar-
ship", [App. 495. —of St. Eimhin,
351, — of the Dalcassians, 209
Penal Laws ; Duald Mac Firbis one
of the victims of the, 122
Penitential Pilgrimage to sea, a, 292
Pentateuch, the; (i\\e Deidi ni-Bni-
t/ur),d, 31
Persecutions of religion in Ireland, 355
Personal descriptions in tale of the
Tain Bo Cliuailgne, 38.— Descrip-
tion of Cortnac Mac Airt, 44
Pestilence in 1095, 404
Peter and Paul, church dedicated to
Saints, 325
Peter, Epistle of, from heaven, 662-3.
— and the apostles and disciples, 368
Petrie, Dr. George; on the Saliair of
Tara, 11, 12. — on the ancient laws,
16. — on the murder of Duald Mac
Firbis, 122. — on the autograph of
the Annals of the Four Masters,
149.— his Paper on Tara, 187, 191,
385. — on Litany of Aengus, 380,
381. — on the Ordnance Survey,
370 Possessor of a bell of St. Pa-
trick, 337. — his work on the Round
Towers ; mistake in, corrected, 381 .
— his Ancient Music ; fairy lullaby
in [App. 505. — Description of the
Domnnach Airqid, 322
Pharaoh=Faro, "369.— Cengris, 447
Philip de Breusa, 432
Philhpps, Sir Thomas, 26
Philosopher (Flh), [App. 462
Philosophy, or Poetry ; the four divi-
sions of, 240
Physicians; (the first in Erinn), 221,
— treatment of Conchohhar Mac
Nessa by his, 276
Picts, the; (^Crukhneanns), 288, ioO.
— high spirit of the, 224 [App, 581 .
— references to the, 414, 417
Pictish Tale ; the " Treachery of
Scone", a [App. 591 n.
Pictish word; " Cartaii", the only
one preserved, 20
Pictiers (Poictiers) ; the Picts in, 450
Pig otMac Datho, the [App. 486
Pillar Stone ; the Plain of the, {Mag/i
an Charthe, in Scotland), 287, 288,
— the, oi Cnumhchoill ; 385,402
Pilate's wife, 367
Pilgrimage ; of Snedhgus and Mac
liiaghla, 333. — to sea ; a peniten-
tial, 292
Pilgrimages to the Holy Land, 382
Pilgrims, Roman, in Erinn, 381
PiUows, 310
Pinginn [App. 493-4
Pipers, 248
Plague (in a.d. 1095), 404,— Fier}',
on the festival of St. John Baptist,
385, 402, 404
Plagues of the 7th and 8th centuries,
425
Plants, healing; bath medicated with,
250
INDEX.
711
Plato; Maximus Tyrius, school of
[App. 403
Poems and Tales ; Of the Imagina-
tive, 1^96
Poems, Ancient Historical ; (O'Clery
MS), 173.— On the O'Donnells of
Donegal (O'Clery MS.), 173.—
Fenian, 299, 301. — Behgious, by
early saints, 357, — Poem to tlie
Holy Trinity, St. Cohan Cille's, 329
Poet; ^lc//(«a, the, 383
Poetess ; Etan, the, 2-18
Poets (see File), 2, 210, 243.— Quali-
fication of the Order of, 220. —
the seven degrees of, 220. — the
official gown of a (Tuighen'), 383.
— Privileges of, taken away, 384.
of Conn, the three, 388 [App.
620.
Poetry (see Philosophy), 240.— The
Twelve Books of, 301. — Abbrevia-
tion in MSS. 18 n,
Poictiers (Pictiers), the Picts in, 450
Poisoned drink ; St. Patrick saved
from, 370, — poisoned weapons of
the Britons of Fotharta, 450, —
Oenr/us' poisoned spear, 44.
PoU-beg; (Lighthouse of, near Dub-
lin), 269
Polo; Marco [see Marco], 25, 200
Pope, Supremacy of the, in St. Pa-
trick's time, 373 [App. 612
Portico thatched with wings of birds,
311
Port Lairg^ (Waterford), 50
Portloman; parish of, (Westmeath),
285
Port Patrick, 287
Posts, four (to beds), 311
Prayers, Ancient Forms of, 357, 378
Preface to O'Clery's Glossary [App.
558,— to O'Clery's Lealhar Guhh-
ala [App. 554, — to O'Clery's Reim
Riograidhe of [App. 548
Prerogative; assertion of royal, re-
sisted, 333
Priesthood ; Canon on Education for
the, 372
Priests clad in white [App. 505. —
English persecution of Irish, 356
Primacy of Ardmacha (Armagh), 373
[see Canon of St. Patrick. [App.
612]. — Hereditary succession to,
399, 400.
Primogeniture, rule of, 227
Prim-sce'la, " Prime Stories", 243, 251
Printing ; effect of discovery of, 6
Priscian, Codex of (at St. Gall), re-
ferred to by Zeuss, 27
Privilege of hunting, royal, 333
Privileges of an Ollamli, etc., 3
Probus, 390, 397
Profession of a champion, 270
Professor; the Classical (Ferleighinn),
2n.,9n., 56, [App. 495
" Prophecies" ; Of the so-called, 382
et seq., 410. — Political use made of
forged, 430. — as to the Death of
Conor MacNessa, 275. — Druidical,
284,386-7 [App. 617.— in ancient
Gaedhilic " Baile", 385. — of St.
Patrick, by Finn Mac CumhaiU,
803. — Use made of forged ; by Sir
G. Carew, (a.d. 1602), 344 [App.
635-6, — Passages from Cambrensis
(Expug. Hib.) concerning some,
432, [App. 634
Prophet and Poet ; office of, at Tara,
399
Protestant Archbishop of Cashel, the
first, 233
Protestant persecution of Cathohcs,
442
Province; Sreng's,2i6 [App. 563.
Psalms, copy of the ; St. Coluni
CiUe's, 321,327
Psalter, [see Suliair'], 11, etc.
Ptolemy Lagus {Tolameus Mac
Lairge) [App. 521
Qualifications of a Poet, 220, 243
[App. 583-4.— of an Ol/amh, 239-
40, etc. — of an Ollamh of Music,
255.
Eace,Foot- ; with CaezY^e' [App.587 n.
Race, the Red-haired man's; the
Three Conns, of, 407
Races in Erinu, characteristics of
the, 223
Racldcdnn, 38. — CongaVs adventures
in the island of, 262
Eahan (King's County), [see Raith-
im], 340,374.
Raighne, Magh- ; the grave of Goll
in, 302
Raith ChiimhaiJl (Rathcoole), 403
Rcdth Muighe (Rathmoy, or Ratoo,)
[App. 631 n.
Raithin (Rahan, King's County), St.
Mockuda of, 340. — Ecclesiastical
city of, 374
Raith Meidhbhe [App. 480
Ramhach (see Roth Ramhach), 385,
401, 421, 423, 427
Randall, the son of Amlaff", 403
Ranks of learned men in ancient
Erinn, 2 et seq.
Ranna ; Mac Namara of, line of, 234
Rami, Saltuir na; the, 21, 360 (and
see 609).
Ransom of a noble ; a MS. the, 6
712
INDEX.
Raphoe {Eath Bhotha), 100, [App.477
Hath (see also Rnith)
Eathangan(i?a;>^ Imghairi) [App.487
Rath Beagh {Raith Beothaigh), 449
Rath Bhotha (Raphoe), 100, [App.
477
Rath Breis€; Balur, builder of, 222
Rath Chormaic (at Tara), 402
Rath Colptha (now Raholp, Down)
[App. G03
Rathcoole, (Co. Dublin) (Raith Chu-
mhaill), 403
Rathcormac(Co.Cork); Cam Tigher-
naiqh near, 267
Rath'Cro, 416
Rath Cruachan, 33, 35
Rathlin Island {Rechraimi), 280
Raths, Forts, and Cuthairs, 449
Ratisbon ; shrine in monastery of, 336
Ravilly (Raith Biligh) [App. 48S
Raymund, 432
Recapitulation (Lecture XXL), 435
Rechrainn, now Rathlin Island, 280
Rectaidh Rig-derg [App, 521
Red Hand, Ca^/i«7of the [App. 547
Red-Heads, the three [App. 483,
587 n.
Red-haired man's race; the three
Conns, of the, 407
Reeves, Rev. W.; edition of Adam-
nan's Life of Colum Cille, 342. —
edition of Primate Colton's Visi-
tation [App. 613
References to Historic Tales, etc., as
serious authorities, 241
"Reformation, the"; iconoclast rage
of [App. 604
Regarnain ; the Cow-Spoil of, (Tale
of) ; [App. 585 n.
Relievo, alto; ornaments on shrine,
322
Reichenau, Irish convent at; MS. for-
merly at, 27, 28
Reidy, (O'Riada), 210
Re'im Rioghraidhe, 162 [App. 548 et
seq.
Rein, Fidhnacha Magh, 398
Relics, 321, 332, 335, 336, 368, 406.—
of St. Colum Cille, 406. — Iconoclast
rage at the " Reformation" [App.
604
Rehquary, 326, 336
Renduin, 108
Reochaid Mac Fatheman, 38 [App.506
Reta Mor, Laighes, [App. 481-2
"Rhetoric", [App. 642.
Riahhach 0' Cuindlis {Murchadh), 192
Riabhach C Coinlisg (^Murchadh), 163
Riada, Cairbre, (ancestor of Dalria-
dan race), 516
Riugan, (O'Regan), 211
Riughail do riglithibh, 198
Riaqhail (St.), on the Scuap a Fa-
liait, 428,
Riughlu, Mac, 333; — and Snedgus ;
Tale of the Navigation of, 289
Rib of an ox, and of a boar, 388
Ribh, (Loch), 109
Rigdonn, 38 [App, 506
Righbaird ; Raith [App. 591 n.
Righe, (Glenn), 72, 73
Righ-Dhundina [App. 475
Righe, the river; (Ros na Righ), 266
Ringm or Rigrin, stone-builder of
Aileach, 222
Rings-End, near Dublin, 269
Rioghraidhe; {Re'im-), 162 [App. 548
et seq.
Ri Raith, the; of Tara, 387
Ritual for Consecration of a Church,
ancient, 357
Road, ancient ; from Naas to Tara, by
Claen, 270. — Road of Cualann, the
great, 259
Roads, the Five ; finished in the time
of Conn, [see Slighe], 53.
Robhartuiqh, Ua ; Domhnall, 331
[App. 699
Roche (Fr.) Bishop of Kildare, 151
Roden, Earl of; (Mac Firbis auto-
graph), 227
Rods of gold-bronze [bed rods], 310
Roen, son of Muircheaitach, royal
heir of Tara; 413
Roighne Rosgadach, 218
Roileag laoch Leithe Chuinn, 164
Roih/ech, Druim ; Cruimthir Collait,
from [App. 608
Roirinn [Ajip. 487
Roirend (in Offaly), 302
Jio/s, the Fera-; [Apj). 641, — Fiacha,
king of, 333
Roland the Brave ; Story of, 25.
Roman Consul, Altus a; 277, [App.
642 Roman letters, uncial or cor-
rupt, 324. — Pilgrims, the three
times fifty in Erinn, 381 [Ai)p. 615
Romans, excessive pride of the, 224
[App. 580
Romantic Adventure of Cuchulainn
in Rechrainn, 280
Rome; in " Letha'' [App. 504, 616.—
Cir stone-builder of, 222. — Supre-
macy of (temp. St. Patrick), 373
[App. 612. — the holy Bishops of,
369.— College of St. Isidore, in, 26,
156, [App. 644.— Altar of St. Peter,
in, 662-3. — pilgrimage of Conall to,
662-3
Rondin; Caeilt^ Mac, 306, 307
INDEX.
713
Ronan, K. of Leinster (ad. CIO)
[App. 588 n. — Tale oi Maelfathar-
taiq/i, son of, 277. — Roiian Mac
Aedha, 10-t
Ros; the Chief File of Erinn, 170.—
Argat-, 449, [and see Rois],
Ros, son of Rudliraidhe [App. 465
Ron Bror (Badger Wood), 302.— St.
Mollnfjs Church at, 392
Ros na Righ, 187, 266. — Datki's arri-
val at, 286.— Battle of, 187 [App.
589 n.
Roscrea ; St. Cronan of, 335
Rosses of Sliabh Ban (Connacht); the
three, 426
Ross Ruadh, 34. [App. 513
Ross, the Fera-, 333, [App. 641
Ross, men of, sent out on the sea, 333
Rossmore, Lord (preserver of the
Jjomnach Airgid), 327
Roth Ramhach (" Rowing Wheel",
the) ; " Prophecy of the", 385, 401 ,
421, 423, 427
Round Tower at Aenc/us' Church,
Discrt Aenpusa, 364. — Fetrie's
Work on tlie Round Towers, 381
Royal Branch ; the Champions of
the, 270, 274
Royal heir of Tara; Roen, 413
R.I. A.; Collection of MSS., in the
Library of the, 24
Royal residences in Erinn; the chief,
[App. 588 n.
Ruadh, 96,— King Dathi's Queen, 284
Ruadhan, St. ; Bell rung hy, at Tara,
337
Ruaidridhhe O'Caiside, 85
Ruammu), the Dane, 403
Rudliraidhe. 96.— Monarch, (b.c. 212)
[App. 465, Hi.— Loch, 429
Rudrician or Ultonian race; Aengtts
Cede' l)e' o{ the, 3Q3
Riaihchearn [App. 590 n.
Rules, Ecclesiastical, 357, 373. — ^Mo-
nastic (of Discipline^, 357, 373. —
of St. Colli m Cille, the, 374 [App.
613,— of the Gray Monks, 375
Rumold, St. ; Ward's Life of, 381
Rushes, floor strewn with, 310
Rye, the (the riA-er Righe), 266
Sahhall Fhatraic, (Saul, Co. Down),
20
Sadhhh (Sabina), [App. 5 15, 585 n —
death of, 312
Saerhhreathach, (Latinized " Justi-
nus", or Justin), Bishop, 293
SaercJannaihh h -Erenn, Argain Chair-
pri Cinn-cait for, 262
Sa{,\see Sfioil, 2 n, 18 [App. 461,
462
Saighir Chiarain ; Story of [App. 531
Saighir (King's Co.) ; St. Ciaran of,
340, 342
Saingel (Singland), Battle of, 396
Saints ; Erinn called the Island of,
320. — Ancient invocations to the,
357, 380, — Genealogies and Pedi-
grees of the Irish, 353, 357, 358.—
Lives of the, 339 et scq, 342, 357
St. Gall, in Switzerland; Irish MSS.
in Monastery of, 27, 379
Saint MuUins, [see Tigh Moling'], 231
Salhhuidhe, Echnidli ; (father of iVe.s'-
sa), 262 [App. 636-7
Salchoid ; (Sallyhead, Tipperary),
Battle of, 403
SaJtair na Rann, the, 21, .360. — the
spurious [App. 609
Saltair of CaiseJ (Cashel), 19
Saltair of St. Ricemarch, 23
Saltair of Tara, 9, 10, 11, 41, 42, 204
[App. 464, 496,-656-7
Sandiain, or Festival of November
Eve, 284, 286, 418 [App. 466
Samhair, the river [App 485
Samhna, Cnoc; Battle of, 312
Sanctuary ; of the OUainh's wand, 3.
—with St. Cohu7i Cille, 328
Sanskrit; Gen. Vallancey's specula-
tions from, 300
Saoi Canoine [App. 495
Saoi, 2, 8, 1 8, 29, 42, 57, 74, 76 [App.
461, 462, 463,
Saracens ; strength of the [App. 580
Saraid [App. 515
Sdran, 374
Satire, the first in Erinn, 248
Satirists, 248
S.iul, 3&d—{SabhaJl Fhatraic), Co.
Down, 20
Saxon Saint, Gildas a, 353
Saxons, " powerful and tyrannical",
4 1 8. — the gray, 396. — " the creep-
ing", dullness of, 224, [App. 581. —
Twenty thousand, killed ; (" pro-
phecy" of), 418.— sway in Erinn,
422 — "wicked", 423.— Women, 3.
— "Prophecy" of the coming of
the, 387
Scdil; Ath in- [App. 481 — the Bail€
an-, 385, 419 [App. 618
Seal, the, 390
Scathach of Buanainn [App. 503
Scattcry Island {Inis Cathaigh), 339
Scandinavian; Forgall Monach dis-
guised as a, 279
Scariff (Co. Clare), 267
Scathach; Military School of the Scot-
tish lady, 279, [App. 589 n.
Seel air Chairbr^ Cinn-cait, 198
46
714
INDEX.
Seel Fiaehna inic Recitaich, 198
Scela (Tales), 242, 2-13, 282
Scholarship, "Pedigree" of [App. 495
Schools, MiUtary; ia Scotland, 279,
[App. 589 n. — Schools of Divinity
InErinn, 291
Scholar, a; 2n.
Sciad/i ard na Con [App. G40
Sciath-hel; Crimhtluitm, 450
Sciath Bhacall; Conall, 331
Scone, the Treachery of [App. 591 n.
Scoriath, King of the Feramorca in
West Munster, 253
Scota, {Fei't Scota) ; (^Gleann Scoi-
thin); 448
Scotland ; OiFJann's Synchronisms of
the Kings of, 55, — School of Eoch-
aidh EchblteoU in, 383. — the Dal-
riadanrace of, 412, 414, 415. — the
Saints of, 369. — curachs trading to,
257, — Fcredach Finn, King of, 287,
288,— Military Schools in, 279
Scotorum ; the Chronicum, 120, 126,
128 [App. 542
Scots (Milesians) the, 450
Scott, Sir Walter, 297
Screeiie; in Tireragh, Sligo; {Mid-
lachRuaidhe'), 284 ; [and seeAcaill].
Screpall [App. 493
"Screptra" of Maelsuthain O'Cear-
bhuUl, 79
Scripture Genealogies, 205
Scriptures, ancient copies of the, 32 1
Scuap a Fanait, the, 420, 421, 423,
426, 428 [App. 632, 634
Scythia, 222, 447
Seaan, 19,— son of Cucogry O'Clery
[App. 561
Sea, the Ictian (Muir n-Iehf), 454
[App. 592 n., 605
Sead, Loch Bd, 426, 427
Seadna, 209
Seaghais ; Battle of, (a.d. 499), 499
Seanadh mhic Mai/Imiisa, 22
Seanaiyh, Ath- ; (Ballyshannon, Co.
Kildare), 420
Seanar, the Plain of, 15
Secincha, sou oi Aihll, 218
Seanc/ias Mor (see Senchus), 16, etc.
Seanchadh, 46
SeancJtaidlie, 3, 204
Seanchua, in Tirerill, 171
Seanchuaeh, the O'Duigenans of, 22
Seangarmna, Tipra (in Kerry) ; 306
[App. 594
Seanurac/i, Agallamh na, 307, [App,
594
Seachnaill, Domhnach, (Dunshaugh-
lin) [App. 606
Scchnall, St. •, 344, — (" Secundinus",
373, 610,— his Hymn, 352.— St.
Fiacc and St. Patrick [App. 606
Secundinus (.S'eac/»7a//),373 [App. 612
Sedna, the " prophet", 422 — " Pro-
phecies" of [App. 627, 628
Segetius, priest under St. German
[App. 601
Seirqiif/he' Chonculainn, the [App.
637-8
Seis (knowledge) [App. 461
Selga, Dundia ; (hunting mound), 391
Senaeh, 15
Senait Mic Maghnusa ; the Annals
of, caUed Anuals of Ulster [qu. v.],
52, 74, 83, 85, 117, [Aj)p. 533, etc.
Senan, St. (of Inis Cathaigh, or Scat-
tery), Life of, 339
Senchan Torpeist, 8, 29, 30, 41
SenehiisMdr, the,16, 91[App.617; 655
Seniority, ancient law of preference
by, 261
Seradh ; Magh [App. 489, 490
Serca, (Love Stories), 294
Scrinium, or reliquary, 326
Sermons, Homilies and ; ancient, 357
Seudga, 217
Sexton, family of, 210
Sheeliug, Loeh ; (^SUeann^, 418
Sheep, the Widow's ; case of, 43-4,
Sheuar, the Plain of; (^Seanar),\5
Shetland Islands inhabited by Pomo-
lians, 249
Shield, Conall of the Crozier, 331
Ship, the strange; called the Roth
Randuic/i, 401
Shrine of the arm of St. Lnchtam, 211
Shrine belonging to Mr. filonsell 335
Shrines ; Traceries on, 323, — in Mu-
seum of ll.LA., etc., 321, 336
Sianan, the (plaintive song), of the
Women of Erinn, 334
Sidhe (^Bcun-sidhe, Fersidhe,) [App.
504
Sidh Neannta, the fairy mansion
[App. 591 n. — Siogmall of, 286
Sieges ; (Historic Tales — Forbasd),
267
Sir/maU, 286.— the fairy mansion of
[App, 591 n.
Sigruidh O'Cidrnin, 183
S'deann, Loch (Loch Sheeling) ; the
gloomy waves of, 418
Silks for dress, 310
Stl Midredhaiqh, [see Siol], 115
Silver Hand, Nuada of the, 246, 247
Silver ; door-lintel of carved, 310.
Simeon Breac in Thrace, 244
Simon Magus, 402, 4:0:i,—Mogh Ruith
educated in the East by, 272
Sin, the Banshee [App. 599
INDEX.
715
Singlaud, Co. Limerick (Suiiiffel),
Battle of, 39G
Siogmall of Sidh Xeaimta, 2SG
Siol Muireadhaiqh ; the Race of the,
(Murray). 5 7,' 83, 219, 2->G
Stol Aodfia, 210
Siiric, son of 2Iac Aedha, 331 L-App-
599— Sou otAm/ihiM, Hi
Siubhdalneck (Conor O'Brien of), 212
Siub/idaineac/), the Wood of, 235, 236
Siitlr, the river (Suir) [App. 4S5
Skellig Kocks, the {Glas CharrairJ),
315
Skreen, the Hill of; AcaiU, 230, 26i
Sldine, Aed/i, 415
Shnmje\Tnhher, (the Slaney), 257, 447
Slane (the enchanted house of Cleiiech,
near), 308
Slaney, the, 447 ; landing of the
French with Lahhraidh Maen in
the, 2-.7
Slane, the Yellow Book of, 20
Skingu, the son of Farthalon, 221
Slattery, Most Rev. Dr. ; Archbishop
of Cashel, 337
Slaughter, Battle of the liill of;
{Cath Chnuic an Air), 312
Slavery of the Aitkeach Ttiatha,
alleged, 263
Sleckt, Magh ; Battle of, 101 [App.536
Sleibhte (Sietty), 4, 342, 349 [App,607
[and see Fiacc]
Slendiain, 38
Sliabh an lurainn, 101, 102
SUabh Ban (in Connacht), the three
Rosses of, 426
SUabh Croit, the ilouutain of Harps,
427
Sliabh 2Iairge', 17
Sliabh Mis, (in Kerry), 448, — (in An-
trim), 394.
Sliab/i n-Ealpa (the Alps), 284
Sliabh na m-Ban (Co. TipiJerary) 396
Sliyhe Asail (and see '■^Midlduacra",
"Cualami'\ ^^DakC), 453
Slicjhe Mor, the, 453
Slir/ech, 96, 146
Sliocht Brain Finn, 211
Sliocht Diarmada, 110
Sling, the (Cranntabhaill), 276
Slothful FeUow, Tale of the Flight of
the, 313, 316
Sluaigheadha, of the ; (" Military
Expeditions") ; [" Historic Tales",
No. 11], 2t)4
Smdil, Sndrditbh Mac, 426
Small Pox, " Galar breac", 84
Smirditbh Mac Smdil, 426
Smith, Mr. George ; his undertak-
ing of C*'Donovan's edition of the
Annals of the Four Masters, 161,
202, — copy of the Felire Aengusa
transcribed for, 371
Smiths ; of the Tuatha Dd Danann,
249,— St. Patrick's three, 337
Smith, the Anglican form of Mac an
Ghobhan. 219
Snaclt, 304 [rectius Suaeli]
Snandia Aighnech, Cuan ; (Carling-
ford), 287
Sntdltfjus, 333, — and Mac Riaghla,
Tale of the Navigation of, 289
Sobhairce, 217, 449
Society ; Irish Archjeological and Cel-
tic, 77 n. etc. — Ossianic; (publica-
tion of) [App. 590 n. — Gaelic (i)ub-
lication of the), 14 n. [App. 589 n.
— St. Patrick's, of Melbourne, 458
Soilgech ; Sliabh [App. 591 n.
Soiltean na n-Gasan, 102
Sollyhead, near Tipperary (Salchoid),
Battle of, 403
Solomon's builder, Ailian, 222
Song of ihe Women of Erinn, tlio
plaintive, 334.
Sorrowful Stories of Erinn, the three,
319
Sorar, 48
Sorceress, 249
Sosta, Cluain-, (Clonsost), 352, 353
Sovereignty of Erinn, the [App. 621
Spain, 222, — Bragantia in, 44. —
Flight of Aedh Ruadh to, 396.—
his death in, 406, — (see Momera),
243, — an Irish Bishop builds a
church in, 293, — voyage in a curach
to, 293
Spaniards, the, fierce and haughty,
224 [App. 581
Spear, cast of a, 311, 388, — of Oisin,
the, 306
Spears (see Arms), 245
Spiritual Directors, 368
Spris, Captain, 396
Sraibhtbine ; Fiacha, 386
Srath Cluada, (Clyde), [App. 591 n.
Sreng's Province, 246, [Aj^p. 563
Sreng, herald of the Firbolgs, 243, 246
Sruibh Brain, 427, 429
Sruth Cheanna mhdir, 272
Staff; Tiih\et-,{Tabhall.lorg') ; [App.
471.— Staff of Jesus (the Bachull
Isu), 101, 330, 338 [App. 539, 600
Star, the Morning ; (a river), [App.
485.
Standdhe [App. 495
State Papers, vol. ii., referred to [App.
604
" Staves of the Poets" [App. 464
Stephen and the Martyrs, 368
716
INDEX.
Steward; the king's chief, 328
Stockholm ; no vestiges of Irisli MSS.
found in the collections at, 5
Stone, a warrior's {Lid MUidli), 394.
— Patrick coming to Erinn on n,
393. — Shrieking under Conn, a, 388.
— Writing on [App. 464
Stone buildings in Erinn, Mac Firbis
on, 223
Stones, couch ornamented with, pre-
cious, 310, 311
Storytellers; FeinigJi, 220, — (Seati-
chaidhe), the, 3, 3 n.
Strand of Baile (the) [App. 465, 475
Strath Clyde, [App. 591 n.
Stream, the, called Si'itth C/ieanna
mhu'ir, 272
Strongbowe, Earl, 432 [App. 603.
Study the materials of Irish History ;
how to, 437
Suadh [see AgaUamh'], etc., 383
Suaelt, [v. Snaelt], 304.
Suantraighe, the (sleep melody), 254,
255 [App. 608
Succetus, " qui est [deus belh]" ;
Succession ; law of, 227, — by primo-
geniture, 227, — of the Kings, in
Tiqhernach, taken from Eochaidh
O'JFlynn, 69,— O'Clery's, 162 [App.
548 et seq.
Suibhne, 50
Suidhe Luighen, SUabh ; (•' Slount
Leinster") [Ajjp. 475-8
Suidh, 17 [App. 462
Siiirge, 217, 449
Sullivan (see O'Suihab/iain, 267, etc.)
Sun, Vallancey's speculations on wor-
ship of the, 366
Sunday; law of, 662. — Canon as to
absence from Mass on, 372, — le-
gend, as to observance of the, 293
Supremacy of Reme, Canon on, 373
[App. 611
Surgeon of Nuadha Airgead-lamh,2i7
Surgeons, 249, — treatment of Conor
Mac Nessa by his, 276
Susanna, 369
Swans, Plain of the Two (Magh Dd
Gheis), 302
Swimming, exercise of, 315
Swineherd oiMilchu ; St. Patrick, 394
Synchronisms ; part of the lore of the
an OUamh, 240,— of Flann of Mo-
nasterboice, 54 [App. 509. — In B.
of Bally mote [App. 520.— In B. of
Lecain, App. 522
System of law and policy in ancient
Erinn ; a regularly defined, 4
Taball Filidh,{VoQ\:s Tablet); [App.
464, 465
Tablets (of stone and wood) ; [App.
464, 465
Tadkg, son of Cuthal 0^ Conor, 95
Tadhg " an Tea ghUngh'" , (" of the
Household"); [App. 547
Tadhg Cam O'Clerig/i, 11,
Tadhg MacNamara of Ranna, line of.
234
Tadhg son of Cian, 147, 209 [App.
588 n. — Tale of the Adventures of,
3 18. — his progress from Cashel into
Meath [App. 593
Tailcenn, the; or Tailgenn, 386, 387,
389, 393, 397 [App. 617 et seq. ;
624
Tai/liin, 72. — the Fires of, 287.—
Games at, 287, — Founded by Lugh
Mac Elthknn [App. 478,— Battle
of, 448 [App. 586 n,
Tailte, the wife of Eochaidh Mac
Eire, 287
Tain Be Aingen, 283, 586 n, 587 n,
589 n,
Tdin Bo Chuailgn€, the; 8, 29, 31, 69,
278. — Story of the recovery of the
Tale of the, 29, 30, 32, 193, 278 —
Language of Tale of Bruighean Da
Derga, older than that of the Tale
of the ; 259. — of the Date of the
[App. 507.— MS. in British Mu-
seum, 346
Tain Bo Dartadha, 185
Tain Bo Flidais, 185 [App. 531
Tal, the House of [App. 479
Talbot de Malahide, Lord; 457 n.
Tales and Poems ; Of the Imagina-
tive, 296
Tales ; Of the Historic, 238, 243.—
List of in B. of Leinster, 243 [App.
583, 584. — Use to be made of the,
454. — their authority as pieces of
History, 239, 241
Tales of the Immigrations {Tochom-
ladh) of Partha /on, of Nendiidh, of
the Firholgs, of the Tuatha De'
Danann, of the Milesians, etc., 295
Tales, — (tlie Three Sorrowful Stories
of Erinn), 319
Tale of AedJi Oirdnidhi and the en-
chanted goblets [App. 532
Tale of the Courtship of AilhU (by
Finn Mac Ciunhaill), 283
Tale of the Tdin Bo Aingen, 283,
586 n, 587 n, 589 n.
Tale of the Revolt of the Aiiheach
Tuatha, 230, 262
Tale of the Death of Aifhirnc, 319
Tale of the xirqain Cathrach Boirche,
261
Tale of Bail^ Mac Buain [App. 4G4
INDEX.
717
Tale ot the Courtship of Beq-folad,
263. 319
Tale ohheCaveof /?e/(7rA CoiH/hds,2'^3
Tale of the Irruption of the Boyne,
[App. 531
Tale of the Voyage of Breacan. 257
Tale of the Navigation of St. Bren-
daiiui, 289
Tale of the adventures of Bricm, son
of FeabhaU, 318
Tale of Bricreim's feast, 340
Tale of the Bruujhean Bheag na h-
Almhaine, 313
Tale of Cairbre Cinn Cait, 198
Tale of the Caithreim Chealluchain
ChaislI, 238
Tale of the Caih Jlulr/ke Tuireadh,2U
Tale of King Cathal Mac Fmyhuine,
353
Tale of theCathreimChonff/iail Chlair-
ingnigJi, 2G1
Tale of the Bndghean Chaerthainn,
313, 318
Tale of the Triumphs of Charlemagne
[App. 531
Tale of the B) uigheun Cheise an Cho-
rainii, 313
Tale of the Feis Tight Chondin Chinn
t-Shlbhc, 313
Tale of the Tdbi bo ChuaUgn^, 29, 30,
32, 185 [App. 507
Tale of the man who swore by St.
Via ra It's hand [Aj)p. 532
Tale of the birth of Conn Ced-Cathach
[App. 531
Tale of the Red Route of Conall Cear-
nach, 319
Tale of the adventures of Conall Gul-
ban, 319
Tale of the Death of Conchobhar Mac
Nessa [App. 533
Tale of the Tragedy of Conchobhar
Mac Nessa, 274
Tale of the adventures of Conla
Ruadh, 318
Tale of Coustantine the Great [App.
532
Tale of Core, the son of Lughaidh
[App. 4G9
Tale of the adventures of Cormac
Mac Airt, 189,318
Tale of the Cave of Cruachain, 283
[App. 532
Tale of the Sick bed of Cuchulainn,
[App. 505
Tale of the Tragedy of Ciiroi Mac
Dai re, 273
Tale of the Bndghean Da Choga, 2(30
Tale of the Bruighean Da Derga,
185, 212, 258
Tale of the Tdin Bo Dartadha, 185
Tale of the Cathreim Dathi, 212
Tale of the Debility of the Ultonians,
37, 187
Tale of Deirdre and the sons of Uis-
neach, 291, 319, (and 90, etc.)
Tale of the Pursuit of Diarmaid and
Grninne, 313
Tale of the Destruction of Dinn Righ,
252
Tale of Donnchadh O^Braoln [App. .
532
Tale of the Forbids Droma Damh-
ghoire, 198, 200, 271
Tale of the Exile of the sons of Dad
Dearmait, 319, 403
Tale of the Feast of Dun na n-Gedh,
191
Tale of the Siege of Howth {Forbais
Fdair), 205
Tale of the Cave of Beann Fdair, 2.*3
Tale of the Courtship of Elmer, by
Cuchulainn, 278
Tale of the Bndghean Eochaidh Big
Deirg, 313
Tale of the Sons oi EochaidhMuighmh-
eadhdin [App. 531
Tale of the Courtship of Eicdn, 319
Tale oi Fiachna Mac Reataich, 198
Tale of the I'din bo Flidais, 185 [App.
531
Tale of Fraech Mac Fidhuigh [App.
503
Tale of the Imtheacht an Ghilla Dea-
cair, 313, 316
Tale of Queen Gormlaith, 131, 294
Tale oi Labraidh Loingseach, 251
Tale of the tragical fate of of the chil-
dren of Lir, 319
Tale of the Tondiaidhm Locha n-
Echach, 294
Tale of the Death of the lady Luaine,
189
Tale of Mac Cois^, the poet, and the
Fairy Woman [App. 532
Tale of the Loinges Mac Dull Der-^
mait, 319, [App. 408
Tale of the Echtra Macha, inghine
Aedha Ruaidh, 283
Tale of Maelsuthain O'Cearbhaill, 70
[App. 531
Tale of the Navigation of Maeldui)/,
289
Tale of the Wanderings of Maeldum,
185
Tale of th e Tragedy of Maclfothartaigh
Mac Ronain, 277
Tale of the Courtship of Queen
Meadbh, 282
Tale of the Cath Muighe Leana, 243
718
INDEX.
Tale of the Cath Muir/he Rath, 243
Tale of the Battle of Muirt/ieimne, and
Death of Cuc/uthiinn, 319
Tale of Nlall Frassach [App. 531
Tale of Niull " Naoi-ghiallach'''' and
his sons [App. 531
Tale of Tad/iff O'Biiain and the Devil
[App. 532
Tale of the Sluaghed Dathi co Sliabh
n-Ectlpa^ 28-t
Tale of the Navigation of Sned(jus and
Macliiar/hla, 289
Tale of the adventures of Tadhg Mac
Cein, 318
Tale of the Tochmarc Momera, 243
Tale of the Second Cath Muujhe
Tuireadh, 247
Tale of the Sous of Tuireann, 319
Tale of the Imramh Ua Corra, 289
Tale of the Cliildren of Uisneach [see
Deirdre^, 319, (and 96, etc.)
Tallacht, {Tamhlac/u), near Dublin,
26, 174, 353, 362, 364, 379 — the
JBruif/hean Da Z>er(/a, near, 259. —
the Martyrology of, 353, 362, 364
Tamhlorga Filldh (Staves of the Po-
ets) [App. 464
Tanaidhe Mac Uidhir, (Mac Guire),
419
Tanaidhe O'Mulconry, 83
Tanaisie of Litif/hne, the, [App. 546
Tana; Of the, (-'Cow-spoils"); ['His-
toric Tales", No. 7] ; 277 _
Tara, anciently called Dndm Cain
[see Teamair'], 244 [App. 620.—
Battle of (a.d. 978), 403.— Saint
Fiacc as to the desertion of, 343
[App. 605. — Bell rung by Saint
Ruadhan round, 337. — Feast of,
287.— Palace of, 285.— The first
Feis of, by Ollamh Fodhla, 218.—
The Sahair of, 9, 10, 11, 41, 42,
204 [App. 464 ; 496, 656.— Cuhur,
stone-builder of, 222. — Troighka-
than, rath-builder of, 222. — Various
mounds at, named [App. 514
Tarbhgha [App. 492
Tassa'ch, Bishop; artificer of St. Pa-
trick, 368 [App. 603,611,
Taulchiiine (the Juggler) [App. 618
T.C.D. Library ; MSS. in, 23.— Prin-
cipal vellum MSS. in, 102
Teabhtha, (Teffia, in Westmeath), the
Feara Cul of, 286
Teach Midhchuarta, the, 46, 187
Teach Moling (now St. Mullens),
231, 302
Teach Riaghala (Tyrella) [see Riagh-
ai7],428
Teach Screp/ra, 79
Teadgh j^rectius, Tadhg'] Mac Cein,
mic Odella Olidm, 147
Teaghlaigh, Tadhg an [App. 547
Tealach an Chosgair (Hillof the Vic-
tory), 451
Teamair, 10, 48, [and see Tara].
Teamair Breagh, 409 [App. 626
Teamair Luachra, 185
Teamhrach, 10, [and see Tara],
Teanqa Bithnua, the [App. 532
Teathra, 384
Tech, [see Teach]
Techet, Loch ; (now called Loch
O'Gara) [App. 547
Teclmical language, abuse of, by the
Poets 45.
Teffia (see Teabhtha), 286
Teinim Laegha, the, 240, 257
Telltown QTaiUtin), the Fair of, 287
"Temora" of MacPherson, the, 300
(see Tara)
Temple Daidhi [App. 593
Templeport,Lake; InisMadoc, in, 27
" Ten Commandments, the ; {Deich
m-Breithir) ; a name given to the
Pentateuch, 9, 31
Tengumhu,Duach, 15, 16 n. [App.498
Termonbarry (Counacht), St. Finn-
bharr of, 338
Ternog's nurse, 427
Testimonium of Annals of the Four
Masters [App. 544
Tetbannach, Tighernach- ; K. of South
Munster, 267
Tcthna [App. 477
Thatch, 300,— coloured, 310, 311
Thersites, the Fenian ; {Conun Mac
Morna^, 317
Thomond, 209.— Earl of, acceptance
of title by O'Brien as, 237.— History
of the Wars of, 195, 233.
Thrace, the Fjrbolgs in, 244 — The
Picts from, 450
" Thumb of Ivnowledge" ; Finn's, 395,
396
Tlmrles (Durlas), 421
Tiberius Ctesar, contemp. with Cor-
inac Mac Airt [App. 520
Tibrud, Gort na ; Battle at, 395
TArtYK/<'-,419 [App. 621
Tiqhe Chondin Chinn t-Sleibhe, Feis,
313
Tighernach, St., 323.— Tetbannach, K.
of South Munster, 267. - -the An-
nalist, 41, 52, 57, 74.— Death of
[App. 517. — his references to early
authorities, 61. — liis Chronology,
61.— Fragment of in T.C.D., 90.—
Letter from Kev. Dr. Todd, P.
R I A., concerning [App.517. — Va-
INDEX.
719
rious versions of passages as to Cim-
baoth [App. 519. — References to the
Bachitll Isu in [App. G03. — his
entry of the death of Conchobhar
Muc Nessa [App. 637
Ti(/hcr)uiir/h, Cam-; (mountain near
kathcormac, Co. Cork), 267
T)()her»ain, Mias- ; the, (Paten of St.
Tl(jherna)i), 338
Tifihernan O'Ruairc, 101
Tiqlienvuas ; Edlenn, son of [App. 621
Tujh Mo/iiu/ (St. Mullens, Co. Car-
low). 231, '302,
Tin-bath, 63
Tipperary ; flight of Brian Ruaclh
O'Brien into North, 236. — Topo-
grapliy of [App. 630
Tipra (or Tobar) Cheanna mhdir, 272
Tipra Seanganmia (in Kerry), 306
[App. Si)!
Tiprait Airgh'i [A^ip. 508
Tipraite,^Vd [App. 621
TipraiM O'Bruoin, (O'Breen), 82
Tir AecUia, 70 [App. 527
Tir Choiiaill (Tircounell), 329.—
Aedh, King of, 401. — List of obits
of chiefs [App. 570
Tir Fiachruch, 82, 418
Tir OihUa, 22
Tirec/taiis (St.) annotations on Life
of St. Patrick, 347. — Quotation
from [App. 608
Tirerrill ; niarcli of Foraorians to, 249
Tinnchdnta, Eochaidh, 327
Tirren (the,) sea, 16
Title and Dedication of O'Clery's
Glossary [App. 557
Title and Introduction to Mac Firbis'
Genealogies [App. 572
TIacht(/a, daughter of MoqhRtiith, i02
Tobar (or Tipra) Cheanna mhdir, 272
Tobias, 369
Tochar eter dhd mhagh (the " cause-
way between the two plains", at
Geisill, near TuUamore), 449
TocHMARCA ; Of the ('• Courtships") ;
[" Historic Tales", No. 8], 278
Tochmurc Emire; Tale of the [App.
637-8.— Tale of the Tochmarc Mo-
m€ra, 243, 282
TocHOBiLADH (Immigrations of a Co-
lony), " Historic Tales" of, 294
Todd, Kev. J. H., S.F.T.C.D., Pres.
E.I.A., 22 n.. 25 n., 50 n., 77 n.,
84 n., 174, 457 n., [App. 646, 650.—
his Letter on Fragment of Tiyher-
nagh [App. 517. — in Oxford to com-
pare the Felire, 371. — on contrac-
tions in MS. of Domhnach, 327. —
possessor of St. Patrick's Bell, 337.
— onthePicts, 450. — Belgian MSS.
lent to, 362, [A pp.647.— his notes to
Bookof Obits, etc., of Christ Church
(as to the Bachall Isu) [App. 602
Toe/hail (the destruction of a Fort>,
257, 265, 283
ToGHLA, Of the, ('' Destructions") ;
["Historic Tales", No.3], 257, 265,
283
Toichleach Ua Gadhra [Ai>p. 546
Toilette, Credki's, 309
ToirrdlteaJbliach Mdr Ua Concltohhair
(O'Conor), 414 [App. 535
Toirrdhealbhach UBriain, 234. [See
Wars of Thomond. [
Tolameus Mac ZaiV^e' (Ptolemy La-
gus) App. 521
Tolka river, the (Tulchlaimi), 269
ToJl-cinn, " tonsured head" [App.618
ToMADHMA (Bursting of Lakes), Sto-
ries of. 294
Tomahach, 109. 110 [App 539
Tomaltach Og Mac Donnchaidh [App.
547
Tomb of Oscar; Ogham inscription
on, 304
Tonn Ch/iodhna, the, 306
Tonsure (the toll cinn) [App. 618
Toomregan {Tiiaim Dracain), 418
Tooth of St. Patrick, the, 338
Topographical information in tract in
B.of Lismore (conversation between
St. Patrick, Oisin, and Caoilte),
200. — in tract on Diarmaid and
Grainne, 314. — Notices in Fenian
Poem, 305. — Tract (the Agallumh
naSeandrach), 307. — from Emania
to Lusk, 282
Torchair [App. 489, 490
Tor chill [App. 490
Tama Eigeas, 191. — his Poem, as to
burial of JJathi, 288
Torna. O^Maeilchonair^ , 148
Torolbh the Dane, 403
Torry Island [App. 563. — Conaing's
Tower on, 244
Tornifjheacht Dhiarmada is GJiraiiKf,
313
Towers, Round ; Petrie's work on
the, 381
Traceries on shrines, 323
Trade with Scotland in curachs, 257
Tragedies {0 it te or Aideadha) ; (His-
toric Tales, No. 6), 273
Trdii/h Caeil (the Strand of Gael),
3U
Trdigh Eothaile (near Ballysadare),
246
Trdigh niBaile [App. 475
Tralee, Beramain near; Finn at, 305
720
INDKX.
Transformation into birds, fairy, 426
Travels of the Gaedhil before reacli-
ing Erinn, 222
Trees"; "The Letters and the"
[App. 408
Trekill the Dane, 403
Trenmdr, 304
Treok (Trevit, near Tara), 19, 391
" Trias Thaumaturgus", Colgan's, 143
— quotation from, 387 n.
Tribute ; History of the Origin of the
Boroniean, 230
Triuchadh anAicme'im Kerry), 448
Tri-Liaq; Diin, (Duntrileague), 312
Trim (Bai/e Atha Tridm) [App. 604
Trinity, the Holy; Colum Cille"'s
Hymn to, 329
TroighleatJtan, rath-builder of Tara,
222
Trophy, barbarous ; (see Brain). 275
Troy; Story of the Destruction of,
25
Trumpeters, 248
Tripartite Life of St.Patrick, 330 [see
Patrick] ; [App. 609.— MS. in Bri-
tish Museum, 345, 346.— on St.
Mac Cartkainn, 325. — (Passage
from), 344
Tuadh Mlmmhain, 209
Tuagh Lihher (Mouth of the Bonn)
[App. 475
Tuaim da GhuaJann (Tuani), 290
Tuaim JDrecain, (Toomregan), 49, 50,
418.— St. Brkvi of (637), 418
Tuaim nDregan [App. 513
Tuaim Tenba;{Dhm Bigh); [App.482
Tuan Mac Cairill, 171
Tuath Emruis, 389, [App. 621
Tuatha De Danann, 28. — Genea-
logy of the, 215. — in Erinn, (a.m.
3303), 244.— fighting under Finn,
315. — [see Eairies, etc. [App. 505.
—Physicians of the, 28, 221.—
Secret Agency of the, 286
Tuath Amrois, 389, [App. 021.
Tuatha Fiodha, the (Forest Tribes),
450
Tuathal Mad Garbh, 55, 59
Tuathal Teachtmar, 230, 264, 303 —
the daughter of [App. 585 u.
Tuighen (the poet's official gown),
383, 384
Tuile, in the east ; a Couch made at,
310
Tuile'n; St. Cairnech of, 336 [App.
600
Tuirbh€ (Turvey, near Malahide,) 258
Tuireann, Tale of the Sons of, 319
Tuirrin bright na Righ (in Scotland),
287
Tulach, Finn, 308
Tulach na n-Eipuc (near Cabinteely,
Co. DubUn), 382
Tidchlainn, the; (the Tolka river),
269
Tulla, near Cabinteely {Tulach na n-
Espuc), 382
Tulloch (see Tealach), 451
Tulach na Feine, 308
Tuluigh, "to humble"; connection of
the word with Tailcenn [App. 617
Tundal, 194
Turgesius the Dane (a.d. 840), 56, 400
Tiirioch ; the Wai's of, 234, — - Mor
O'Conor, 183
Turvey, {Tnirbhe), near Malahide;
Bay of, 258
Tutors, subordinate, 3
Tyranny over Ireland, 355
Tyrella, Co. Down {Teach Righala)
428
Tyrone (Tir Eoghain), 329
Tyrrhene ( J'/>7'e'«) Sea, the, 16.
Ua Brain, 58
Uachtair, Loch, 108
Ua Chongbhail, 1, 11, 12, 13, 21, 171
—Book of the, 13, 44, [App. 496
Ua Conchobhair [see O'Conor] ; Ca-
ihal Crobh-Dearg [App. 547
Ua Cormaic; Abban, son of, 382
[App. 616 ; — Poem by Gilla an
Chomdedh, 70 [App. 526
Ua Corra, Imramh ; Tale of the,
289
Uada, in Leighis (Leix) [App. 481-2
Ua Duinechda (see Colgu) [App. 615
Ua Flainn ; Aenghns, 399
Ua Floinn ; see O'Floinn.
Ua Gairbh, 222
Ua Gormain, Maelmaire, 353, 361
[App. 609
Uaimh, (Uatka, etc.) [App. 586 n.
Uais, 72.
Ualgarg O'Ruairc, 398
Ua Lughair, Dubhtltach, 170
Uamach, Colman [App. 008
Ua Neanihnainn, Gael, 308 [App. 594
Ua Rohhartaigh, Domhnall, 331
Uatha, Of the; (-'Caves"): — ["Histo-
ric Tales", No. 9], 9.m.— Uatha;
Uatlt ; Uaimh [App. 586 n.
Uch, (" uch oil"), 49
Uch,uch, 187 [App. 571
Uchbadh, 130
Ugaine Mor, 63, 68, 207 [App. 521,
4.51.— Race of, 207-8.— Monarch,
(B.C. 633), 252.— the sons of, 218
Uqaire, son of Ailill, K. of Leinster,
421
Uihh FoircheUain, 17
INDEX.
721
Ui Briuiii, 102.- - Gillausaille, lord of,
414
Ui Cremhthainn, territory of, 325
Ui Dinrmada , 13
Uidhir, Mac; Tanaidhe, 419
Uidfire; Leabhar nah-,\S2 [App. 570
UiFaiI(//ie {OSa\y), 302, 365, 395
Ui Fhloinn ; Bail^ Mor [App. 548
UiMain€, 312
Ui Mele, Roman pilgrims settled in,
381 [and see Imele, App. 615]
UiNcid; Cam, (Co. Cork), 422
Uinffe (an ounce ?) [App. 493
Uinche defeated by Finn, 303
Uisncach, the sons of, 10. 14, 30, 3G,
96, 260, 275 [App. 527.— Tale of
Deirdre, a.nA the sons of, Q^ Ait hid
Dheirdrire 2Iacaibh L^."), 294, 319
Uithir, 218
Uladk, 185, 207.— 3Iagh-, [App. 631
n. — the Mesca, 185 [App. 637. —
the Ceasnaoidliean, 37 [App. 637-8
UIc (see Belatjh Mic Uifc), [App. 508
U/idian race, the, 207, 363
Ui/tacli, Christopher, 148
Ulster, Annals of, 23, S3 [App. 533.—
Fragment in T.C.D., 90
Ultan, St., 343, — teacher of Tirec/ian,
347,350 [App. 607-8
Umaill [App. 565
Umhaill; Burgheis-, (Borrisoole), i\Io-
nastery of, 178 [Apj). 561
Umhall, 346
Uncial letters, 324
Uraicept [App. 471
Uraichecht [App. 501
Urchair, Baik'-ath-an-, (Ardnurchar,
Westmeath), 276 [App. 593
Ussher, Archbishop; as to Flann's
synclironisras, 53. — his Translation
of Canon of St. Patrick [App. 612
Valentia Island, anciently Dairbr^,
(or Daraire'), 272
Vallancey, reckless theories of, 17. —
his nonsense about " Creas", 366
Valoignes ; Hamo de, 432
Vandal warfare of the EngUsh in Ire-
land, 355
Vassalage of Tuatha D€ Danann, 248
Vat of red ale, 388. — of royal bronze,
311
Ventry (Finntrdigh), 308, 315 [App.
597
Verse; Chain-, (Conachlann), 3G5
Victory, the Hill of the (Tealach an
Chosgair'), 451
Violation of a King, 388 [App. 621
Vision of Adanman, the, 424. — of
St. Bricin {BaiU Bricin), 418
Visions {Fis), Tales of, 295
Virgin, the Blessed; honoured, 367.
— Ancient Litany of, 357, 380
[App. 615. — Representation of the
Blessed, 323
Virgin Saints of Erinn, the; under
Brighid, 369
Virguiar cliaracters [App. 470
Visitation, Primate Colton's ; Dr.
Reeves' edition of [Apj). 613
Vows of Chivalry, 280, 314
Waldron, Laurence, M.P., 174 [App.
646
Wales, Ancient laws of, 201
Walter, the daughter of [App. 565
Wand of the Poet, the (Fleasc Fili)
[App. 464. — Sanctuary under, 3
Ward (see Mac an Bhai'rd), 330,
142.— Father Hugh, 26, [App. 645.
—His life of St. Rumold, 381
Ware, Sir James, 97, 107, 127, etc.—
on Litany oiAengus, 380. — his refe-
rence to Flann, 53. — to the Annals
of Connacht, 105 — Mac Firbis em-
ployed by, 127 (and see 122).
^"^ars of the Danes with the Gaedhil ;
the History of the, 188, 232
Wars of Thomond, the History of
the, 233
Watchguards, Finn's, 315
Waterford {Port Lairg^), 50
Wave of Cliodhna, the, 306
Waves, Magical, of the Tuatha De
Danann, 447
Well ; of Seangarmain, the (in Kerry),
306 — the, called Tobar Cheanna
Mhdir., 272
Westminster, the Cardinal Arch-
bishop of ; Crozier in the possession
of, 338
Westminster Abbey, Papers concern-
ing Ireland in the Chapter House of,
[App. 604
Wexford, the Picts landed in, 450
Wheel; Rowing, (see Roth Ramhach),
383, 401, 421, 42.3, 427
White ; Priests clad in [App. 505
White Book of Christ Church, re-
ferred to [App. 603
Whiteness of Lime, 310
Wicklow (Inbher Deci) [App. 485
Widow's, the, Sheep ; Case of, 43-4.
Wife of an 0//amA, Privileges of the, 3
Wilde, Air. W. R. ; Census Report by
[App. 630
Wilham, Clann ; (Burkes of), 422
William Gorm O'Ruairc, 398
William Ruadk O'Ruairc, 398
Windele, Mr. John, of Cork ; nego-
ciation with him as to fragment of
Book of Lismore, — [Note. This
47
722
INDEX.
fragment has, since the delivery of
these Lectures, been restored to the
original Book at Lismore], 199
Wings of birds worked in thatch, 310,
311
Wisdom ; the Seven Orders of, 9
Wiseman,Cardinal ; Crozier in posses-
sion of, 338, 48
Witches, 2-19
Writers (historic) of the xn., xiii.,
and XIV. centuries, 82
Writing in Erinn before St. Patrick's
time ; Of [App. 463
Women; the six best, in the world
[App. 515. — of Erinn; the Plain-
tive Song of the, 334. — Foreign
stammering (Saxons), 385
■J
Wonders of Erinn ; the Cam of
Trmcjh Eothdih; one of the, 246
Wood; writing on Tablets of [App.
464
" World" ; Dair^ Dornmliar, " Empe-
ror of the whole", 315
Worship of the Sun, discovered by
Vallancev, 366
Wurzburg,'MS. at; 27.
Yellow Ford, Battle of {Bel an Atha
Biddhe), 417
Yew cover of Domhnach Airgid, 322
Yew tree over BaiWs grave ; Tablets
of the [App. 465
Zeuss (Graramatica Celtica), MS3.
noted by, 27
JflNIS.],
'4 (Ti
T^ "2;.
" 9.sr^.
/
John F. Fowler, Printer, 3 Crow Street, Dame Street, Dublin.
'-L
-t^^-.
>ate D-
DATE DUE
AR 0 ^ '•'■HO
U^^i^^ERsirT^^oDUCTS^^
BOSTON COLLEGE
3 9031 01189646 1
;>/S <?50 • 0*f
Boston College Library
Chestnut Hill 67, Mass.
Books may be kept for two weeks unless a
shorter time is specified.
Two cents a day is charged for each 2-week book
kept overtime; 25 cents a day for each overnight
book.
If you cannot find what you want, inquire at the
delivery desk for assistance.
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11